The wood drying process is very important for quality lumber and woodworking. This method, called the drying process, reduces the moisture content of the wood and increases the durability of the wood. In our article, it is explained how drying process can be carried out with maximum efficiency without drying ovens.
Step 1: Set up a Place for the Wood Drying Process
Take care to choose a place where the wood will breathe. Outdoors, you will need a place large enough to accommodate the lumber piles. (Don't make the mistake of choosing the area that gets the most sun! ) Drying the wood too quickly will reduce the quality of the finished product and reduce its durability. Try to find an open, slightly shaded area. If there is no shaded area, you can build a roof to create a canopy.
Look at the current wind direction in your chosen location for wood drying. Ideally, make sure that the wind blows from the edges of the wood rather than the head.
Avoid moisture by providing drainage and vapor barriers. While you may want a flat surface to be able to stack and safely balance your wood, choosing a gently sloping area will allow for drainage in bad weather conditions. If the floor is damp, cover the floor with a vapor barrier such as an awning.
Build a high platform. The stack should not come into direct contact with the ground. Using pallets, you can create a flat buffer between the floor and the wood pile. You can also use a concrete floor instead of a pallet.
Step 2. Preparing the Woods
Take care to turn the tree into wood immediately after it is cut. This process prevents the tree from being damaged considerably. Leaving the tree where it is after cutting leaves the tree vulnerable to rot, stains, mold and fungi.
Cut your pieces slightly larger than you want the finished product. As wood loses moisture, it shrinks. Your green wood or freshly cut wood should be wide enough to allow for some shrinkage. Keeping it wide is especially important if you're drying wood for carpentry applications. On average, wood shrinks by at least 5% in the drying process. Presumably the existing shape will be deformed in the drying process.
Close the tree ends. Moisture is released from wood tips 10-12 times faster than other parts. Balance the drying rate of the entire piece of wood by closing the ends. The ends can be sealed using something as simple as latex paint or using paints created specifically for this purpose. Other options can be paraffin wax, polyurethane. Trees that dry out too quickly may have cracks on their tips. After drying, you can cut the painted ends from the wood. In this case, leave the piece of wood you originally wanted a little longer than you would like it to be to compensate for the cut.
3.Step Arrangement of Woods
Get a lath or make a lath yourself to separate the pile. The slats are used to create space between each layer of wood in the pile. This allows air to flow between the layers. The slats should be about 2.5 cm thick, 5 cm wide and stacked long. The type of wood you use for the lath doesn't matter, but walnut should be avoided as it can stain your lumber.
Build your base layer. Place the base layer (lumber layer preferred) on your base pallet. Leave some space between each layer.
Complete the stacking by arranging the trees as shown in the figure until you have stacked all your wood.
Make the top of the pile heavy. The wood in the lower layers is pressed by the rest of the stack, but you need to add weight to the top to keep the top layers tight as they dry. Place another flat layer on top of the last layer of wood (a large, flat surface such as a piece of plywood). Place a few cinder blocks on top of the plywood to apply weight to the pile.
Step 4 Calculating Wood Drying Time
Get a moisture meter. This is the best way to read how much moisture is left in the forest. You can find moisture meters at woodworking supplies stores. You can check the wood every few weeks to assess the progress. Once the wood matches the moisture content of the air, it is ready for use. Lumber dealers usually kiln-dry the wood at this point to bring it to a lower moisture content, but for smaller operations this may not be necessary. Aiming for moisture content or moisture content between 6 and 12% MC should suffice.
Plan on drying fresh wood for at least a year. The standard guideline for drying wood used in woodworking allows one year for every centimeter of thickness. Measure your wood and decide how many years it should be put in your air dryer. This is a good guide for commonly used wood such as walnut, cherry and oak. Poplar dries faster and can be ready in 6 months.