Seasoning of Wood, Joseph Bernard Wagner [best beach reads txt] 📗

high humidity which can be secured gives as good results, and being at as low a temperature as desired, much better results in the case of certain difficult woods like oak, eucalyptus, etc., are obtained.

This kiln has another advantage in that its operation is entirely independent of outdoor atmospheric conditions, except that barometric pressure will effect it slightly.

KILN-DRYING Remarks

Drying is an essential part of the preparation of wood for manufacture. For a long time the only drying process used or known was air-drying, or the exposure of wood to the gradual drying influences of the open air, and is what has now been termed "preliminary seasoning." This method is without doubt the most successful and effective seasoning, because nature performs certain functions in air-drying that cannot be duplicated by artificial means. Because of this, hardwoods, as a rule, cannot be successfully kiln-dried green or direct from the saw.

Within recent years, considerable interest is awakening among wood users in the operation of kiln-drying. The losses occasioned in air-drying and in improper kiln-drying, and the necessity for getting material dry as quickly as possible from the saw, for shipping purposes and also for manufacturing, are bringing about a realization of the importance of a technical knowledge of the subject.

The losses which occur in air-drying wood, through checking, warping, staining, and rotting, are often greater than one would suppose. While correct statistics of this nature are difficult to obtain, some idea may be had of the amount of degrading of the better class of lumber. In the case of one species of soft wood, Western larch, it is commonly admitted that the best grades fall off sixty to seventy per cent in air-drying, and it is probable that the same is true in the case of Southern swamp oaks. In Western yellow pine, the loss is great, and in the Southern red gum, it is probably as much as thirty per cent. It may be said that in all species there is some loss in air-drying, but in some easily dried species such as spruce, hemlock, maple, etc., it is not so great.

It would hardly be correct to state at the present time that this loss could be entirely prevented by proper methods of kiln-drying the green lumber, but it is safe to say that it can be greatly reduced.

It is well where stock is kiln-dried direct from the saw or knife, after having first been steamed or boiled—as in the case of veneers, etc.,—to get them into the kiln while they are still warm, as they are then in good condition for kiln-drying, as the fibres of the wood are soft and the pores well opened, which will allow of forcing the evaporation of moisture without much damage being done to the material.

With softwoods it is a common practice to kiln-dry direct from the saw. This procedure, however, is ill adapted for the hardwoods, in which it would produce such warping and checking as would greatly reduce the value of the product. Therefore, hardwoods, as a rule, are more or less thoroughly air-dried before being placed in the dry kiln, where the residue of moisture may be reduced to within three or four per cent, which is much lower than is possible by air-drying only.

It is probable that for the sake of economy, air-drying will be eliminated in the drying processes of the future without loss to the quality of the product, but as yet no method has been discovered whereby this may be accomplished.

The dry kiln has been, and probably still is, one of the most troublesome factors arising from the development of the timber industry. In the earlier days, before power machinery for the working-up of timber products came into general use, dry kilns were unheard-of, air-drying or seasoning was then relied upon solely to furnish the craftsman with dry stock from which to manufacture his product. Even after machinery had made rapid and startling strides on its way to perfection, the dry kiln remained practically an unknown quantity, but gradually, as the industry developed and demand for dry material increased, the necessity for some more rapid and positive method of seasoning became apparent, and the subject of artificial drying began to receive the serious attention of the more progressive and energetic members of the craft.

Kiln-drying which is an artificial method, originated in the effort to improve or shorten the process, by subjecting the wood to a high temperature or to a draught of heated air in a confined space or kiln. In so doing, time is saved and a certain degree of control over the drying operation is secured.

The first efforts in the way of artificial drying were confined to aiding or hastening nature in the seasoning process by exposing the material to the direct heat from fires built in pits, over which the lumber was piled in a way to expose it to the heat rays of the fires below. This, of course, was a primitive, hazardous, and very unsatisfactory method, to say the least, but it marked the first step in the evolution of the present-day dry kiln, and in that particular only is it deserving of mention.

Underlying Principles

In addition to marking the first step in artificial drying, it illustrated also, in the simplest manner possible, the three underlying principles governing all drying problems: (1) The application of heat to evaporate or volatilize the water contained in the material; (2) with sufficient air in circulation to carry away in suspension the vapor thus liberated; and (3) with a certain amount of humidity present to prevent the surface from drying too rapidly while the heat is allowed to penetrate to the interior. The last performs two distinct functions: (a) It makes the wood more permeable to the passage of the moisture from the interior of the wood to the surface, and (b) it supplies the latent heat necessary to evaporate the moisture after it reaches the surface. The air circulation is important in removing the moisture after it has been evaporated by the heat, and ventilation also serves the purpose of bringing the heat in contact with the wood. If, however, plain, dry heat is applied to the wood, the surface will become entirely dry before the interior moisture is even heated, let alone removed. This condition causes "case-hardening" or "hollow-horning." So it is very essential that sufficient humidity be maintained to prevent the surface from drying too rapidly, while the heat is allowed to penetrate to the interior.

This humidity or moisture is originated by the evaporation from the drying wood, or by the admission of steam into the dry kiln by the use of steam spray pipes, and is absolutely necessary in the process of hastening the drying of wood. With green lumber it keeps the sap near the surface of the piece in a condition that allows the escape of the moisture from its interior; or, in other words, it prevents the outside from drying first, which would close the pores and cause case-hardening.

The great amount of latent heat necessary to evaporate the water after it has reached the surface is shown by the fact that the evaporation of only one pound of water will extract approximately 66 degrees from 1,000 cubic feet of air, allowing the air to drop in temperature from 154 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition to this amount of heat, the wood and the water must also be raised to the temperature at which the drying is to be accomplished.

It matters not what type of dry kiln is used, source or application of heating medium, these underlying principles remain the same, and must be the first things considered in the design or selection of the equipment necessary for producing the three essentials of drying: Heat, humidity, and circulation.

Although these principles constitute the basis of all drying problems and must, therefore, be continually carried in mind in the consideration of them, it is equally necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of the materials to be dried, and its action during the drying process. All failures in the past, in the drying of timber products, can be directly attributed to either the kiln designer's neglect of these things, or his failure to carry them fully in mind in the consideration of his problems.

Wood has characteristics very much different from those of other materials, and what little knowledge we have of it and its properties has been taken from the accumulated records of experience. The reason for this imperfect knowledge lies in the fact that wood is not a homogeneous material like the metals, but a complicated structure, and so variable that one stick will behave in a manner widely different from that of another, although it may have been cut from the same tree.

The great variety of woods often makes the mere distinction of the kind or species of the tree most difficult. It is not uncommon to find men of long experience disagree as to the kind of tree a certain piece of lumber was cut from, and, in some cases, there is even a wide difference in the appearance and evidently the structure of timber cut from the same tree.

Objects of Kiln-drying

The objects of kiln-drying wood may be placed under three main headings: (1) To reduce shipping expenses; (2) to reduce the quantity necessary to maintain in stock; and (3) to reduce losses in air-drying and to properly prepare the wood for subsequent use. Item number 2 naturally follows as a consequence of either 1 or 3. The reduction in weight on account of shipping expenses is of greatest significance with the Northwestern lumbermen in the case of Douglas fir, redwood, Western red cedar, sugar pine, bull pine, and other softwoods.

Very rapid methods of rough drying are possible with some of these species, and are in use. High temperatures are used, and the water is sometimes boiled off from the wood by heating above 212 degrees Fahrenheit. These high-temperature methods will not apply to the majority of hardwoods, however, nor to many of the softwoods.

It must first of all be recognized that the drying of lumber is a totally different operation from the drying of a fabric or of thin material. In the latter, it is largely a matter of evaporated moisture, but wood is not only hygroscopic and attracts moisture from the air, but its physical behavior is very complex and renders the extraction of moisture a very complicated process.

An idea of its complexity may be had by mentioning some of the conditions which must be contended with. Shrinkage is, perhaps, the most important. This is unequal in different directions, being twice as great tangentially as radially and fifty times as great radially as longitudinally. Moreover, shrinkage is often unequal in different portions of the same piece. The slowness of the transfusion of moisture through the wood is an important factor. This varies with different woods and greatly in different directions. Wood becomes soft and plastic when hot and moist, and will yield more or less to internal stresses. As some species are practically impervious to air when wet, this plasticity of the cell walls causes them to collapse as the water passes outward from the cell cavities. This difficulty has given much trouble in the case of Western red cedar, and also to some extent in redwood. The unequal shrinkage causes internal stresses in the wood as it dries, which results in warping, checking, case-hardening, and honeycombing. Case-hardening is one of the most common defects in improperly dried lumber. It is clearly shown by the cupping of the two halves when a case-hardened board is resawed. Chemical changes also occur in the wood in drying, especially so at higher temperatures, rendering it less hygroscopic, but more brittle. If dried too much or at too high a temperature, the strength and toughness is seriously