What Does Kiln Drying Mean, What Is It Used For??

What Is Kiln Drying? The Purpose for Drying Wood

Kiln drying is a common procedure in wood production mills, and it is used to efficiently reduce green timber moisture levels to “workable” levels–moisture content levels that will not result in the variety of problems that can be created by over moisture levels in wood.

Warping and twisting in dimensional lumber, binding or kicking during machining, buckling or crowning in an installed wood floor, and adhesive failures in final products are examples of these issues.

Every year, moisture-related issues can cost millions of dollars in damages. Kiln drying is the initial stage in reducing the moisture content of all wood products to levels that will cause minimal moisture-related damage.

What Is Kiln-Dried Wood?

Kiln dried wood is wood that has been oven-dried (kiln). You can manage the environment, such as temperature, humidity, and steam levels, with a kiln for a defined period. Allows you to dry wood to the required moisture content more quickly than air-drying.

How to kiln dry wood?

When trees are felled and transported to a lumber mill, the first stage is usually debarking and sorting the logs by species, size, or end-use. Logs destined for wood flooring, for example, are sawn into rough boards of the necessary sizes. Before drying, these are frequently edged or cut for length.

Drying can be done by air or by kilns, which employ circulating heated air to remove excess moisture from the wood more quickly. To optimize the process and ensure that the final moisture content levels are consistent across the charge, each charge (or kiln load) is sorted by species and dimensions. After the wood has reached the appropriate moisture level for that species, it is routed through the planer, planed to its final dimensions, graded, and shipped off. The wood is typically shipped to a manufacturer for further planning, processing, and finishing for wood flooring or other specific end products.

Mills and manufacturers alike spend time, money, and training into their drying operations in order to give their consumers with optimal quality goods at the appropriate moisture levels.

Therefore, if the wood exits the kiln with the proper moisture content, the moisture content process is finished, correct? While it may appear doable, kiln drying is merely the first phase of a wood product's life-long interaction with moisture. Kiln drying reduces the moisture content of young lumber greatly, but there is more to consider.