Air Drying 4/4 Red Oak in Southern Wisconsin

Oak flooring stock, like many other hardwood products, is commonly air seasoned to remove most of the moisture before it is kiln-dried to final moisture content. Experiments were made on 4/4 red oak flooring stock at Sauk City, Wis., to determine the number of days required to bring lumber to a moisture content of 20 percent when piled at different seasons of the year and the amount of drying defects that developed in yard piles of several types. The time required varied from 65 to 212 days. Lumber placed on the yard in September or later will not be dry until the following April or May. Well air-dried lumber is not available for shipment from the latter part of October to early May. The average loss in value per Mbf was $0.73. This loss in value of the No. 2 Common boards used in the study was caused by degrade in those boards, in the top courses of the roofless piles. A savings of $0.54 per Mbf was gained by roofing the piles with reinforced waterproof paper. The least amount of end splitting was obtained when the tier of stickers at the end of the pile projected beyond the board ends. Sloping and pitching of the roofless piles had no important effect on surface checking, end splitting, or loss in value. Horizontal placement of packages is recommended.

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