Green Southern Yellow Pine Veneer–Saturation Principle of Moisture Measure to Establish Drying Sorts

Visual sorting of southern yellow pines which is pre dominately sapwood, has not been practical. The southern pine plywood industry is faced with drying veneer that is highly variable in initial water content. Wet veneer, requiring re-drying, and over-dry and surface inactivated veneer are common problems. A continuous moisture measurement system to sort this species into drying classes is desirable. To determine the feasibility of continuous green veneer sorting methods, the Texas Forest Products Laboratory conducted a study on the sorting of green shortleaf pine veneer by percent moisture content. Sorting green veneer by percent moisture content (MC) is commonly advocated to achieve more uniform drying and increased dryer capacity. This study found that green MC is not an efficient sorting basis. Saturation sorting, which takes into account actual water content per unit area or volume, is superior to green MC sorting. Green weight per unit volume is, an efficient means of establishing saturation sorts in green veneer. Dual continuous measures of both water content and green weight may be required to sort veneer for optimum drying uniformity.

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