Moisture pallets – a new approach to reduce degrade in air drying

A “Moisture Pallet” technique, utilizing plywood face sheets placed between 6/4 red oak boards and the air stream in forced air drying, has thus far proven very effective in reducing surface checking, but at the expense of increased drying time. Three such pallet stacks three feet in each dimension were dried with face panels of 2-ply 1/8-inch yellow poplar, 3-ply 3/16-inch yellow poplar, and commercial 3-ply 1/4-inch Douglas fir, respectively, and compared with end matched conventionally stickered control stacks. Pallet vs. Control yields of 71 vs. 42, 88 vs. 61, and 96 vs. 49 percent were obtained from repeated measurements during air drying with yield defined as the percent of the board surface occupied by check-free strips one inch or wider along the center two feet of board length. Air drying times were increased by an estimated 30%, 50%, and 100%, by the respective pallets, assuming comparable drying weather. It appears that surface checking can be reduced to almost any desired level by the use of the Moisture Pallet technique, but at the expense of increased drying time. This could be of considerable importance to the furniture industry if they require high yields of check-free stock from refractory hardwoods with a minimum consumption of energy.

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