Green walnut slabs

[tandemsforus]

I live in the south Asheville area and have a couple of questions about drying walnut slabs.
Just yesterday had a few slabs of walnut cut for me for a future table. 2 12 quarter, 1 8 quarter, and one 4 quarter. The slabs are around 24 inches in width x 9ft in length. Very nice wood. The two 12 quarter boards are book matched and center cut. Right now I have them sitting on a couple of sawhorses as I just painted some Anchorseal on the ends. The log was just brought down as there is very little checking on the ends.
My question is, does anyone know of a good kiln in the area (Asheville) for me to have these baby's dried. And what would be a price to pay. And is there anything I could or should do other than stickers between boards that might help stop the wood from any cupping that might happen before, during or after drying.
Thanks for any advice, these are going to turn into quite a tabe so I want to do it right.

 

[PurpleThumb]

John, you have a great source of information there in Fletcher at Mountain Sawyers. They don't have a kiln but Bee Tree Lumber does. Bee Tree is on Bee Tree Road in Swannanoa.

 

[CaptnA]

No surprise - Jerry is right on.
Peter or Fred Tennant at Bee Tree Hardwood would be my first call.
No clue on pricing.
Good to have you here. Maybe you can take a minute and go to our who we are section and make a short introduction.

 

[tandemsforus]

Thanks for the info. Will give bee tree a call. Was at Mountain sawyers today and talked to a couple of people. One thing I found interesting. I was told to let the wood air dry a year or two before sending it to the kiln. Now I thought a rule of thumb kinda rule was "inch a year" for air drying wood. Whats the benifit of letting the wood sit 1-2 years before the kiln as compaired to just sending it to the kiln from the git go.

 

[scsmith42]

Thanks for the info. Will give bee tree a call. Was at Mountain sawyers today and talked to a couple of people. One thing I found interesting. I was told to let the wood air dry a year or two before sending it to the kiln. Now I thought a rule of thumb kinda rule was "inch a year" for air drying wood. Whats the benifit of letting the wood sit 1-2 years before the kiln as compaired to just sending it to the kiln from the git go.

John, there is a lot of science behind drying wood, and drying it at a rate either too fast or too slow will damage it. Drying rates are dependant upon species, thickness, and initial moisture content, with the thicker the wood, the slower daily drying rate.

Because of this, it is generally not a good idea to mix woods of different species and thickness in the same kiln run. There is an exception though - and that is if all of the wood going into the kiln is below 25% moisture content. Then, it can be safely mixed.

Your 8/4 walnut slabs have a maximum safe daily drying rate of about 3%. Your 16/4 is about one half that, which means that it would need to be in the kiln for almost 3 months to dry from green down to 6%! Costly, and not practical.

By air drying first, you can allow nature to take care of the most expensive portion of the drying process, and then run the slabs through the kiln in order to bring them down to 6% and to sterilize and condition them. You will also gain from the enhanced coloration that results from air drying.

The "one inch per year" is actually an old wives tale that won't die (according to Professor Gene Wengert). Certain species, such as 4/4 southern yellow pine and eastern red cedar, will dry from green down to 15% in about three hot summer months. Other species, such as oak, take upwards to a year. Poplar is around 9 months - it just varies depending upon the species.

 

[Mike Davis]

and the temperature and the humidity...

 

[Kyle]

Air drying is paramount for good color especially in walnut. 8/4 walnut stock takes me around 35-40 days to properly dry in the kiln and air dried less than 9. The inch a year rule is bunk.


Thicker than 2 inches is not cost effective to kiln dry for a small quantity and expensive for a larger volume.

 

[tandemsforus]

I got the wood stickered in the garage (unheated). So if I understand ya, if I check with a kiln this time next year the 12/4 and 8/4 should be ok to go in the kiln??

 

[Kyle]

Possibly. You may need to generate some air flow to prevent mold.

 

[Tarhead]

John,
In addition to all the great advice you have received I would add that a 1" ratchet strap wrapped around every 16" along the bunk and kept tight will prevent twisting of individual boards. I use the Harbor Freight version and they work fine for this.