What is kiln dry? Kiln dry is a process of losing the moisture of the wood. Wood usually has excessive moisture. Before using it as furniture products, a kiln dry process is needed. This function is to make wood dry. Besides, to make lumber becomes strong as a material building. Another advantage is needed to resist biological deterioration owing to insects and fungi. That is why wood is important to get dried before using it as material building. Below is what you need to know about the kiln dry process.
Table of Contents
What is Kiln Drying?
The first thing that you need to know about the kiln dry process is the process of drying wood in a chamber whose relative humidity of air circulation. The temperature, steam level, and humidity can be controlled so that we can reduce the moisture in the wood without having bad effects on the drying process.
Kiln drying means drying with an appliance. The appliance is the oven. We enter the wood to the appliance called a kiln, something like an oven. This way is faster than we dry the wood traditionally. How is drying wood without a kiln?
Air Drying Process
The second thing you need to know about the kiln dry process is drying wood without a kiln is called an air drying process. This is a traditional way. You just need to stack the lumber and expose it to the outdoors. So, how long will it reduce the moisture?
It depends on the species of the wood and the situation of the moisture in the air. Suppose, It can waste several months until almost a year. It is a long time, isn’t it? That’s why to make it faster, the kiln is very needed. It makes drying wood become shorter and simpler than before.
How is the Kiln Drying Process?
After you know what the kiln drying and air drying process is. It is time to know how the kiln dry process is. When the trees are cut for some functional need, wood will pass some steps.
Cutting the Tree to the Needed Size
First, the size will be fitted by what the functions of the lumber will be, such as for flooring; after that, it will be sawn to the size that we need, and then before the drying process, the wood will be edged or trimmed for length. Deciding the length will help you to use the wood correctly as the function.
Kiln Dry or Air Drying Process
After cutting the tree and deciding the measurement for each log, this time dry the wood. The process of drying can be done by kiln or air. You can set up the heat circulating in the kiln dry, so it can make the process of drying wood faster. Each size of the logs has different heat circulated. It will be sorted by species and the size of the logs because it will optimize the kiln dry process.
It will be different from using the air drying process. You just need to let the logs in the ground and let the air makes them dry. It will waste time, even months. So, it is better to use kiln drying, instead of air drying.
Send the Lumber to the Wood Manufacture
The wood manufacturer will sort, grade and ship out the wood. If the wood is needed for flooring, the logs will be planing, processed, and finished before it is ready to use as flooring wood. Kiln dry process makes wood manufacturers optimize the best drying of the wood. It will take time and a lot of money for them.
One thing that you need to know is kiln drying process is the effort to reduce the moisture of the wood and before applying it to become furniture or other function of the wood, there will be some processes besides kiln drying. They are cut, trimmed, and so on. Furthermore, the kiln dry process helps wood manufacturers to reduce the moisture of the logs.
The Conclusion about Kiln Dry
The last thing you need to know about kiln dry is lumber mills and manufacturers invest many things in processing the best wood for furniture, flooring, and so on. They use accurate management tools and systems. Accurate moisture of the wood will make the wood has a long life span. The flooring can be installed well without worrying about damage. It can be assurance, long-lasting, and of course, durable use.
If you want the best result for your wooden door product or wood for flooring, just make sure you have the best moisture of wood. Not only in the kiln process, but when the lumber is ready to use, you need to check the level of moisture. In this case, you need the best pinless wood moisture meter. So you can measure the moisture correctly as you need before you use it.
Furthermore, make sure that you know about the kiln dry process before making your lumber as furniture or flooring in your house. It is very needed for long-life furniture and is durable in your house. Our woodworking factory in Indonesia has 14 kiln drying chambers to serve many demands.