Embedded Files
Wood is full of moisture when 'felled' (chopped down) and is referred to as green timber. In order to make it 'stable' and usable, it is necessary to reduce the moisture content in a controlled way. This is known as seasoning.
Air Seasoning:
The traditional way of doing this is simply to allow air to pass around the wood in order to reduce the moisture content over time. The wood is stacked on bricks (or spacers - could be other pieces of timber) to keep the wood from wet floors and a roof is placed over so rain doesn’t reach the wood. Spacers between the planks of wood allow for air circulation and the whole process requires little or no supervision.
However, it can take years for the wood to season properly!
Because wood is needed daily, it would be impossible to use traditional methods in industry as it would simply take too long for wood to become usable, so a kiln drying method is used.
Kiln Seasoning
In this method, wood is placed in a 'kiln' (like a big oven) and heated up using steam. The use of steam means that the wood does not dry out quickly, but the moisture content can be reduced in a controlled way resulting in a process that takes days / weeks rather than months or years.
Page updated
Report abuse