Dear Mark,
We dried down to 8%. Moisture in the kiln helped for cupping and
warping. When we dry the wood the most important time is the first
couple of days when we started heating wood. We had so much water coming
out (Always used freshly cut lumber at above 50%), I had to cut channels
on the floor for water to come out, rather than trying to dry. After
drying wood, we hold them in the kiln for cooling. By the time we were
making furniture, moisture was back up to 12 %. Since we dried the wood
down to 8%, when the wood shrink again, there was no more cracking.
As for the chips we are drying, it is a mixed moisture waste coming,
anywhere from 8% to 50%. (Some wood waste comes from dried plywood cut
offs, some from wet cutting veneer, they all go through chipper machine
and mix in the hopper). We try to keep the heat around 200 degrees. Some
very dry wood chips almost torrified. This is something I am still
working on. When we are trying to dry saw dust, sometimes dust stays in
the oven, with high heat and no oxygen, we get torrified saw dust to
make briquettes. One time, the heat was so high, the whole drying system
caught fire. It was scary but educational. But I am learning something
new every day. Drying waste wood chips saves so much waste wood. For the
gasifier, we are still working on torrifying the wood chips in screw
feeder, with a bit more heat.
Regards,,
Robert
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