by Olly Wilson
I’m currently improving the lower yard here at Logie Timber, where we store our hardwood whilst it is air drying. This has been on my to do list since I started here at Logie TImber.
The drying process is a very important part of the hardwoods process (Though I find myself saying this about every part of the process). During its air drying, it is not only drying down to moisture percentage in the low 20s, which takes roughly a year per 25 mm of thickness, it is relaxing!
As a tree grows in its changing environment, it builds tension in order to hold its weight. Some of this tension is released in milling, but as the Timber dries more is released, causing it to twist and bend. This is why it’s important to stack it well and lie it flat. The flatter it sits while drying, the flatter the board will be at the end. This means there will be less waste material once the board is kilned and being finished.
The current improvements we are doing at the bottom yard involve levelling out the hard-core and laying bearers that will keep the timber 200mm off the ground. In giving it a nice firm base we can stack up packs higher, this way there’s more weight on top of the boards to keep them flat.
So when you next come to the mill take a look at our rows of hardwood down Elm DRY-ve and Boule Aven-YEW.
