Kiln is a kind of furnace or oven that is used for hardening, drying, or burning materials such as clay, meal, grain, and wood. It is a process that has been used for centuries for drying wood. Drying wood in a kiln has both benefits and drawbacks as compared to drying the wood through the process of air-drying.
Advantages of Kiln Drying
Modern kilns keep the humidity, temperature and, air flow in check allowing the wood to dry uniformly from all sides while maintaining the required content of moisture in the wood. By using a kiln to dry the wood one can easily avoid the problems linked with air-dried timber. For example, the problem of raised grain caused by air-dried timber can be avoided completely by using a kiln to dry the wood for hardwood floors because the wood can be further refined in machines to give it a superior finish.
Drying wood requires several steps in the process.
Step 1
Make sure that the wood that is supposed be dried is done so in a kiln is of equal size. Woods of different sizes will dry at varying lengths of time which will cause some wood to burn and other planks might stay damp. Also, check if the wood is long enough to fit inside the kiln without touching the inside walls of the kiln. Cut the wood if it is too long to fit.
Step 2
Before placing the wood planks inside the kiln make sure to heat the kiln properly to avoid over drying the wood in a short period of time which may cause cracking and splitting of the wood fibers.
Step 3
Once the kiln is adequately heated place one plank of wood beside another leaving an inch space between the planks.
Step 4
In order to allow the air to flow over the external part of the wood you need to lay stickers which are small boards, on top of the first layer of plank of woods. To avoid the wood planks to become twisted or bent the stickers should be placed at the end of each wood plank.
Step 5
Place the second layer of wood on top of the first layer followed by one more layer of stickers. Make sure that the second layer of a wood plank is also equal in size with the first layer. Continue placing the wood planks inside the kiln in the same order until you have placed all the wood planks inside the kiln.
Step 6
Make sure that the wood planks are thoroughly dry before taking them out of the kiln. Store the wood planks in a dry place before sending them off for further finishing.
By following the given instructions you can dry hardwood planks in a kiln.