Seasoning of Wood

by J. B. Wagner

Test pieces cut from softwoods will dry quicker than those cut from hardwoods.

When the test pieces fail to show any further loss in weight, they are then free from all moisture content.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• American Blower Company, Detroit, Mich.
• Imre, James E., "The Kiln-drying of Gum," The United States Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry.
• National Dry Kiln Company, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Prichard, Reuben P., "The Structure of the Common Woods," The United States Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry, Bulletin No. 3.
• Roth, Filibert, "Timber," The United States Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry, Bulletin No. 10.
• Standard Dry Kiln Company, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Sturtevant Company, B. F., Boston, Mass.
• Tieman, H. D., "The Effects of Moisture upon the Strength and Stiffness of Wood," The United States Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry, Bulletin No. 70.
• Tieman, H. D., "Principles of Kiln-drying Lumber," The United States Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry.
• Tieman, H. D., "The Theory of Drying and its Application, etc.," The United States Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry, Bulletin No. 509.
• The United States Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry, "Check List of the Forest Trees of the United States."
• The United States Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry, Bulletin No. 37.
• Von Schrenk, Herman, "Seasoning of Timbers," The United States Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry, Bulletin No. 41.
• Wagner, J. B., "Cooperage," 1910.

GLOSSARY

• Abnormal. Differing from the usual structure.
• Acuminate. Tapering at the end.
• Adhesion. The union of members of different floral whorls.
• Air-seasoning. The drying of wood in the open air.
• Albumen. A name applied to the food store laid up outside the embryo in many seeds; also nitrogenous organic matter found in plants.
• Alburnam. Sapwood.
• Angiosperms. Those plants which bear their seeds within a pericarp.
• Annual rings. The layers of wood which are added annually to the tree.
• Apartment kiln. A drying arrangement of one or more rooms with openings at each end.
• Arborescent. A tree in size and habit of growth.
• Baffle plate. An obstruction to deflect air or other currents.
• Bastard cut. Tangential cut. Wood of inferior cut.
• Berry. A fruit whose entire pericarp is succulent.
• Blower kiln. A drying arrangement in which the air is blown through heating coils into the drying room.
• Box kiln. A small square heating room with openings in one end only.
• Brittleness. Aptness to break; not tough; fragility.
• Burrow. A shelter; insect's hole in the wood.
• Calorie. Unit of heat; amount of heat which raises the temperature.
• Calyx. The outer whorl of floral envelopes.
• Capillary. A tube or vessel extremely fine or minute.
• Case-harden. A condition in which the pores of the wood are closed and the outer surface dry, while the inner portion is still wet or unseasoned.
• Cavity. A hollow place; a hollow.
• Cell. One of the minute, elementary structures comprising the greater part of plant tissue.
• Cellulose. A primary cell-wall substance.
• Checks. The small chinks or cracks caused by the rupture of the wood fibres.
• Cleft. Opening made by splitting; divided.
• Coarse-grained. Wood is coarse-grained when the annual rings are wide or far apart.
• Cohesion. The union of members of the same floral whorl.
• Contorted. Twisted together.
• Corolla. The inner whorl of floral envelopes.
• Cotyledon. One of the parts of the embryo performing in part the function of a leaf, but usually serving as a storehouse of food for the developing plant.
• Crossers. Narrow wooden strips used to separate the material on kiln cars.
• Cross-grained. Wood is cross-grained when its fibres are spiral or twisted.
• Dapple. An exaggerated form of mottle.
• Deciduous. Not persistent; applied to leaves that fall in autumn and to calyx and corolla when they fall off before the fruit develops.
• Definite. Limited or defined.
• Dew-point. The point at which water is deposited from moisture-laden air.
• Dicotyledon. A plant whose embryo has two opposite cotyledons.
• Diffuse. Widely spreading.
• Disk. A circular, flat, thin piece or section of the tree.
• Duramen. Heartwood.
• Embryo. Applied in botany to the tiny plant within the seed.
• Enchinate. Beset with prickles.
• Expansion. An enlargement across the grain or lengthwise of the wood.
• Fibres. The thread-like portion of the tissue of wood.
• Fibre-saturation point. The amount of moisture wood will imbibe, usually 25 to 30 per cent of its dry-wood weight.
• Figure. The broad and deep medullary rays as in oak showing when the timber is cut into boards.
• Filament. The stalk which supports the anther.
• Fine-grained. Wood is fine-grained when the annual rings are close together or narrow.
• Germination. The sprouting of a seed.
• Girdling. To make a groove around and through the bark of a tree, thus killing it.
• Glands. A secreting surface or structure; a protuberance having the appearance of such an organ.
• Glaucous. Covered or whitened with a bloom.
• Grain. Direction or arrangement of the fibres in wood.
• Grubs. The larvae of wood-destroying insects.
• Gymnosperms. Plants bearing naked seeds; without an ovary.
• Habitat. The geographical range of a plant.
• Heartwood. The central portion of tree.
• Hollow-horning. Internal checking.
• Honeycombing. Internal checking.
• Hot-blast kiln. A drying arrangement in which the air is blown through heating coils into the drying room.
• Humidity. Damp, moist.
• Hygroscopicity. The property of readily imbibing moisture from the atmosphere.
• Indefinite. Applied to petals or other organs when too numerous to be conveniently counted.
• Indigenous. Native to the country.
• Involute. A form of vernation in which the leaf is rolled inward from its edges.
• Kiln-drying. Drying or seasoning of wood by artificial heat in an inclosed room.
• Leaflet. A single division of a compound leaf.
• Limb. The spreading portion of the tree.
• Lumen. Internal space in the spring- and summer-wood fibres.
• Median. Situated in the middle.
• Medulla. The pith.
• Medullary rays. Rays of fundamental tissue which connect the pith with the bark.
• Membranous. Thin and rather soft, more or less translucent.
• Midrib. The central or main rib of a leaf.
• Moist-air kiln. A drying arrangement in which the heat is taken from radiating coils located inside the drying room.
• Mottle. Figure transverse of the fibres, probably caused by the action of wind upon the tree.
• Non-porous. Without pores.
• Oblong. Considerably longer than broad, with flowing outline.
• Obtuse. Blunt, rounded.
• Oval. Broadly elliptical.
• Ovary. The part of the pistil that contains the ovules.
• Parted. Cleft nearly, but not quite to the base or midrib.
• Parenchyma. Short cells constituting the pith and pulp of the tree.
• Pericarp. The walls of the ripened ovary, the part of the fruit that encloses the seeds.
• Permeable. Capable of being penetrated.
• Petal. One of the leaves of the corolla.
• Pinholes. Small holes in the wood caused by worms or insects.
• Pistil. The modified leaf or leaves which bear the ovules; usually consisting of ovary, style and stigma.
• Plastic. Elastic, easily bent.
• Pocket kilns. Small drying rooms with openings on one end only and in which the material to be dried is piled directly on the floor.
• Pollen. The fertilizing powder produced by the anther.
• Pores. Minute orifices in wood.
• Porous. Containing pores.
• Preliminary steaming. Subjecting wood to a steaming process before drying or seasoning.
• Progressive kiln. A drying arrangement with openings at both ends, and in which the material enters at one end and is discharged at the other.
• Rick. A pile or stack of lumber.
• Rift. To split; cleft.
• Ring shake. A large check or crack in the wood following an annual ring.
• Roe. A peculiar figure caused by the contortion of the woody fibres, and takes a wavy line parallel to them.
• Sapwood. The outer portions of the tree next to the bark; alburnam.
• Saturate. To cause to become completely penetrated or soaked.
• Season checks. Small openings in the ends of the wood caused by the process of drying.
• Seasoning. The process by which wood is dried or seasoned.
• Seedholes. Minute holes in wood caused by wood-destroying worms or insects.
• Shake. A large check or crack in wood caused by the action of the wind on the tree.
• Shrinkage. A lessening or contraction of the wood substance.
• Skidways. Material set on an incline for transporting lumber or logs.
• Species. In science, a group of existing things, associated according to properties.
• Spermatophyta. Seed-bearing plants.
• Spring-wood. Wood that is formed in the spring of the year.
• Stamen. The pollen-bearing organ of the flower, usually consisting of filament and anther.
• Stigma. That part of the pistil which receives the pollen.
• Style. That part of the pistil which connects the ovary with the stigma.
• Taproot. The main root or downward continuation of the plant axis.
• Temporary checks. Checks or cracks that subsequently close.
• Tissue. One of the elementary fibres composing wood.
• Thunder shake. A rupture of the fibres of the tree across the grain, which in some woods does not always break them.
• Tornado shake. (See Thunder shake.)
• Tracheids. The tissues of the tree which consist of vertical cells or vessels closed at one end.
• Warping. Turning or twisting out of shape.
• Wind shake. (See Thunder shake.)
• Working. The shrinking and swelling occasioned in wood.
• Wormholes. Small holes in wood caused by wood-destroying worms.
• Vernation. The arrangement of the leaves in the bud.
• Whorl. An arrangement of organs in a circle about a central axis.

INDEX OF LATIN NAMES

• Abies amabalis, [21]
• Abies balsamea, [20]
• Abies concolor, [20]
• Abies grandis, [20]
• Abies magnifica, [21]
• Abies nobilis, [21]
• Acer macrophyllum, [69]
• Acer negundo, [69]
• Acer Pennsylvanicum, [70]
• Acer rubrum, [69]
• Acer saccharinum, [69]
• Acer saccharum, [68]
• Acer spicatum, [69]
• Æsculus flava, [45]
• Æsculus glabra, [45]
• Æsculus octandra, [45]
• Ailanthus glandulosa, [37]
• Asimina triloba, [76]
• Betula lenta, [41]
• Betula lutea, [42]
• Betula nigra, [43]
• Betula papyrifera, [43]
• Betula populifolia, [42]
• Betula rubra, [43]
• Buxus sempervirens, [77]
• Carpinus Caroliana, [44]
• Castanea Americana, [48]
• Castanea chrysophylla, [49]
• Castanea dentata, [48]
• Castanea pumila, [48]
• Castanea vesca, [48]
• Castanea vulgaris, [48]
• Catalpa bignonioides, [46]
• Catalpa speciosa, [46]
• Celtis occidentalis, [62]
• Chamæcyparis Lawsonia, [18]
• Chamæcyparis thyoides, [17]
• Cladrastis lutea, [85]
• Cornus florida, [49]
• Cupressus nootkatensis, [18]
• Diospyros Virginia, [77]
• Evonymus atropurpureus, [82]
• Fagus ferruginea, [40]
• Fraxinus Americana, [37]
• Fraxinus Caroliniana, [39]
• Fraxinus nigra, [38]
• Fraxinus Oregana, [38]
• Fraxinus Pennsylvanica, [38]
• Fraxinus pubescens, [38]
• Fraxinus quadrangulata, [38]
• Fraxinus sambucifolia, [38]
• Fraxinus viridis, [38]
• Gleditschia triacanthos, [66]
• Gymnocladus dioicus, [49]
• Hicoria alba, [64]
• Hicoria glabra, [64]
• Hicoria minima, [64]
• Hicoria ovata, [64]
• Hicoria pecan, [64]
• Ilex monticolo, [65]
• Ilex opaca, [64]
• Juglans cinerea, [45]
• Juglans nigra, [82]
• Juniperus communis, [19]
• Juniperus Virginiana, [18]
• Larix Americana, [22]
• Larix laricina, [22]
• Larix occidentalis, [22]
• Libocedrus decurrens, [18]
• Liquidamber styraciflua, [54]
• Liriodendron tulipfera, [81]
• Maclura aurantiaca, [76]
• Magnolia acuminata, [67]
• Magnolia glauca, [67]
• Magnolia tripetala, [67]
• Morus rubra, [70]
• Nyssa aquatica, [60]
• Nyssa sylvatica, [62]
• Ostrya Virginiana, [65]
• Oxydendrum arboreum, [80]
• Picea alba, [28]
• Picea canadensis, [28]
• Picea engelmanni, [28]
• Picea mariana, [27]
• Picea nigra, [27]
• Picea rubens, [28]
• Picea sitchensis, [28]
• Pinus banksiana, [27]

• Pinus cubensis, [26]
• Pinus divaricata, [27]
• Pinus enchinata, [26]
• Pinus flexilis, [24]
• Pinus inops, [27]
• Pinus Jeffreyi, [25]
• Pinus Lambertiana, [24]
• Pinus monticolo, [24]
• Pinus Murryana, [27]
• Pinus palustris, [24]
• Pinus ponderosa, [25]
• Pinus resinosa, [25]
• Pinus rigida, [26]
• Pinus strobus, [23]
• Pinus tæda, [25]
• Pinus Virginiana, [27]
• Platanus occidentalis, [80]
• Platanus racemosa, [81]
• Populus alba, [79]
• Populus angulata, [77]
• Populus balsamifera, [79]
• Populus fremontii, [78]
• Populus grandidentata, [79]
• Populus heteropylla, [78]
• Populus monilifera, [77]
• Populus nigra italica, [79]
• Populus tremuloides, [79]
• Populus trichocarpa, [78]
• Populus Wislizeni, [78]
• Prunus Pennsylvanica, [47]
• Prunus serotina, [47]
• Pseudotsuga douglasii, [29]
• Pseudotsuga taxifolia, [29]
• Pyrus coronaria, [49]
• Quercus acuminata, [73]
• Quercus alba, [71]
• Quercus aquatica, [73]
• Quercus bicolor, [72]
• Quercus chrysolepis, [76]
• Quercus coccinea, [75]
• Quercus digitata, [75]
• Quercus durandii, [71]
• Quercus falcata, [75]
• Quercus garryana, [71]
• Quercus ilicijolia, [74]
• Quercus imbricaria, [75]
• Quercus lobata, [72]
• Quercus lyrata, [73]
• Quercus macrocarpa, [72]
• Quercus marilandica, [75]
• Quercus Michauxii, [74]
• Quercus minor, [74]
• Quercus nigra, [75]
• Quercus obtusiloda, [74]
• Quercus palustris, [73]
• Quercus phellos, [72]
• Quercus platanoides, [72]
• Quercus prinoides, [74]
• Quercus prinus, [73]
• Quercus pumila, [74]
• Quercus rubra, [74]
• Quercus tinctoria, [74]
• Quercus velutina, [74]
• Quercus virens, [75]
• Rhamnus Caroliniana, [45]
• Robinia pseudacacia, [66]
• Robinia viscosa, [66]
• Salix alba, [83]
• Salix amygdaloides, [84]
• Salix babylonica, [84]
• Salix bebbiana, [84]
• Salix discolor, [84]
• Salix fluviatilis, [84]
• Salix fragilis, [84]
• Salix lucida, [84]
• Salix nigra, [83]
• Salix rostrata, [84]
• Salix vitellina, [83]
• Sassafras sassafras, [80]
• Sequoia sempervirens, [19]
• Taxodium distinchum, [19]
• Taxus brevifolia, [30]
• Thuya gigantea, [17]
• Thuya occidentalis, [17]
• Tilia Americana, [39]
• Tilia heterophylla, [39]
• Tilia pubescens, [39]
• Tsuga canadensis, [21]
• Tsuga mertensiana, [21]
• Ulmus alata, [51]
• Ulmus Americana, [50]
• Ulmus crassifolia, [51]
• Ulmus fulva, [51]
• Ulmus pubescens, [51]
• Ulmus racemosa, [50]
• Umbellularia Californica, [65]

INDEX