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Drying Plain and Quartered Oak 



The man wlio would ilo thorough and scientific drying of oak 

 lumber for cabinet or millwork must make it a point to separate 

 his plain oak from his quartered oak. 



With the upper grades this is commonly done in the process of 

 grading so that it is easy enough to keep and handle it separately 

 in drying if one would but just think about it and provide for it. 

 Sometimes in the lower grades plain and quartered oak is mixed, 

 and sometimes a plain oak board may have a quartered strip along 

 one edge of it. This makes a bad combination for proper drj-ing. 

 Opinions and results of experiments on drying plain and quar- 

 tered oak di6fer because of different local conditions and view- 

 points, but all who have experimented with thorough drying such 

 as should be done for cabinet and millwork know there is quite a 

 difference between drying quartered oak and plain oak. One 

 manufacturer who makes a product calling for practically bone-dry 

 stuff, and works both plain and quartered oak, says that it takes 

 him just about three times as long to dry quartered oak as it 

 does plain oak. The drying is done in the same kiln, but not at 

 the same time unless he can arrange to get what plain oak he has 

 to dry on the first truck so that it can be taken out when it is dry 

 and the quartered stock left in. To mix a few plain oak boards 

 in with the quartered stock means that they will be honeycombed 

 and ruined in the process of drying. 



When the plain and quartered oak is dried in the same kiln 

 some difference is made in the temperature, but the main difference 

 is in the time and the amount of moisture. More steam, or rather 

 more moisture, is used in the drj'ing of plain oak and the drying 

 is done in practically one-third of the time that is required to dry 

 quartered oak. 



It is easy enough to understand that it takes longer to dry quar- 

 tered oak than it does to dry plain oak and that the two should 

 not be mixed together and dried at the same time. The explana- 

 tion of why this is may not be so easy for some to understand, 

 and yet it is logical enough. The splash lines in the quartered oak 

 prevent the moisture escaping freely through the sides of the 

 boards and because of this the moisture must be gotten out 

 mainly through the edges and ends of the boards. Experiments 

 have shown that it takes considerably longer to dry wide stock 

 in quartered oak than it does narrow stock, which is proof enough 

 that quite a percentage of the moisture is taken out through the 

 edges. In plain oak the splash lines run through the thickness of 

 the board and the moisture can be drawn out through the sides 

 and the ends instead of through the edges and the ends as is the 

 case with the quartered oak. The annual rings of growth with 

 the hard and soft streaks are not the same check to moisture that 

 the splash lines prove to be, consequently the drying can be car- 

 ried on much more rapidly, and while in every case it may not be 

 accomplished in a third of the time on plain oak that is required 

 on quartered oak, in every case where thorough drying is accom- 

 plished it will be found that the plain oak can be dried easier 

 and quicker than the quartered oak. 



The moisture-resisting nature of the splash line in quartered oak 

 is well attested by the fact that in making staves for whiskey 

 barrels this is one of the important points taken into consideration 

 in inspecting and grading the staves. A really good stave must 

 have three splash lines showing in its thickness extending through 

 it from edge to edge, and all of them must be so that there is no 

 chance for moisture to work in between two splash line figures 

 on the inside and reach the outer surface of the staves. It is the 

 splash line in the white oak staves that prevents the alcohol 

 from penetrating and keeps down the loss from evaporation. Natu- 

 rally if it will do that it is a pretty strong check against the driv 

 ing out of the native moisture of the tree through the sides in 

 drying. 



Those who just reduce oak lumber to shipping dryness or to what 

 may be called fairly dry may not fully appreciate the distinction 

 made here between drying quartered and plain oak. Many of 



them, too, may not understand fully the difference between getting 

 oak lumber fairly dry and getting it thoroughly dry. 



It is perhaps safe to say that ninety per cent of the troubles in 

 mill and cabinet work with swelling and shrinking and warping 

 are due to lack of thorough drying. Many people do not seem to 

 realize that most of the shrinking of oak lumber is done after it 

 passes the fairly dry stage— between that and the thoroughly dry 

 stage. This is true of other lumber also, and it is one of the things 

 that gave the manufacturers of oak flooring a great advantage 

 over those of pine flooring. Wlien manufacturers of pine flooring 

 think they have finished their drying they have just about 

 reached the stage in the drying process where the manufacturer 

 of first-class oak is beginning to do serious work. The manufac- 

 turer of high-grade oak flooring realizes that if he would have his 

 stock fit snugly and not show those unsightly cracks that spoil a 

 finished floor, he must get his lumber so dry that there is no more 

 moisture in it. He soon learns, too, that to stop drying just a little 

 too soon will spoil the quality of his flooring because there is a 

 greater percentage of shrinkage to the amount of moisture taken 

 out in the final stages of the drying than during any other period. 

 This is the point that some manufacturers of flooring stumble 

 over and thus injure the flooring business, not merely by the process 

 of cheapening the product, but mainly because they deliver to the 

 public a finished product not thoroughly dry, that will afterward 

 do enough shrinking to make it unsightly and to give the oak 

 flooring business a black eye. 



This same shortcoming is noted in cabinet and planing mill work, 

 perhaps much more of it than many suspect, and certainly consid- 

 erably more than there ought to be. To make up and finish good 

 cabinet or millwork today calls for so much investment in the way 

 of raw material cost and work bill that the effort should not be 

 wasted and the result spoiled through a lack of thoroughness and 

 efficiency in drying. The drying process should be made thorough 

 and complete. This should be the first consideration, and then 

 there are various other facts that enter, such as drying to prevent 

 undue checking and to guard against unnecessary hardening of the 

 wood in the process. To get these and the other things as they 

 should be the first step in the process of drj-ing oak is to separate 

 all the plain oak from the quartered, and wherever practical, use 

 different kilns for it or the same kiln at different times. If it 

 becomes necessary to put both plain oak and quartered oak in the 

 dry kiln at once keep the plain oak to itself at the front so that 

 it can be taken out when it is dry. 



It would not be a bad idea in drying the quartered oak to assort 

 it with the wide stock separate from the narrow strips and so 

 arrange it as to give the wide stock longer time in the kiln. This 

 is not so imperative as the matter of separating the plain from 

 the quartered, but it is a point worth keeping in mind and 

 experimenting with when there is an opportunity J. C. T. 



Weeds and Woods 



Emerson defines a weed as a plant whose virtues have not been 

 discovered. This definition will apply with equal force to our so- 

 called inferior woods. If the properties of every wood were fully 

 known and then each kind were employed only for the purposes to 

 which it is naturally adapted the drain on our forests would be 

 materially lessened. 



Another definition of a weed is that it is a plant misplaced. 

 Dandelions on well-kept lawns are a pest but cultivated in our 

 gardens they become a vegetable of considerable worth. Some 

 wobds with positive merit when employed alone are a source of 

 trouble when mixed indiscriminately with better kinds. In the em- 

 ployment of such mixtures in construction the factor of safety 

 called for by the specifications must be large enough to cover the 

 weakest wood, thereby involving a waste of the better kinds 

 which we can least afford to waste. 



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