[Proc. Rot. Soc. Victoria, 32 (N.S.), Pt. I., 1919]. 



Art. XXII. — On the Seasoning of Hardwoods. 



By R. T. PATTON, B.Sc. 



[Read 11th September, 1919]. 



The results given in this paper do not claim to settle, in any 

 "way, the question of seasoning, but are rather a record of accu- 

 rate observations made on our timber when treated in various ways. 

 In the discussions on seasoning, opinion is more often quoted than 

 -observation. 



Steaming of timber, prior to seasoning, has many advocates, and 

 this process has been given a good deal of attention. In the Botani- 

 ^cal Laboratory, we have only been able to use 2 ft. lengths, but I 

 • do not think that this has any marked effect on the result. It may, 

 1 however, since the wood vessels in the tall eucalypts are very long, 

 and hence the steam may find its way right, into the wood. If the 

 w^ood be saturated with moisture, when it is put into the steam 

 bath, it is difficult to see how the wood could dry, since the air 

 is also saturated. On the other hand, if the wood be partly sea- 

 : soned, then it ought to take up moisture. The latter case was not 

 investigated. In the former case, however, all specimens weighed 

 •approximately the same when taken out as when put in. Steaming 

 may, as Tiemann points out, prove a ready means of heating the 

 wood, but the same result could probably be secured in another 

 way. In the former experiments, the results of which are pub- 

 lished in the Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus 

 regnans) was. mainly used," but in this series Messmate (E. obliqua) 

 was mainly used. The general results are the same. In the first 

 place there is ao acceleration of drying after steaming. Typical 

 -•examples are given below. The weights are given as percentages 

 '•of original weight. The boards were 6 in. x 1 in. Messmate, and 

 nvere all cut from the same length of timber^ 







Treatment. 







Date 



In air 



% 



24 hrs. in steam 



% 



Air 



% 



48 hrs. in steam 

 % 



4/11/18 



100 



100 



100 



100 



9/11/18 



91.5 



87.5 



90.9 



89.3 



19/11/18 



82.8 



82.7 



83.8 



80.8 



29/11/18 



77.4 



75.8 



76.7 



75.5 



16/12/18 



68.8 



69.0 



69.7 



68.1 



8/1/19 



65.6 



65.5 



66.7 



63.8 



28/1/19 



64.5 



64 4 



65.6 



62.8 



14/2/19 



64.5 



64.4 



64.7 



63.8 



