Development of Kiln Schedules to Eliminate the Development of Internal Checking in Radiata Pine Boards

Kiln schedule development was based on two schedule phases, the first being to determine the maximum safe kiln temperature during the check prone initial stage of drying, with the second stage determining how to accelerate drying once the danger of checking had passed. This was achieved by using 38 mm thick boards which were pre-screened for susceptibility to internal checking, and then drying matched sample boards over a range of kiln temperatures. Research has shown that below 50% MC there is no further risk of internal checking. However, difference in drying rate due to board width and the increased occurrence of wet patches in wide boards means that it is essential to modify the basic schedule according to the maximum board width. A condition of 52/40 $^{\circ}C$ was selected for the checking-free initial kiln drying step and a 5-step kiln-schedule dried the boards from 109% to 8% MC for 72.5 hours without internal checking.