Vacuum-press drying of thick softwood lumbers

In vacuum-press drying of softwood species, wood temperature exhibited a low temperature gradient, and plateau temperature of core lasted during all stages of drying. The drying curves were close to "linear". The drying rates of the short lumbers were higher for red pine and western hemlock, lower for white pine, and similar for larch lumber compared to the long ones. Transverse and longitudinal moisture gradients were small for western hemlock and red pine, and great for larch and white pine lumber. Energy consumption curves were split into three sections: increasing moderately, fairly constant and increasing rapidly. Casehardening stress of dried lumber occurred very slightly. Dried lumbers exhibited strong tendency for fine end checking, slight surface checking and no internal checking. Shrinkage appeared to be low.