KILNS FOR DRYING TIMBER

Hokitika Guardian, 9 December 1929, Page 2

KILNS FOR DRYING TIMBER

RAILWAY ENTERPRISE. BIG INCREASE IN USEFUL PRODUCT. WELLINGTON, Dec. (5. The Minister of Railways, the Hon. W. B. Taverner, states that the Railway Department will install kiln-dry-ing timber plant in the North and South Islands, one at Otahuhu and another at Addington, at a cost of about £IO,OOO each, for the treatment of departmental supplies df New Zealand timber. The plant will readily be ca]>able of extension to treat timber for other departments. Mr Taverner remarked that as he was also Commissioner of State Forests he was doubly interested in this attempt to widen the range of use for New Zealand timbers. “The Railway Department is convinced that it will benefit by securing better-conditional, more-lasting timber for its constructional work,” lie said “and by cleaner as well as more effective conditioning kiln-drying will allow indigenous timber to repleace a great deal of imported timber, and will render useful for constructional purposes a considerable amount of sap wood and non-heart grades, that would emerge as an inferior product ifrom the old seasoning process of air-drying.

GREATER USE OF TIMBER. “It is well known that the New Zealand timber industry in its attempts to secure higher utilisation of the tree and, therefore, better economies, lias in some eases found a difficult problem in the comparatively small percentage of heart. Any conditioning process that will secure higher results from non-heart timber, the profitable disposal of which has been a longstanding trouble with sawmillers, will therefore be of vital help to the industry, and I hope these two kilns will become of national importance, in that they will provide the constructional shops of the Railway Department witlr better timber at less seasoning cost, make available (for them a greater proportion of New Zealand timber and inspire the timber industry and all wood users with the idea of higher utilisatiofi and greater economy through the medium of artificial drying. Evidence of the success of kiln-drying abroad is complete. The evidence of its success ns applied to 'New Zealand timbers is not as complete as it might be. I hope that this will no longer be the case when the Railway Department’s kiln-drying is in full operation. I wish’ to emphasise that in this enterprise the Department has the valuable co-operation of the Department of Forestry.” HIGHER SERVICE AT LOWER COST. “Kiln-drying,” continued Mr Taverner, “will enable a direct financial economy to be effected. Substantial though this saying is, the better service, the longer life and lower maintenance cost that may be expected from, vehicles constructed with kilndried timber is far more important Compared with air-dried timber, economy will be effected in the milling process in the workshops, because with the kiln-dried article there will be less warping and shrinkage. A more regular product will be treated in the workmilling timber that afterwards proves unserviceable will be cut out.

LESS FOREIGN TIMBER, “As to the using of a higher proportion of New Zealand timber an approximate analysis of the two million feet to he used annually at the Otalnihu woikshops indicates that without kilns it will include 350.000 feet of imported hardwoods. With' kilns that figure will fall to 100,000 feet. Without kilns the requirement of scarce and costly kauri will he 500,000 feet and rinni 600,000, but with the kilns kauri can be reduced to 1C 1,000 feet, while rimu will be increased to 100,000 feet. As rimu is the timber in principal production in New Zealand, and a timber intimately wrapped up with the non-heart problem these, figures are very informative and will I think, be widely noticed and appreciated.

“Continuing the comparision, the use of kilns will, it is estimated, increase the use of totara from 150,000 feet to 200,000 feet, increase matai from 100,000 feet to 200,000 feet, increase rata or maire from 100,00 feet to 200,000 feet, and will reduce the quantity of imported timber to a corresponding extent, as kiln-drying should make 'not only for greater utilisateion of the non-heart portion of a tree, but also the greater utilisation of the varieties of trees in a native forest. Sonic New Zealand timbers are not suitable for the Kailway Department’s purposes when air-sea spued, hut become so when kiln-dried. AIR-DRYING AND PE-573.

“Coming to the point of salvage of non-heart timbers, it has to be borne in mind that the time taken by airseasoning relative - to kiln-drying not only means money, but means also greater risk to such timbers from exposure. because sapwoods arc susceptible to the attack of pests while being air-seasoned. It is expected that kilndrying will altogether overcome that difficulty and will provide a sufficiency of the standard finished product, while reducing timber stocks and storage space required for air-seasoning, and will he both better and cheaper for the Department, besides assisting an important New Zealand industry.”