Effect of Kerfing and Incising Pretreatments on High-Temperature Drying Characteristics of Cedar and Larch Boxed-Heart Timbers with Less than 150 mm in Cross Section Size

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify the effect of kerfing and incising pretreatments on high-temperature drying characteristics of cedar and larch boxed-heart timbers with a cross section of less than 150 mm. The result showed that the pretreatments have made a significant difference regarding surface check and shrinkage. Although the kerfing was suitable as a pretreatment to reduce the occurrence of surface check, the incising was not suitable as a pretreatment since the knives of timber joined together, causing the conversion to the surface checks. The shrinkage showed a significant result that the final moisture content was reduced in the order of incising, kerfing, and kerfing-incising after the drying process based on the pretreatment condition. Twist was more affected by the grain angle than the anisotropy of the juvenile wood, and there was no effect of pretreatments.