Drying wood down to 0% humidity?

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pmg
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Drying wood down to 0% humidity?

Post by pmg »

Hi,

had another of my strange ideas.

While drying some epoxy I put on the wood cores in my heat box I noticed quite a lot of condensed water on the colder parts of the heat box. Only source I can think of are the wood cores.

The cores have a humidity of 8%, so quite dry already. But what if the humidity could be put to 0% without too much effort?
In my case this would have 2 advantages:
1) saving a bit of weight
2) no need to seal the core prior to pouring the sidewall

Well, my idea was to use my heat box (which can do about 70-75°C) and some of that humidity "soaking" salt to take the humidity from the air.

So, before I give this a try, has anyone tried it before or has some knowledge on this? 2 issues I can think of are
- it just does not work (industry uses ovens which go up to 180°C to get wood to 0%)
- mechanical properties decrease when humidity gets too low.

Regards
Philipp
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falls
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Post by falls »

I think if wood is too dry it will be brittle. It's important to dry it, but I think you can dry it too much.
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MontuckyMadman
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Post by MontuckyMadman »

Pretty sure it just splits and falls apart. You gonna lam the core first or try and dry boards?
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vinman
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Post by vinman »

I keep my cores in a closed room with a dehumidifier that keeps the wood moisture content in the single digits.

I agree with MM and falls, too low would cause it to check and split, possibly pulling your glue joints apart if they are not bonded well.
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