Must pine be kiln dried?

[Workman]

I have about a 1000 feet of (old growth) pine professionally resawn from huge timbers taken out of a Civil War era dam. It has air dried for two years. Must it be kiln dried to seal any resins, etc. before use? What did the old timers do before modern lumber kilns? I know they used pine! This stuff is beautiful with interesting mineral streaking from submersion. Little or no decay or cracking in widths approx. 12".

[Russianwolf]

I don't think you NEED kiln dried.

I would grab a piece and surface it then let it sit for about a week. If you haven't had any resins/sap show up by then, you should be good to go.

If the wood isn't stickered, grab a piece from the middle as it will be the most "wet".

[LCHIEN]

I think kiln drying is just a speedier way of drying than air-drying. If its dry enough by air-drying then it probably doesn't need to be dried further with a kiln.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

A moisture meter would be very friendly here. Loring is right. Dry is dry, kiln just gets there quicker. You will likely want to seal your projects with a good coat or two of shellac as its supposed to be pretty good at controling pine sap, etc.

[blame]

Hi workman

in my experience with pine i've had cut by my neighbor on his sawmill 2 years ago and its been sitting air drying outside under a heavy black rubber tarp (The type they use to cover semi trailers) and its still full of sap but i think it has alot to do with when the trees where cut mine where cut in spring when the sap was first rising

and there really pretty boards some as wide as 24" but most are 12 to 15"

blame