Q: I am using hard maple lumber and our design requires the wood to be as white as possible. Indeed, the lumber looks white when it is kiln dried and rough, but after we plane it, it is darker (almost gray). The light color we want is only on the outside. I have several questions about our drying operation. 1. Can hard maple be kiln dried in the summer when it is very humid and hot? 2. Should the sawmill sticker the lumber right after they saw it, dry it for a few days to a week, then unstack it and ship it to us, and then we restack it? 3. Is there a part of the country that grows whiter maple?

Q: Can you recommend something to eradicate wood worms before they transfer to another piece of furniture? The infected piece is a large rectangular table that we made. The homeowner called and I saw the damage. I cannot heat the table to 140 F because the table is so large, so what else can I do?

Lightweight, bendable, relatively weak.

Q: We have some 3-inch cherry squares that have end checks that may be as long as 4 inches. We used an end coating, but we still got these checks. I have attached a kiln schedule that our operator uses. What next?

Q: We manufacture hardwood furniture and the market is quite slow. Maybe you have some ideas to help us in a slow market? We have excess kiln capacity and wonder what you think about doing some custom kiln drying or drying lumber and selling KD lumber.

Q: We are having a few open joints when we veneer maple to a particleboard core. But when we glue pine, we do not have any problems. I think that perhaps the maple is too wet?

Q: We make dining tables (two pieces with a leaf) that we send to Arizona. We are having trouble with a gap developing in Arizona at the edges of where the leaf joins the two permanent top pieces; the center of the leaf fits tightly. These tables are tight all along the joint when they leave Minnesota. Our plant is 40 to 45 percent RH, which seems to keep the tops in good shape here. The MC of the tops here in Minnesota is 5.2 percent MC, checked with a pin-type moisture meter. We store our tops before we finish them in an unheated warehouse. Could the cold have any effect?

Q: We are getting a lot of chipped grain with our newly purchased (used) planer. Our knife angles seem okay. We are feeding at 45 fpm which is quite slow. Can you help?