Wood may seem like an attractive fuel for heating your shop or home, but you should know the facts

Q: I'm looking for acceptable practices of testing the moisture content of KD lumber.

Q: In order to increase yields in the rough mill with a rip first operation, we have asked our people that mark the strips for our automatic chop saws to mark as close to the knots as possible. Indeed, this increased yield, but the grain around the knots was especially hard to glue and with the yield emphasis, we are getting more of this rough grain. The bottom line is that we have increased our gluing failures. We want to confirm our observations. Does this make sense to you?

Q: What causes checks in white oak lumber? I am referring specifically to checks that are open at the end of drying. Can these be closed?

Q: In our manufacturing of mouldings, we use red oak and are in the process of trying to monitor casehardening. What is the easiest test to do for this? Prong? Cup? Other? Also, what is the frequency recommended for doing this test? And should the supplier be able to provide us with this information normally based on their testing or drying process?