Introduction
Across Australia, hardwood producers process and dry a wide variety of native hardwood species into high quality visual and commodity structural products.
Like the species they process, these producers vary considerably in their skill, capacity and potential. However, to produce stable timber to an acceptable market grade consistently and profitably, they all face the same challenges:
- Australian hardwoods are natural materials with variable properties. This variability has to be recognized and managed;
- The timber from Australia's hardwoods must be dried from its original unseasoned condition to a moisture content suitable for its intended use if it is to remain stable;
- The timber must generally be dried slowly and with care. If the timber is subject to significant adverse conditions at any time as it dries, it may be damaged and lose value; and
- The producer needs to recover the maximum volume and value of dry material efficiently from the wood resource they have available.
To address these, the drying process must be managed and conducted effectively and efficiently. This is not the job of a single person. It must be the responsibility of everyone involved in the process. This requires that a 'best practice' approach be used.
Aim of the manual
'Best practice' in hardwood drying is a set of operations established and conducted to achieve high grade results in product quality and recovery, flexibility, innovation, cost, and competitiveness, through the cooperation of management and employees in all key aspects of the process.
This manual aims to provide guidance in establishing this set of operations. It outlines:
- economic and feasible technologies for increasing recovery and reducing avoidable loss during processing from the log to the finished board; and
- mechanisms that allow production value to be optimised in mills of disparate size.
The manual only deals with issues that materially affect the practice of drying timber. However, guidance in some sections is limited by:
- the diversity of producer capability, location, equipment and products;
- the range and variability of the species processed; and
- the state of knowledge. In many areas, it has not been possible to verify the benefits of one method of practice over another at all location.
The manual structure
This manual is arranged into modules that generally match the major work areas of the hardwood drying processes, such as the log yard and air drying.
Each module is generally designed to be a self contained document. Each module is then structured into discrete parts:
Objectives: |
This part includes a description of actions covered in the module and lists the performance requirements for those actions.
The performance requirements provide the gauge by which any practice should be judged. |
Management: |
This part includes a general description of the theory, background and equipment relevant to the actions covered in the module.
It then details the management decisions relevant to the performance requirements, the procedures that need to be in place and the information that should be collected. |
Operations: |
This part includes a brief description of the background to action in the area and the things that need to be done to comply with the performance requirements.
It also lists things that need to be checked and paperwork that needs to be completed. |
Checklists: |
This part includes checklists that can be used in assessing performance in the actions covered in the module. Not all sections have checklists. |
Avoidable Loss: |
This part shows what goes wrong when the practice does not match the performance requirements. It shows why certain things should be done, and why others should be avoided. |
References: |
This part lists the references used in preparing the module. |
