"Just wanted to thank you all for your input on drying my burl. At this point I don't feel as though I could have found two more knowledgeable people than Dennis and Garrett Socling. Garrett sent me a few photos after a week in the "chamber" and the degrade appears to be non existent or minimal at best. Gotta love this technology. I can't wait to see the finished product. If it holds together (and I expect it will) this process will stand as a real milestone in drying technology. Not that I know much about drying but after talking to at least a dozen experts and getting an equal number of conflicting opinions, if we are successful, this will effectively set some new standards in the drying world. I can't imagine why anyone would want to use traditional methods of air drying for several years then kiln drying for several months if vacuum drying can be so effective with such quick turnaround. Thanks again Dennis." - Parker Converse, Parker Converse Custom Rocking Chairs

New Zealand Sustainable Forest Products LP of Reefton, New Zealand had a lightly used VacDry 1.25 they'd originally acquired for research and development before expanding to four VacDry 4.0m vacuum kilns.  This kiln is currently being installed in Australia. The new owners are a brand new company which plans on cornering a market. They are about to receive their new VK3.5.

The VacDry 1.25 will be installed alongside the new kiln and will provide the same service that it did more than a decade ago. It will be used to optimize existing drying schedules and it will be used to develop new schedules for new species. Some of the Eucalyptus that these guys have are very hard to dry.

As we did in New Zealand, we will operate the Research & Development kiln in Australia from here in Pennsylvania. At the same time, we will be doing our usual new-kiln-monitoring and operator training through our computers interface to the customer’s kilns.

Chinese-built radio frequency vacuum (RF/V) wood dry kilns

by Dennis Socling

Let me state up front that I have never operated a Chinese-built RF/V kiln, but I used to be responsible for the operation of eight 5000 boardfoot American-built PowerDry RF/V kilns in the early 1980s.  As the president of PCS VacDry and having to fight against decades of 'bad press' that poorly engineered vacuum kilns have generated, I have an interest in seeing this outdated and compromised RF/V design get the notoriety I believe it deserves.

I have come across two companies in North America who have recently purchased Chinese-built radio frequency vacuum kilns because of the Chinese claims that they are great kilns, combined with a ridiculously low price. After a discussion with one of our potential customers in Australia and discovering they had decided to buy the Chinese RF/V kiln, I decided it was time to set the record straight: substantial compromises were made to reach a price point. 

We've recently revamped and expanded our VacDry vacuum kiln lineup.  During this process, we realized that our old model naming convention was becoming increasingly convoluted and was not particularly intuitive.  We've gone through and attempted (feedback is always appreciated!) to standardize things such that when looking at a VacDry VK#.# model designation, the basic characteristics are more obvious.

From the Wood Education and Resource Center website:

The Wood Education and Resource Center, located in Princeton, WV is a USDA Forest Service facility with offices, training facilities, and a rough mill. The WERC mission is to facilitate interaction and information exchange with the forest products industry to enhance opportunities for sustained forest products production in the eastern hardwood forest region of the United States.
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