Proper Wood Drying Process
The moisture content of the wood material determine the quality of the furniture, no matter if its solid wood dining table, solid wood coffee table or solid wood bed frame. If the material is not adequately dried, the material will have a much higher tendency of warping, cracking and more susceptible to future insect attack. Thus we take additional steps to dry our material before supplying our solid wood furniture to local Singapore and overseas.
Step 1: Cutting Solid Wood Logs At The Sawmill
Collectif Designs cutting solid wood log at sawmill
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Solid wood log being cut into solid wood slabs
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At the very beginning of the process, all our solid wood comes in log form. Keeping the log form as it is will take a very long time for the wood to lose its moisture content to the atmosphere. Therefore we cut the wood logs into wood slabs to increase the the surface area of the wood, which will shorten the time taken for the slabs evaporate away the moisture content.
Step 2: Collectif Designs Outdoor Drying Area
Collectif Designs outdoor drying area for solid wood slabs
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Collectif Designs outdoor drying area
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Collectif Designs outdoor drying area for solid wood slabs
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After being cut into slabs, anti-termite solution is applied to the wood slabs. After which we will place the slabs under the sun, the heat and the wind will evaporate the moisture content naturally. This is the most traditional method before any machines and oven were invented. The solid wood slabs will stay in this drying area for a few weeks. Occasionally rearranging the position of the slabs to ensure that each slab and their surface area are evenly exposed to the sun. However, this process will be stopped during the monsoon season.
Step 3: Collectif Designs Vacuum Pressure Treatment
After weeks of sun-bathing and air-drying, the wood slabs will be transferred to the Vacuum Pressure tanks. This process extends the life of solid wood slabs by increasing the durability of wood. The wood slabs are loaded on the trolley and send into the cylinders. The slabs will go through a number of phases during this process. During the first phase, the wood is flooded with the preservative solution under vacuum conditions using powerful vacuum pumps. The vacuum condition will allow better absorption of the solutions. A high-pressure condition is applied in the second phase of the treatment. During this phase, the extreme pressure pushes more treatment solution deeper and more uniformly into the cells of the wood to achieve the maximum effect of the preservative solution. The final phase is to drain the solutions and remove wood slabs out from the cylinders.
Step 4: Collectif Designs Indoor Drying Area
Collectif Designs indoor holding area for solid wood slabs
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Collectif Designs indoor holding area for solid wood slabs
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Collectif Designs indoor holding area for solid wood slabs
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After the vacuum treatment, wood slabs will be transferred to our indoor holding area to continue their air-drying process. This process will enable the slabs to stabilize while waiting to enter the kiln oven for further drying.
Step 5: Collectif Designs Kiln-Dry Oven
Collectif Designs kiln-dry chamber for solid wood slabs
Natural elements have their limitation in drying the wood slabs unless extensive amount of time is allowed for the wood to air dry under indoor conditions. To improve on the efficiency of the drying process, our slabs are put into the kiln chamber for drying, where the temperature and humidity of the environment can be controlled and monitored to achieve the optimum moisture content for each type of solid wood slabs. Upon reaching the optimal wood moisture content, the batch are remove from the kiln chamber. The dried wood slabs are sorted and stored according to their dimension and category.