Larry Williams
Tom,

The problem we have in drying thick beech is slowing the drying down to avoid huge differences between the moisture content of the core and surfaces. We have to slow it down enough to avoid checking but not so much as to encourage fungal growth. It's not an easy process and sometimes we end up with very expensive fire wood. Beech reaches equilibrium relatively quickly and the big problem drying thick beech is that it dries too fast.