ReCoop Designs and Salvaged Wood Sawmill is located in Round Top, TX and is the areas premier source for specialty hardwood lumber drying. Our kiln offers 350 cubic feet of drying space and can accept materials up to 60" wide x 11' long. Wood drying is the most complicated and time-consuming part of the lumber making process. We employ an American made heat and dehumidification electric kiln that works by the method called relax drying, in order to reduce the occurence of cracking caused by accelerated drying. The Kiln operates in two stages first of which involves heating/steaming (158F-168F) the lumber, altering the wood's cell structure, which makes it possible for water stored inside of the wood to be released. The final stage consists of heating/dehumidification (104F-122F) at a lower temperature. 

The general rule of thumb for air drying is 1 year per inch of thickness. So if you have a three inch thick slab that was freshly milled from a green tree it will take at a minimum 3 years to have lumber stable enough to work with. However, air dried lumber in our region will only dry to a moisture content of around 12%-14%. To achieve a moisture content required for furniture grade lumber, the recommended moisture content is suggested to be between 6%-9% for maximum stability. Nothing is worse than putting enormous amounts of money, time, and energy into a project and have your beautiful work start to come apart right before your eyes. Our Kiln will turn years of drying into weeks and provide a significantly increased value to your raw materials. We can dry just a few of your boards or an entire trailer load so please reach out to us if our services can help you achieve your project's goals in a shorter amount of time.