SDR improves yield of Eastern Black Walnut lumber from an agroforestry plantation

The saw, dry, and rip (SDR) process has been shown to be capable of producing better hardwood studs than the conventional process in which lumber is ripped before it is dried. We conducted a study to test how the SDR process affected drying characteristics and yield of 4/4 eastern black walnut lumber from a 14-year-old agroforestry plantation. The SDR process produced walnut lumber with (1) greater thickness shrinkage, (2) much smaller crook warpage, and (3) greater usable board feet than the conventional process did. Thickness and volumetric shrinkage of lumber produced in an intensively managed agroforestry plantation in southwestern Missouri was markedly less than that for walnut lumber from a 22-year-old plantation in southern Illinois. Warpage was similar for lumber from both plantations.