St. Pierre Woodworking and Sawmill Acquires New Vacuum Kiln

Floyd, VA, October 04, 2019 –(PR.com)– St. Pierre Inc., (dba St. Pierre Woodworking and Sawmill) is pleased to announce the purchase of a revolutionary vacuum wood drying kiln called the iDry vacuum kiln. Speaking from St. Pierre Inc.’s newly located sawmill, Bill St. Pierre, owner said, “The Vacuum Dryer utilizes a vacuum to lower the temperature at which water boils. By drying at a low temperature we can accelerate the drying time without harming wood which is much stronger at lower temperatures. Vacuum pressure also sucks the water from the center to the outside, which is great for size slabs we typically cut. What this means for our clients is that they will be able to deliver their logs to our new building where we can cut them into slabs, place them in the iDry, and have their wood ready for pick-up a week later!” Bill added that his current electric and solar kilns have a capacity around 2,500 board feet per month, and that the iDry vacuum system will be able to handle 6,400 board feet or more per month, nearly three times our current capacity with a better quality result. He finished by saying, “The iDry vacuum kiln uses less power than our Nyle Electric kiln as well. We will still be using the Nyle electric kiln to sanitize reclaimed wood but I expect the iDry vacuum kiln to completely change our sawmill and drying operations as we no longer weather dependent.”

The iDry kilns use a vacuum to create a pressure gradient between the outside shell and the center of the wood. Conventional drying methods rely on moisture differential to move the water from the wetter center toward the dryer outer shell. This is a slower process, sometimes taking more than a month to dry the wood as you have to be careful not to over dry the slab or the slab can be spoiled.

The iDRY achieves its fast drying rates by maintaining a small differential between the outer shell and the center moisture contents throughout the drying period and is very effective at heating the wood without damaging or darkening it due to the low pressure (vacuum) environment.

St. Pierre Inc., took delivery of their iDry kiln in Vermont October 1st, 2019 and hope to have the unit operational within the 10 days. Bill added, “Many clients have already brought their logs to the sawmill in anticipation of the iDry’s availability and we have enough logs stacked for the next 4 months. We are taking orders for February 2020.”

About St. Pierre Inc.
St. Pierre Inc. is a family owned business located just off the Blue Ridge Mountains in Floyd, VA. The company was started by Bill St. Pierre in 2004 and incorporated in 2012.

About iDry Systems
iDry Systems are located in Vermont. They are family owned and operated to this day and have been developing lumber drying technology since 1980.