Beech wood is the most important Slovenian hardwood. During drying process its tendency to cracking and banding demands carefully planning and performing drying programme. In experiment, 25 mm and 50 mm thick boards were included, which were dried in 2 different drying conditions. Control samples for moisture, moisture gradient and drying stresses were taken frequently, every time when moisture in boards fell down for about 5 %. The influence of sharper drying conditions on drying speed was indicative when moisture fell under fibre saturation point (FSP). The drying speed in tangential samples (0.064 %/h) was higher than in radial samples (0.05 %/h). Drying stresses were also higher in tangential samples. Critical phase in the drying process with highest drying stresses was 15-20 % at average moisture. Moisture gradient was a little higher in radial samples (2.36 %/cm) than in tangential samples (1.82 %/cm).
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