Heat-treated vs Kiln-dried Pine Shavings

[researcher001]

I've been doing some research for an upcoming science fair project and am currently in the process of researching/selecting supplies for my experiment. Basically, I'll be testing pine shavings for abeitic acid content (a respiratory irritant; basically what people mean when they say "phenols" or "aromatic oils") to determine whether or not kiln-drying makes a difference or not. As I've been looking at shavings to use I noticed all US wood needs to be heat treated in order to be transported.


I noticed there's a good number of people on here who are pro kiln-dried, so I have a couple questions I hope you wouldn't mind answering:

1. What do people mean when they say refer to pine that is not kiln-dried? I've noticed many state pine is only safe when kiln-dried, but what would fall into the non-kiln-dried category? Would this refer to woods that are only heat-treated?

2. Do you believe heat treating also gets rid of phenols/aromatic oils/abeitic acid/any substances that make pine harmful?

Definitions:
kiln-drying: oven baking/air drying wood at a low (100-200F) temp for a long period of time, usually to remove moisture content
heat-treating: heating the wood to a high (600-700F) temp for a short period of time, usually to kill bacteria/fungi


Seeing as the point of my experiment is to suggest whether or not pine is safe in this regard I'd kindly ask that you not debate the safety of pine shavings in the replies. I already know the ins and outs from my own prior research and I plan to stay purely objective in my experiment. Basically, no need to convince me or anyone about anything-- I'll let the data speak for itself once I have it.

Thank you for your time!

Side note: This is not my actual research on the topic, this is purely so I can get a consensus on what pet communities believe surrounding pine shavings for my background. Obviously forums aren't always a great source of trustworthy info for this sort of project haha.

 

[VickiA]

It’s polite when joining a forum of this nature to make yourselves known to staff and ask if it’s ok to conduct this type of research.
Here is a link to our forum terms and rules Terms of Service And Forum Rules
I’m not sure what response you will get to your question. We are, after all, a guinea pig forum and pet keepers can only speak from their own experience.

 

[researcher001]

It’s polite when joining a forum of this nature to make yourselves known to staff and ask if it’s ok to conduct this type of research.
Here is a link to our forum terms and rules Terms of Service And Forum Rules
I’m not sure what response you will get to your question. We are, after all, a guinea pig forum and pet keepers can only speak from their own experience.

Sorry, I was unaware of this policy. Is it alright if I continue to leave this topic up or should I have it removed?

I'm sorry if what I posted came across like I would be using quoting from this forum in any way in my paper. I'm more trying to get a general sense of what this community believes. Like I said above, none of this is formal research that I'll be citing due to the nature of this being a forum.

 

[VickiA]

No - it’s fine to leave this here. But I’m not sure what response(s) you will get.

 

[Engel]

From my understanding kiln drying and heat treating get used interchangeably by those who know no better. So anything
not treated with heat is considered bad.

Those who do know the difference, refer to kiln drying as just that, being dried at low temps for a long time. So for those people even heat treated is grouped with wood that hasn't been treated at all.

Kiln drying doesn't remove all phenols, only lessens them by removing moisture and thus phenols. Heat treating doesn't reduce moisture content so phenols will remain high. Because of this while fungi and bacteria maybe removed during the process, they could get onto/into the wood afterwards as particles can travel through the air and reinfect the wood. Same with insects. Storage also plays a roll. For example if it's damp with low air circulation fungi will thrive.

 

[RedLoredAmazon]

Hi! Welcome to the forum!

I think it would be best to check out the companies that sell pine shavings and what they say their treatment process is. We can only go with what the manufacturer says their process is. I'm not really sure if these processes actually remove the substances that cause issues for pine bedding.

Wood is "treated" in many different ways here in the US depending on its future uses. If you are using firewood, it is recommended to buy kiln dried firewood if you are transporting the wood into a different county or city. State and National parks will not allow non-kiln dried wood to be used as it can bring in invasive creatures into a new area. Other wood is just treated with chemicals, dried naturally, or kept wet till it is used. Sorry, got off topic here.

Personally, I use to use pine bedding for my guinea pigs till I had one that was very sensitive to the bedding. I switched to paper bedding (that was 10 years ago). I now use fleece bedding for my piggies.

This is an interesting topic and I look forward to what you find in your research.