Wood may not be conscious but it's a good witness nonetheless. Samples of kiln-dried and air-dried exhibit different working properties and kilning too fast produces case hardening (no relation), honeycombing, and stratified stress. I would guess that most SPF dimensional lumber is case hardened by fast kilning. Rip a 2X down the middle. If there's pronounced closing of the kerf or movement away from the kerf, you've relieved internal stress to produce wooden bananas. Lots of wood butchers will tell you that kilning produces a material that's not quite as tool "friendly" as that produced by air-drying.
jack
