The objective of this study is to clarify the practical features of the new wood drying method, which combines microwave heating and vaccum, by determining the drying time and the quality of dried wood. To measure the temperature of drying wood in a microwave electric field, a thermal sensor was developed and incorporated into the microwave heating-vaccum dryer. The woods were dried by controlling the wood temperature. Beech (Fagus crenata), spruce (Picea spp.) lumbers, and persimon (Diospyros Kaki) blocks curved roughly for golf club heads were dried by the proposed new method. The results obtained are summarized as follows;(1) The thermal sensor with the function of reflecting microwaves was improved so as to provide accurate measurements of wood temperature during heating in the microwave field.(2) By controlling the wood temperature in the new drying method, none of such defects as surface checking and honeycomb appeared in dried lumbers, and the drying time was remarkably shortened compared with the conventional kiln-drying.(3) The present microwave heating-vaccum drying method is suitable for variously shaped wood pieces besides lumbers with flat surfaces.(4) The relation expressed by V=exp(a+bT) existed between the drying rate V and the wood temperature T irrespective of wood species. The drying rate V was highest for sapwood of beech, intermediate for spruce and persimon, and lowest for the heartwood of beech. The value of b was highest for the sapwood of beech, intermediate for the heartwood of beech and persimon, and lowest for spruce.(5) The drying operation based on the wood temperature was effective to shorten the drying time and to prevent drying defects.