Home-syle Kiln - How to make one?

[guillemot]

Howdy folks. Refinishing the floors in the new old house has made for plenty of boat day-dreaming time. I have procured some apple knees locally and painted the endgrain to slow checking until I can saw it up.

Once I have them roughed out, how can I kiln-dry them quickly so they can be used this summer? Quick, cheap, and dirty is what I'm striving for here.

Once set up, how long should I dry the wood (let's assume 1" thickness)?

Thanks.

Jeff

[ 07-14-2004, 04:57 PM: Message edited by: guillemot ]

[Hwyl]

I think this is the link, I was thinking of. Takes 30 days by solar power in the Summer http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/8756/solar.html a search on "solar kiln" brings up loads of possibilities.

[Bruce Hooke]

A word of warning -- in my experience apple wood is tough stuff to dry without lots of warping and checking. So, if you want decent quality wood at the end I would dry it gently and not try to rush it too much unless you are in a situation where if it doesn't dry in time it will be firewood anyway...

[Bob Smalser]

I airdry it slowly....I don't believe you can rush it as Bruce states.

Take a sacrificial one and try the microwave. I've done sasafrass slingshots for whole Scout Troops that way without checking. How long? Dunno. Low heat and play with it....pull it out when it steams and let it set a day and see. Then try it again.

Stinks up the kitchen.

Otherwise....make a proper, weighted stack next to a light-colored wall facing the sun....tent it with clear poly with a black poly bottom....and add a lower and upper vent and a fan to be run during the heat of the day.

[ 07-15-2004, 10:37 AM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]

[JimConlin]

See Glenn Ashmore's kiln (http://www.rutuonline.com/html/solar_kiln.html)

[Paul Pless]

Does anyone have any experience using air conditioning to dry wood?

[Tonyr]

I assume you mean de-humidification, rather than air conditioning (= cooling). I used to be up to date in this area, but make no such claim now. Probably a Google search and some technical reading would be worth while.

Yes, it worked quite well, but tended to be rather slow compared to traditional methods, and lacked any way to provide post-drying conditioning and "stress" relieving (that's shorthand!).

With woods that have a tendency towards blue stain (e.g. pine), the low temperatures don't help at all.

One way out of some of these problems used to be to combine de-humidification, supplemented by some controlled additional heat, and also some moisture addition for conditioning. By the time you have got all that and done the material handling right, the claimed cheap capital investment may be looking a bit sick.

Tony.