Home Made Kiln?

Greetings All, I recently came into possession of some box elder and honey locust. I have sawed them up into blanks, sealed the ends and stacked them for drying. However, being the impatient sort, I'd like to get to making some wood chips and strings. That being said, yes, I've turned some green bowls, but have not been totally satisfied at the end reult. SO, I've been think ing about building a home made kiln to dry the material before turning. I thought about using the SWMBO's oven, but she got very protective.... small minded I suppose.... never the less, it still intrigues me.

Has any one built a home made kiln?

Has anyone used a residential oven?

How long does it take to dry a chunk of wood?

At what temperature?

How did you accomplish this?

Other than keeping the smoke dector and fire extinguisher nearby, any recommendations?

Thanks in advance for your time and ideas.

Karl

Reply to
KarlB
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The ones I've seen were based on a dysfunctional refrigerator, with the heat source merely a light bulb.

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Reply to
Ralph E Lindberg

How thick is it? Varies. THe variation with thickness is one reason that a typical procedure is to turn a bowl rough/green with walls about 10% of bowl diameter (ie, an inch thick for a 10" bowl), let it dry (much faster than the blank it came from would) and then finish turn (back to round, with thinner walls).

Most turners in a hurry buy the wife a new microwave and take the old one out to the shop. If you can find a working microwave at a tag sale and your wife does not yearn for a new one, that might be cheaper.

If you need either of those, your dry wood will be so heavily checked/cracked as to be near useless, unless you are selling checks as a "feature".

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Reply to
Ecnerwal

Karl I built a Kiln for the very same reason, had a load of Free Wood to Dry, details can be found on my Web Site in the Hints and Tips Section.

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RVS

Reply to
Richard Stapley

"Richard Stapley" wrote in news:4622535b$1_2@mk- nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com:

Reply to
KarlB

See:

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I know they have plans for a solar kiln. I have wood dried in one built to their designs. I hope to build one, too. I've collected the glass... Dan

Reply to
Dan Bollinger

Sadly, no- I intend to, if I ever get myself out to a sawmill and buy a big load of green lumber.

In a word, no- that is too hot and too fast.

Air dry, I believe the rule of thumb is 1 year per inch- with a solar kiln, IIRC, the drying time is reduced to a month or two.

Again, IIRC, the temperature is not that high- the plans I have seen indicate that it needs to be warm, but not especially hot. What seemed to be critical was the stacking of the lumber or blanks, and having a fan in the proper position to pull the humidity out of the air, at least periodically.

The plans I have seen are simplicity itself- a bit of leftover 2x4s, a sheet of plastic, a pair of vent fans in the back, and a glass or plexiglass roof at a 45* degree angle facing south with some plywood sides, and you're in business.

Make it outside, and don't let it get that hot!!! :)

Here's a link to a number of plans for these- the one I had bookmarked is down, but these should be fairly similar, if not identical to that one.

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Reply to
Prometheus

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That's where I got mine. But, to be honest, now that I have been collecting wood for a while, I have plenty of wood that is fully dry. The microwave almost never sees use unless I have reason to suspect that a piece MIGHT be buggy.

Bill

Reply to
Bill in Detroit

Depending on relative humidity, a turned piece will take a month or two at one inch to reach EMC. Boards are a different matter. Has to do with the distance and ease of moving water through end grain.

There you go. It's not the heat, it's the humidity. Warm air can carry more water than cool, and the operator is interested in getting things down to the FSP quickly, so energy is applied.

While your regular bowl blanks and such are drying their couple of months, turn thin and let warp. Lots of good fun there. Lots less frustration too. Trying to develop a kiln schedule will certainly cost more wood than TDT (Turn,Dry,Turn) technology.

Reply to
George

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