$20 Seasoning Kiln

[Tennman]

All of our seasoned wood is under cover and ready for November. But, for the green wood I thot I'd follow up on a thread several months ago discussing accelerating the seasoning process. I won't mention the physics again but when light hits something the energy transforms heating the surface of whatever it hits. So I took two long 10 or 12" boards and screwed them together to make a removeable ridge cap angle and laid it on the wood pile. Used probably less than $20 worth of "clear" plastic and draped it over the "ridge cap" leaving about 6-8" gap all the way around the bottom. The box the plastic came in said CLEAR... but it's probably 80-90% opaque so 10-20% is wasted energy absorbed into the plastic. Better with no kidding CLEAR. Opened the plastic at both ends at the top and voila! Been between 80-90F the last week and just guessing its about 120-130F in the kiln with an excellent draft coming out both ends. The wood's up on pallets so it's not only hot in there but has natural circulation. Split a oak section, measured the moisture content, and dated it. Will report in several months how it changed. I'm gonna stick a thermometer in there to measure the delta to the outside. Cheers!

 

[pen]

Very cool. Especially for the price.

I'm going to move this over in the wood shed and leaving a link here in the boiler room so people interested in other wood burning appliances / wood stuff in general, can see this as well.

Thanks

pen

 

[BruceNorEast]

Looking forward to reading about your results, and what others have tried. An old timer and I were talking about drying damp wood with a tarp and a kerosene torpedo heater. Anyone ever try that?

 

[cityboy172]

That's nice, especially for the price. Very interested in the results.

I'm behind on wood production, and have put some thought into all this. I plan on building a hot box to help speed the drying process for my gasser. Thinking of making it hold a couple of face cords, having a flat panel radiator in the bottom and a small fan on top dumping the heat into my garage.

 

[Mag Craft]

I will be watching also. Interested in the results to see if it was worth the time and money.

 

[dougand3]

Good job. Where are you in TN? I'm just south of Fayetteville.

 

[Tennman]

Ah.... just west of Fayetteville. Small world.

 

[KindredSpiritzz]

i think on the ends where you cut holes the wind will get in there and rip that to shreds in no time. I'd fortify that area with some wood strips so wind cant get a grip on anything.

 

[Pologuy9906]

Any updates?

 

[Silenced38]

Youve got me thinking. I built this as a green house. Its 4' wide by 11' long and 4' tall inside. Its insulated on the inside. Thinking about stacking some red oak,thats around 24%, in it and see what it will do.

In case you dont recognize em. Those are sliding glass doors that i scrounged. There are two access doors in the shed.