Wood Kiln

Has anyone used/built a solar wood kiln or dried there logs out with any method other than laying it out beside the house? How were the results?

I have two fairly large logs with root balls that have been sitting for about a year but when I started to carve one, there was siginificant moisture just a few inches into it.

I was thinking of building a solar wood kiln to speed the drying process up a bit, thought I'd see if it was worth it first.

Firstly, what kind of tree is it? Be specific. Secondly, carve it wet!
Standing it on its cut end will help it dry faster.
I know nothing about solar kilns.

[ Edited by: Mr. NoNaMe 2012-07-02 19:15 ]

Both are Mexican Fan Palms each between 2-3feet in diameter at the base.

I personally have seen better consistancy when carving dry wood (palm). I usually get better detail and smoother edges with less tear-out. Plus when the wood dries out after being carved wet, cracks turn up all over.

-Ben

[ Edited by: snowdragon3 2012-07-02 21:40 ]

Ben
When it comes to palm.
I like it wet,it carves like an apple.
Dry is like carving shredded wheat.
But, I'd like to hear your thoughts on a solar kiln.
Will

Hi Ben,

You could probably find some informations here:
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Homebuilt_solar_kiln.html
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WoodDrying/fputr7.pdf

You can also try to search on google (obviously :wink:) but also on http://www.scribd.com

Hope this help.

Be Water
Christophe

[ Edited by: Cljha 2012-07-03 06:17 ]

yeah, I'm with Will on the wet palm.

When it's dry you get, like "rotten spots" that just crumble...when it's wet it's consistent and seems to hold together a little better. The "carves like an apple" comparison is a good one. If you're working with an angle grinder & a saw it doesn't really matter, if you're using a chisel, wetter is better.

On 2012-07-02 21:38, snowdragon3 wrote:
Plus when the wood dries out after being carved wet, cracks turn up all over.

Thats character - at least that what I tell myself. You might slightly control checking by allowing the log to dry slowly.

I have a wood shed that I keep my good wood. The palms usually sit on the side of the house, raised off the ground with a tarp over them. Temps in the shed get over 100 and the side of the house also gets a lot of sun. Logs have been out there for over a year and are still soaking wet. Palm will not dry out till the bark is removed and grain is exposed. Standing the logs up will help - gravity will pull the water out the grain.

I'm working thru a batch of extremely dry palm now and once I get close to the middle the fibers just crumble and fall apart. Very unstable being this dry. The heads up tiki I recently finished was a very wet log and did slice like a pumpkin and cracked and split quite a bit as it dried. It looks good now but a couple times while carving I thought I might be wasting my time.

yeah, when I want to limit the cracking I let them dry in the cool, dry indoors. I've left 'em in the sun right afterward & had then split so bad they just looked like shit.

and here's another "tiki fail"...he lives on the front porch with the rest of the "island of misfit toys"... I cut him wet, and I cut him way too thin, and dried too fast & warped, and now he is known as "the paranoid tiki" because he's always looking over his shoulder...lol...

Cljha- thanks for the info. I've done searches on kilns but most are for planks and are not very user friendly for logs.

Currently my logs sit in the blazing sun. I'll carve one day and the next day I'll find a 2" wide crack in an unwanted section. Maybe I'll cover the logs with wet towels in between sessions. The last log I carved was in November and didnt have as many problems.