Sawing and Drying

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Is there a practical limit to how small a kiln can be?

7/22/14       
Mark B Member

I have a portable mill and solar kiln on a large piece of property I own. Its an adjunct to our shop work but I dont saw a tremendous amount. I do saw off that property occasionally and dry in the kiln (1000-1200bf/load). We bring in all our material at present from a hardwood supplier about 4hrs away via tractor trailer or hot shot for smaller loads. I am in the initial stages of dialing down my work so bringing in 5-10k feet at a time isnt going to be necessary all the time in the future.

I have been kicking around an idea of building a small kiln here at the shop (10 miles away) that might handle just a couple hundred feet at most. Perhaps some sort of enclosure that may handle 6-10 layers of 10' material max (talking 4/4, less for thicker), perhaps 18-30" wide. I was thinking of possibly using one bunk on my hardwood rack and building somewhat of a mini kiln with a drop down door on the side (length) for loading and unloading?

I dont get to the property as often as Id like but have a good amount of air dried material up there and rather than having to deal with drying, and then storing, an entire load I got to thinking about drying smaller amounts. When I dry up there its a commitment but have been thinking tending a small setup here at the shop may be worth taking up the space given Im here daily.

Waste of time? I have no access within perhaps 40 miles to any commercial drying.

7/23/14       #3: Is there a practical limit to how s ...
al

Mark,
I have a wood shop but no sawmill yet. My question is similar to yours as I get nice logs now and then. Most are used for
firewood but I would like to process the nice ones for boards. Let's say 200 bd. ft would be needed to dry. If I had a
solar kiln with an 800 bd. ft capacity and loaded 200 feet into it what happens if before this is dry I want to load some more?
Seems like we need small de-humidification kilns but I have looked at the Nyle kilns and ones like these and they appear
to handle larger quantities also. I was always thinking of building solar kiln and having dehumidifier inside it. Using
the solar for heat and leaving the dehumidifier to remove water. This way if you get an 800 foot load in the summer
use only the solar kiln but in the fall months get some free heat in kiln but also use the dehumidifier. Best of both worlds.
Gene needs to chime in on this one.

Al

7/23/14       #4: Is there a practical limit to how s ...
Mark B Member

Al,
I dont think your scenario of adding material into a load already in the kiln would work but I may be wrong.

I have a kiln which is fine for me already its just that its a distance from my shop and at a location I dont get to for periods of time so tending the kiln is an issue. This isnt such a big deal for a solar kiln as it can somewhat tend itself for periods of time.

That aside, I got to wondering if I couldnt actually dry MORE material here at my shop in smaller batches where I am here all the time. Further, for the work Im moving into, being able to dry a bit of this, or a bit of that, based on what I have coming up for work could prove quite handy.

The issue for me is simply having to house the quantities of dry material once they are out of the kiln. I dont have exterior space available at my shop to build a kiln here nor do I want/need to be drying 1MBF or more at a time (large quantities I would still order in from my suppliers) but it sure would be nice to be able to dry a few hundred feet here and there.

7/23/14       #5: Is there a practical limit to how s ...
al

I think I came across wrong. I would like to dry 200 or less at a time. Once you start drying in solar kiln
with small quantity I would need to finish that load before doing more. I was just thinking of having a solar
kiln and when I have warm weather and maybe 800 feet go all solar but other times of the year if wanting
to dry smaller quantities turn solar kiln into dehumidification kiln. Seems like we could have best of both worlds.

7/24/14       #6: Is there a practical limit to how s ...
Gene Wengert-Wood Doc

If the lumber is fairly dry, you can put it in a heated room...120 F and 25% - 30% RH in many cases is ideal. This will achieve the low MC you need. However, it will be hard to get a taxable depreciation for a heated room, but you can get one for a kiln. So, make sure you call it a kiln.


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