drying kiln question

J. Neilson

J. Neilson

Joined
Feb 6, 2001
Messages
3,621
I have been reading the archive threads on this subject, but I just want to be sure before I get started. I have an old freezer that is way too expensive to run anymore. I would like to turn it into a dring kiln for wood, stag & bone. I was going to use the bulb and foil as stated in the David Boye book. My concern is the moisture in the kiln itself. Do I need to have any vents to allow moisture to escape the kiln or will they dissapate when the door is opened. Will moisture trapped in the kiln cause mustyness. Any help would be great. Thanks again.

J.
 
you do need a way to let the moisture out.I wouldn't use a fan unless it just "stirred" the air or you'll cause yourself a lot of grief when drying wood. You don't want to go too fast here. Start with low heat, around 70 degrees, and increase weekly by about 5 degrees. Any form of vent will do the job, but you do need to have an escape for the moisture. This applies to wood only, I don't have experience with other materials
Ken
 
any thing that has moisture in it needs an excape route i dry all my elk horn for six months before using but i have a room 8x8 that i have an electric heater in it i dry all my sheephorn and africin and wood or any thing that you use for handle

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All that is not Given Is Lost
 
I have started my "freezer" dying kiln. To allow moisture to escape, I cut about 2 1/2" of the door liner out at the top(seems to be working so far). I will allow the temp. to build slowly as sugested. By the way, any ideas on where the temperature should settle at? Thanks again all. You folks are always a great help.

J.
 
You might consider using a small fan to circulate the air. I mean small like they use to keep your hard drive cool. Cheap as heck on Ebay all the time. Maybe you could answer a question for me. I am in the process of gathering some olive wood, and it is just cut green. How slowly should this dry?
I am just finishing a knife with Olive wood scales man is it neat.


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Definetly let the moisture out.
It helps to wax the ends of the wood also this forces the moisture to come through the side grain rather than the end grain, it helps to prevent cracks.

Some of the old tymie books I read suggest soaking the log, in the river to help stabilize the wood, then cut rack and dry.

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Sola Fide
 
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