Kiln drying scale stock

[gds]

I have seen some homemade kilns designed for drying small quantities of wood and was considering building one to more rapidly remove moisture from "green" stock. I wondered what others are doing. Recently I have been cutting up my scale stock to dimensions slightly above that of the desired scale dimensions to aid in increasing surface area for rapid drying but still seem to have inconsistent results. Perhaps i really need to invest in a moisture meter. I have been mainly using olivewood, rosewoods, and bocote. They all seem to be relatively dense so i have assumed that they do not require stabilization. I have been blaming my dimensional changes on using wood that is not appropriately dried. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Gary

 

[Sterlinghaney25]

Gary,
Different folks will tell u differently but this is what I do for my scales, I mill my pieces (I use mesquete because I have an ample supply of it where I live) into 1x3 slats about 10" long and place them in my food drier (improper name but for the life of me I can't place the word complete brain spasm) and dry them like I do jerky. Not a professional setup but it works for me. I know alot of woods have oil in them so maybe that is giving you inconsistency? If you use oak or mesquite this will work.

 

[gds]

Wow....what a great suggestion. Thank you. I actually have a dehydrator but did not think to use it for that purpose. It makes sense and seems to be similar in principle to the way a simple wood kiln works. Great suggestion.

 

[Sterlinghaney25]

One thing I forgot to tell u I found that if you put the wood in alone it will warp and twist so I strap some old round files to the sides with zip ties will leave a black mark on the edges but you should be leaving excess for shrinkedge so it will be sanded down anyway.