Wood drying cabinet question

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

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Aug 13, 2002
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Well ok maybe calling it a cabinet is a little far fetched. It is after all a steel barrel with a 100W light bulb inside, anyway. :(
Do you leave the wood in there all the time or do you just dry it and store the wood elsewhere? Can the wood become too dry?

Thanks for your help.

Pat
 
I leave mine in all the time, cause if you take it out it will draw humidity.
so i leave mine in till i stabilize it.
vern
 
WadeH said:
Vern are you stabilizing your self or sending it out to be done?
Click to expand...

I'm doing them my self. got some cherry under vacuum to see if they have any water in them.
they have been stored under roof for 20 years
vern
 
Cool, take plenty of pictures and post how they do, please. Thinking about giving that a try myself.
 
Guitar-makers do the lightbulb in a box treatment to get their wood dry. Works well and if the wood isn't completely green, you shouldn't have a problem. If it is green, you might either wait a bit or keep the pieces oversize by a good margin so you can profile them if they warp. A 100w bulb raises the heat nicely but it's not quite like an oven. Weigh the wood from time to time and when it stays the same for a while, you're dry.

Some woods, as you probably know are more sensitive to changes in temp and humidity. The Gabon ebony I have is one of the worst culprits for shrinking in dry weather and expanding when its humid. Curly Maple can get crazy too from my experience.
 
Thanks PB, the weighing trick is real smart, I'll try that.

Looks like I have to learn to stabilize wood now too. I am guessing the dryer the wood the better to stabilize it.

Pat
 
Make sure you seperate your wood with sticks to prevent mold, do not set on a solid shelf place on rack to let air flow all through. Also spray some bug killer in there once in a while there are some flying bugs that love to plant their larva and you end up with swiss cheese. I have a bunch that was at leaste 20-30 percent holes and did not know until I went to use it.
 
I've built a box to help speed up the drying process for wood I had cut to make long bows. The staves were about 2 inches square and 6.5 feet long. Same principal as you barrel, however, I made mine out of plywood and lined it with some cheap insulation. I believe it had two light bulbs in it hooked up to a dimmer. I had a small meat thermometer sticking into the bow about half way between the two bulbs and used the dimmer to keep the temp around 110F. I had a small computer fan in one end and a adjustable air vent on the other end of the box. For green wood, the forced air really help drop the moisture content quickly. I had a moisture meter to check the progress on my staves, but the weighing trick works well. You might want to test a scrap peice of wood if using the fan because as metioned above, some woods do not take drying well and the fan may cause cracking. Typically wood left in the attic or garage will only reach a moisture content that is in equalibrium with the sorroundings, so if you live in Las Vegas versus New Orleans the same piece of wood keep in the garage will have a very large difference in moisture content. The heat box and fan can bring the moisture down to a level below that of your surroundings so I think this would help prior to stabilizing. You can probably check online but I think you would want the moisture content to be as low as possible without cracking prior to stabilizing. Good luck.

Mark
 
well the cherry that i have is tested at 7 so it is ready to be stabilized. do that tomorrow.
brought out some oak today and i used woodhardner and my ban saw had a tough time and i colored it and now i have blue oak.
vern
 
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