After a few months bring the wood indoors and finish the drying.
Plans for building a wood drying kiln.
Click on the wood doctor.
Kiln drying lumber is a simple cost effective method recommended for anyone who wants to increase profits by selling dried lumber.
For all kiln drying schedules a heater should be used to sterilize the lumber and kill any insects that may be present.
Building the kiln is straightforward.
To slow the drying process for thick wood or when the kiln is less than full you can block off parts of the roof with an opaque covering or tarp.
To build the kiln lay poly clear plastic roll on the ground and then build a frame with 2x4 studs on top of it for the lumber to rest on.
Wood industry fact sheet solar drying basics west virginia university extension service.
These figures hold true for lumber up to 2.
Build a kiln to suit your drying needs.
With a 130 f kiln temperature sterilization will take 10 to 12 hours dry kiln operators manual 1991.
For a kiln temperature of 140 f sterilization takes three to five hours.
Leave enough space to have a standard household dehumidifier at one end and a small fan at the other.
And boy does it work not to mention save money.
Softwoods will typically take half the time of hardwoods.
A kiln constructed to these specifications figure 1 will dry 450 board feet of one inch thick hardwood lumber in 6 weeks or less of good weather or 600 board feet of two inch hardwood lumber in 15 weeks.
Purchasing fresh cut lumber from a sawmill and drying it in a home wood kiln can be less costly and more satisfying than buying pre dried commercial lumber.
Wood mizer dehumidification and solar wood kilns range from 300 to 35 000 board feet capacity for drying lumber.
Better still we developed a plan for our kiln so you can build one just like it.
We constructed this nifty 8x8x12 passive solar kiln.
If you are into boat building this site describes the building of a 45 foot sailboat very interesting.