# Cheapest but most effective wood drying



## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

I have been milling some logs into 1" thick stock for personal use but drying is taking longer than I would like. I have looked into solar drying but am significantly limited in space and cash. I live in the suburbs on a small (not even 1/4 acre) lot and have recently just finished some pricey shop upgrades. Most of the drying kilns I have read about were large structures that would take up way too much space in my small back yard and would be overkill for my low volume. I have seen some simple methods that pretty much amounted to wrapping the wood in plastic sheeting with some holes in the bottom to let condensation escape but I'm wondering how effective those would be. What are some minimalist methods for drying small amounts of wood that will still get me reasonable results? On average how much will they cut down on drying time?


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## walnutavenue (Nov 9, 2011)

My method is shop drying with a dehumidifier and fan. Humidity stays at 55% or below, and the fan blows across the stack to get the humid air out from between the boards. 

Drying time is faster than I expected at 4 months. I've dried cherry, walnut, and red elm (all 1" thick) with similar results for all. Since there's no heat (room temp) and no sun, there's no problem with cracking and checking from drying too fast. 

Pros: small investment Cons: time and space. 4 months is fast enough for me, but you might not agree. I have enough space to have a few hundred board feet drying, but at the cost of a 10x12 area in the shop.


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## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

I don't really have a target time, just that I would like it to be less than 2 years. That setup sounds about like what I was thinking of though. How short can drying times realistically get without causing any issues? As far as space I could see making clever usage of some unused rafter or wall space in my shop.


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## walnutavenue (Nov 9, 2011)

At this point I really don't know a minimum time. Everybody told me that any form of air drying would take at least a year per inch of thickness. So, during the first batch I didn't even check moisture until about 7 months and found that it was already down 6%. With later batches I checked at 4 months and again found that pieces were dry to 6%. How soon before 4 months were they dry?... I don't know. Since throes batches I've been cutting and drying boards much faster than I've used them, so there has been no reason to take stacks down to check moisture. The current stuff has been sitting for about 7 months, so once again I won't know just how fast it dried. 

My advice is to just dive in and try it. As a kid I dried some maple in my dad's barn. I had no idea what I was doing, I didn't stack them right, I didn't seal the ends (which I still don't). The boards warped a lot, and were moldy because of the improper stacking but overall it was a success. I tried to cut up a fallen limb into lumber and I did it. 

Try it. The sooner you do the sooner you'll be working with lumber that you cut and dried yourself. It's a very gratifying feeling. Sometimes you're taking risks by jumping in to something when you don't know what you're doing. With this you're not going to lose any fingers or ruin expensive tools or anything. Go for it!


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## ETWW (Mar 27, 2011)

To speed up drying time you need heat, air flow and a lower-than-ambient relative humidity. That is an indisputable fact.

Short of a kiln of some sort, the best and cheapest method would be to utilize an attic space. Attic spaces are heated from the sun, air flow is provided by convection (cooler air is pulled in the soffit vents and expelled out the gable or ridge vents and the RH is lower than ambient simply because of the higher temperature (raise the temp without adding moisture and the RH drops) and because the wood won't see the near-100% early-morning RH that occurs when air drying outdoors.

That year-per-inch-of-thickness crap is malarkey. It's been repeated ad nauseum on forums but is not remotely accurate. Sure, after a year, 4/4 lumber will probably dry to EMC but often (usually?) it will reach EMC much sooner.

Whether you use an attic space or some other method, remember those three essentials affecting drying rate...heat, airflow and RH. Incorporate all three and your lumber will dry faster. Hopefully, not too fast. :icon_smile:


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## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

Manovering through my house and up a collapsable ladder with long boards will be tricky its probably my best bet, if only with a test batch.


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

A set of Daren's plans is the way to go. Adjust it to a size that fits for you. I don't know his cost now but they where around $25.00 when I purchased a few years ago.....BEST money I ever spent in this business!!! I started with a small 6'x 16' x4' H using his plan.....then later "supersized" it.
I haven't seen him post lately but you can find it in the classified section, 

here's his website:
www.nelsonwoodworks.biz


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

DONT dry wood in your house attic.
There are bugs in the wood that can infest your home. It only takes one infested log.


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## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

When working with small batches of milled wood would I not be able to tell if there were bugs in it?


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

most times, yes.


It's why kiln drying has it's temp kicked up to 130 deg. F for 24 hrs.
To kill everything seen and possibly unseen,,,,BUT that temp isn't done at the beginning of the drying process.


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## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

While I haven't taken any measurements the temp in my attic would probably get well above 100 in the summer. Here in Alabama any summer day that the high doesn't reach the high 90s is odd, and the attic is sure to be several degrees hotter than that. I'm sure similar results would happen in any kiln I would put together.


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## ETWW (Mar 27, 2011)

Da Aardvark said:


> most times, yes.
> 
> 
> It's why kiln drying has it's temp kicked up to 130 deg. F for 24 hrs.
> To kill everything seen and possibly unseen,,,,BUT that temp isn't done at the beginning of the drying process.


Without supplemental heat, neither solar kilns nor dehydration kilns will hold a 130 degree temp for 24 hours or even close to that duration.

If worried about bug infestation, treat the lumber with a borate product like Timbor or Boracare. It will take care of any emerging critters that are already in the lumber. I use it on all my lumber since I dry with a VT-style solar kiln and it will not maintain that 130 degree temp long enough to sterilize the lumber...even with the 100+ degree temps we see in Texas during the summer months.

Hoadley dries his wood in the attic and recommends it as a good, cheap method.


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

It sounds like you are drying small amounts of lumber.
Can I suggest my drying method?

It's a simple underdesk space heater with a built in fan, and a blue tarp (8' x 10'), and a thermometer.
Stack the wood, stickered on the floor and tarp over the wood in a fashion that allows for a high point in the tarp (pup tent or shallow tee pee like). Cut a slit in the tarp at the highest point to allow moisture and heat to escape.
Turn on the space heater and place in a strategic place just under the edge of the tarp, so the backside of the heater can get fresh air. Move the space heater on a daily basis to allow for more even drying of the stacked wood. Keep the heat in the 90degree range. Look through the slit to see that the temperature is where you want and dial the heater up or down as needed. After a few days of this, and after the wood is acclimated to the 90ish degrees, kick up the heat to 130+ degrees for a minimum of 24 hours for bug kill. Slowly back down the heat over time back to 90ish. 

I generally can stack up a small wood load and dry it from ~30-40% down to 6% in ~4 to 5 days. Generally when I cut open a piece to measure internal moisture, I'm at 10-11%. If I'm not, back into the kiln. 
What this setup is doing is forcing bone dry heat through the stack and allowing the moisture to escape out of the slit.

The problem I have with the solar kilns is their temperatures are not at all consistent and at night the wood temp drops. To me, this uneven way of drying isn't the most consistent way to do it.

Total cost for what I set up is $20 for a space heater (larger piles might require 2 space heaters ... one on each end of the stack), $6.00 for a tarp, a $3.oo thermometer and the moisture meter you likely already have, but if not, Lowes sells a "General" brand for under $50.00. 

Hope this helps.


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## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

I had thought about doing some drying in the shop and will look into it


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