# New to the forum !



## NY Delta (Mar 19, 2009)

HI

I'm new to the forum and new to woodworking. I have been carving for a little while now and starting to branch out to new woodworking projects. The forestry and milling section of the forum is mostly what I'm intrested in. I'm tired of buying wood when I have access to a lot of cherry, black walnut, red oak, white oak, maple and basswood. I use the basswood for carving and hardwoods for decoy keels. I would also like to use the hardwoods for other woodworking projects. I have somebody that will mill it for me pretty cheap but I'm having trouble finding someone to dry it out for me. The basswood is usally milled to 3"- 4" thick and various widths for carving. The hardwoods are milled to 1" thick or less. I have been reading a little bit in this forum before I signed up. Sounds like this is the place to get some questions answered. I have been reading about solar kilns and sounds like it will be a big investment for the amout of wood I plan on drying out. Plus we don't have very much sun here at all. I have read a little bit about a DH kiln, but I have found very little info on them. Does anybody operate one these dh kilns? Would they be able to dry out 4"x4"x7' pieces of basswood? If so, about how long wood it take? 

Thanks for any info you could give!


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Welcome to the forum, NY,
I don't have an answer for you, but I would be willing to bet the Daren or one of the other loggers will. 
Mike Hawkins


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## drcollins804 (Jan 11, 2008)

NY 
You might want to check out Daren's plans too. http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f23/small-wood-drying-kiln-plans-dry-your-own-lumber-3103/ There are lots of ways to dry your own wood. Would love to see your projects. Hope we are able to help.
David


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## Rick C. (Dec 17, 2008)

Welcome NY:yes::yes:,
You picked the right site. I use a dh kiln,got the plans from Daren,and it seems to work very well.I just pulled out my first load of red oak.The kiln cost me a little over $300 to build.It's 4'x4'x10'.
All my oak was 5/4so I couldn't say how long it would take 4"x4" wood,it took mine about three weeks.
Good Luck,
Rick
:clap:Yippee,more brains to pick.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Welcome NYD. Is Delta a city, or a region in NY?


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## Oscar (Jun 7, 2008)

Welcome aboard NY:thumbsup:


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Welcome, no wonder my ears were burning. :huh: A d/h kiln would work (about 2 1/2-3 weeks, my guess on the carving stock) but you can also dry small pieces in the microwave. 45 seconds on high, take it out to cool for 3-5 minutes. Repeat several times. http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f6/nuke-6620/


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## NY Delta (Mar 19, 2009)

Thanks for the reply's:thumbsup: 

Texas Timbers- No it's not a city in NY just a forum name.

Looks like I'll give a DH Kiln a shot!! Do you guys seal up the ends when it's in a DH Kiln. I have parfin wax on my wood ends now, but it's kind of a mess to put on! Do you guys recommend anything else to seal your wood ends up?


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

NYD,

Yes, seal the log ends as soon as you can after they're felled. I also seal any highly figured sections after it is milled as well such as really funky crotch/burl etc. that's not necessary on some species such as Walnut and other easy-to-dry and stable species like that. 

Go to Daren's website and get his plans ~ makes it too easy to build almost. I pretty much thought I did not need them when I built my kiln, but I ordered them anyway just in case I was forgetting something and I have to say, the plans had information in them that saved me from making some crucial mistakes. 

You are about to embark on a fun and rewarding journey. I wish I had bought a sawmill when I was in high school instead of that first hotrod....... :huh: Wait maybe that's an exaggeration I had a lot of fun with that '70 Checelle SS. I wish I had bought a sawmill instead of that first wife. Yea that's more accurate. :laughing:


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