Homemade kiln for bowls and pen blanks

[Donny Lawson]

I made this over the weekend.I picked up this wine cooler a few weeks ago and decided to make a small kiln with it.I got the information from another creeker here. So far it works great. It has a fan in the top to circulate the air and a light bulb in the bottom for the heat. I added a thermometer to keep an eye on the temp.It has holes drilled in the top and bottom for the air to enter and exit.I hope to keep it full of bowls and pen blanks all the time.I had it on for a few hours the other day and the temp stayed about 105-110 with the fan running.
Donny

[Donny Lawson]

Here is a few more pics.
Donny

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Has anyone tried using a home smoker kit for this? I would think you could fit a fairly large bowl in one easy.

[Bill Bulloch]

Now you are cooking. That is the best way to dry those bowls. Next, you need to get you a thermostat to control the heat. Doing it manually will get old after a few days/weeks and you do need to keep the temp constant. I keep my fans running all the time and have a hygrometer to keep up with the humidity. When the humidity is high, I open a vent or two, when it drops, I close a vent or two. I have 18 board feet of Pecan and a 12 inch diamenter bowl drying in mine as we speak -- it will take about 3 weeks.

[Mike McAfee]

Cool set up Donny! This is one of the many things on my "Gonna get too" list! Bill, I like you idea for control!

MMc