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View Full Version : I Need a Bigger Fridge!!!



Pete Jordan
07-12-2010, 1:37 PM
I have started to rough out the walnut that I got a couple of weeks ago and I still have a long way to go. I still have to get most of the wood but my "helper" with the truck and the trailer is busy till later this week.

In the first load in my kiln I have walnut, cherry and some oak burl.

Thanks for lookin.

John Keeton
07-12-2010, 2:35 PM
Pete, I sure am likin' the look of some of those blanks!!

Question - do you have ventilation between the compartments? Would seem you need some way to circulate the air throughout the fridge.

Mike Minto
07-12-2010, 2:39 PM
Me, too - got WAY too much beer in there. Nice wood, BTW. :p

bob svoboda
07-12-2010, 2:42 PM
Lookin good Pete. Let us know how your process works.

Bill Bulloch
07-12-2010, 4:04 PM
Question - do you have ventilation between the compartments? Would seem you need some way to circulate the air throughout the fridge.


John, those Fridge Kilns work on the "hot air rises principle". You put holes in the top and the bottom, as the lights heat up the air it rises, drawing air from the bottom holes across the blanks and out the top. Can't tell if his kiln has the holes thou.

charlie knighton
07-12-2010, 4:33 PM
i have had horrible luck with cherry in kiln, oak i have never tried but am leary, maple worked the best for me

i always did the blank, not a roughout....could have been my problem

expect more pictures in a weeks time

good luck

Bernie Weishapl
07-12-2010, 5:07 PM
Pete, Pete what happened to the beer????:eek:;):rolleyes:

John Hart
07-12-2010, 8:38 PM
Hey...that's pretty neat! How's the dry-time on the inch-per-time scale Pete?

Steve Kubien
07-12-2010, 8:49 PM
I am pretty new to fridge-kilns. I just checked on a couple of maple bowl blanks and they are firewood now. :( Huge cracks big enough to drive a car through. Can you share a little about your light wattage, fans and vent hole configuration?

My first batch of blanks included cherry bowls, an ash hollowform, some box stock in ash and red elm and a couple of maple HF's. There is a minor design opportunity in one of the maple hollowforms but otherwise it worked out. I'm very encouraged by this as I hate having a vat of DNA in the shop and it is very difficult to source in Canada. Besides, I have to buy that. All I need for the fridge kiln is the occasional light bulb and some electrons.

Have fun!

David E Keller
07-12-2010, 9:13 PM
Nice looking setup. I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes. Seems like a range of thicknesses in the pieces you have there... Not sure if that affects the drying process or not.

Pete Jordan
07-12-2010, 9:46 PM
John,Question - do you have ventilation between the compartments? Would seem you need some way to circulate the air throughout the fridge.

Yes John, I cut out the bottom of the freezer and just have a couple of sticks there.

John H, Hey...that's pretty neat! How's the dry-time on the inch-per-time scale Pete?
I don't do story problems in the summer time. I just fill it up and take them out in about 3 weeks.
Bernie, Pete, Pete what happened to the beer????

I drank it all after I learned you had skipped me on your trip:)

Steve,
I got the plans from a recent Woodturning Design magazine.

I have 2 60 watt bulbs in there but I usually only use one. I have a computer fan and one hole drilled for ventilation.
I did use the DNA method for a long while but I like this much better. It is quicker and much cheaper.