Drying Kiln Gloat

[Rob Will]

Well it's not much to gloat about but today I found an 18' reefer body in excellent condition that was going to be sold for scrap:eek:. Knowing how disappointed the LOML would be if I didn't come home with something form the truck junkyard for the woodshop:rolleyes:, I had no choice.

The white sides with the lettering will get a coat of red paint to match my barn. It will sit on a concrete slab around back. Eventually, I hope to set up a dehumidifier in this reefer body to dry wood to 6-8%. I don't really need it now but this body was too nice to pass up. The walls are 3" thick foam filled and the interior is fiberglass. The interior floor is ribbed aluminum with two small drain holes.

The biggest drawback I see is that I'll have to load it from the back (rather than from the side with a forklift). Shown here the body is on the trailer just as I brought it home. It will be at ground level when I get it in position. I need to get a window made to fill the hole where the reefer unit came out.

Pehaps I'll continue to air dry all my wood and then rough plane everything before finish drying (selected boards) in the kiln. That way, the overall volume will be less and I'll waste less time drying reject boards. (??)

Rob

[Benjimin Young]

Nice haul, no pun intended, especially like the insulated body abd fiberglass interior.

Ben

[Chris Barton]

If you paint it a dark red you might not need a dehumidifier, it may collect enough heat from the sun that all you would need is a fan that could easily fit in the opening from where the refrig unit was. Now, will the wood smell like fried chicken when it comes out? Hmmm, just an added benefit.

[Jim Becker]

Wow...that's a great start on a nice kiln.

BTW, you should always air-dry your lumber to about 20% or so before putting it in a kiln. It both saves energy and also helps with stability. You never want to dry "too fast"...it causes nasty stress in the wood that you don't want to have.