I am not familiar with bedbug tent heaters so I cannot say if they would work in this application.

The wood coming out of the kiln will be drier than the ambient humidity of your region. The kiln should reduce both the bound and unbound water in the wood. The wood will absorb some humidity after it is removed and this will indeed vary by where you are located.

You are correct. With limited room to work with, there are not a lot of choices. In later versions of this kiln, I used smaller fans and placed them on top of the lumber stack blowing parallel with the stickers. I believe that the air turbulence created by the fans in such a confined space will adequately provide air circulation regardless of the fan orientation.

Yes. This would be great for firewood.

I would treat the lumber with a borate based product such as Tim-bor or Boracare. If you raise the core temp of the wood to 150 deg and hold it there for 24 hrs, you should kill any pests. The wood should be below 20 percent MC before you sterilize it. Otherwise you may cause more problems. Yes you can use a bar-b-q temp probe in the center of your stack but that may not tell you the core temp of the wood. You will need a heat source and a fan. A space heater may not work due to safety over temp switches.

@@logstolumbernow2011 I considered boracare; I used on a log cabin that had some ppbeetles. My understanding, which may or may not be correct is that it doesn't penetrate very deeply and it's effectiveness occurs when the critters exit the wood and cross the toxic zone. I was also concerned about the treated wood which I would then have to plane and sand; I supppose certain finishes would ultimately seal in any residual pesticide...on a dinner table, for example. I'll check the mc and run it as a kiln first if needs be; I'm sure it's below 20%; I think I recall 15% or so....I have a friend with a seldom used wood fired kiln in a shipping container. He has a wood mizer and plenty of stacks of lumber that probably have a healthy PPbeetle population going. Pretty hard to avoid I reckon. Re: the turkey thermometer--I was thinking about burying into the wood. Are you still milling in northern alabama?

I mentioned my friend who seldom uses his kiln because I'll ask him if I could run it in that one for a fee; I was worried about bringing beetled wood on his lot but i recalled there are stacks of all sorts of wood there....which might already host some bugs.

Yes, I am still milling in north Alabama, at least for a few more years I hope.@@devindascher

Thanks. 1 inch is typical for most projects. 1 1/2" and 2" are used for table tops. You need to cut the boards 1/4" larger than your final desired dimension to account for drying and final surfacing.

The volume of the kiln is small, 160 - 220 cft. The fan moves a lot of air in that small space. I do not have any significant MC difference across the load. I do not use a baffle but one may improve the airflow. I think the turbulence created by the air hitting the wall is enough to provide sufficient airflow through the lumber stack.

@@logstolumbernow2011. When I pulled it from the air drying shed after 9 months it was all over for MC 6/4 oak. Ended up restacking it for a couple months. Thats why the question thanks

👍

I did not have a vent in this version of the kiln. In later versions I built, I added 1 1/2" pink insulation board cut to friction fit between the 2x4 structure. This kept the temperature higher so I did vent it until the sterilization step.

Thanks for the reply. In the later version you built, did the pink insulation go on the inside between the 2x4 frame?@@logstolumbernow2011

Yes. I cut each insulation board to wedge between the 2x4 frame members then put the foil backed Styrofoam insulation on the outside as shown in the video.

In the video, I used 1/2" foil backed Styrofoam panels. I have since added 1 1/2" pink foam board insulation cut to friction fit between the frame structure.

Approximately 300 bdft for a 12'x4'x4' version of this kiln. That is a lumber package, including stickers, of 3'x2'x10'.

@@logstolumbernow2011 much appreciated for your feedback. If I wanted to increase the capacity, say double to 600 bdft, would I be correct to increase, besides the size of the kiln build-up, the quantity of heat lumps the and perhaps size of the dehumidifier? If so, will these changes suggest a much longer drying period to achieve the required MC? Thanks in advance for your guidance.

@@milnemataifa7200 I do not think you would have to scale up the dehumidifier or heat source. Mine do not run continuously to maintain the humidity and temperature set points. Yes, it will take longer for the lumber to dry. The difficulty would be in scaling up the structure. It would no longer be sub multiple sizes of common 8' construction material. It is very efficient to build the structure in multiples of 4' cubes. If you build it larger, you may need more structure just to support its own weight and cross bracing to keep the structure from racking. Horizontal 2x4 pine construction lumber begins to sag at lengths past about 48" without support.

@@logstolumbernow2011 Oh yes thanks you brought up the strength of the structure, a very important consideration to make. Man I couldn't thank you enough for this golden information. 🙏

Interesting approach. I'll have to look closer at this option.

Thanks. I'm glad it helps.

Thanks.

The only way to tell if it is "good enough" is with a moisture meter. I doubt the stove is removing very much moisture. In fact, depending on the fuel source, you may be adding moisture to the room. I would expect the room needs to be vented to allow hot moist air to be replaced by dry cool air.

Thanks for watching. I am glad it helps.

Thanks. Danner is a great guy.

Thanks. In later versions of this kiln, I added 1 1/2 foam board insulation cut to friction fit between the 2x4 frame in addition to the styrofoam insulation.

Thanks.

That was my first thought! A little too much personality if you ask me. He should tone it down a notch!

You may need to open a vent in the insulation if the temperature gets over 100°. Set the dehumidifier to automatic and 50% RH and keep the fan running to circulate the air. The dehumidifier will cycle on and off as it pulls out water. You don't want to pull the water out too fast. It will cause drying defects.

Be sure to buy a moisture meter. Use it periodically to check the MC during the drying process. For an outdoor project, an MC of 12% is adequate. Redwood heartwood has a moisture content of 90% to 100%. You should target a drying rate of about 1% per day. It should take 2-3 months.

@@logstolumbernow2011 thank you 🙏

Glad you enjoyed it. Hope it was helpfull.

I used the Inkbird temperature and humidity controller bought from Amazon for about $70. Here is the link. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GQWY9HM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The heat lamps were GE 250-Watt Dimmable R40 Heat Lamp Incandescent Light Bulbs I got from Lowes. They were about $10 each. In later versions of my kiln, I added 1 1/2" pink insulation board, cut to friction fit between the 2x4 structure. With this added insulation, just the heat generated by the dehumidifier was enough to keep the temps up. In fact I would have to vent it some to keep it from getting too hot. The heating element is needed only to sterilize the wood. This kills any insects and their eggs and fungus. It also sets the pitch if it is a pine. You do not want to run your dehumidifier at the temps required for this process. You may damage your compressor. You don't have to sterilize your wood but you run the risk of having insects emerge from your new dinning room table. The dehumidifier was powered continually however it only ran when the relative humidity increased to the setpoint. I keep the RH around 50%. The heat lamps were similarly controlled with a temperature setpoint on the Inkbird. Hope this helps. Thanks for watching...

@@logstolumbernow2011 thank you very much for this detailed response! I'm curious, do you have any contact info for this account, like an Instagram? I would like to send you a link to the dehumidifier I bought but KZbin is being wired with posting links in the comments

@@adamthewoodworker2571 I use a Hisense 70 pint dehumidifier with pump, model #813826. A smaller unit may require additional time to dry the wood. Any similar unit will work just as well.

What is the starting MC? How many bdft are you wanting to dry at a time? If it has been air dried it should be around 12%. It takes about a week in my setup to dry from this point. It should dry at a rate of about 1% per day. If you are starting from green, the MC will be 100-120%. Drying from green is not linear. For 400 bdft, from green, it will take 2-3 months.

Yes, but the wood had air dried for a long time. The Initial moisture content was about 12% when I put it in the kiln. I dried it to 8%. Green wood will take 6 weeks or so.

Thanks. I enjoy creating furniture from my sawmill wood. I am still working on camera presence.

Its informational not some ADHD riddled streamer content.

This man is doing something useful, and then sharing the information free of charge. I think the most boring thing on earth would be listening to Scrotie McBoogerBalls enumerate his contributions to society because it would be complete silence.

He is reading from a script and I'm glad he is. Its all straight and to the point. I would rather watch his monotone video then one with a bunch of pointless flashy B.S.

@@jeremytolbert9633 that’s something a burning person would say.

Thanks.

Thanks

Yup...Jai has it figured out, just take a look at all his content and use that for motivation.

@@cwsteen wise words . You could learn a lot

You should try increasing the speed of the video if dialogue is too slow for you. I do that on damn near every video I watch....sometimes even music videos. If I speed up the video to 2X, I only spent half the time watching and still got all the information. The gentleman gave all relevant information in the construction of his kiln, and the issues he had along the way and what he did to correct them.

Thanks

I did not want to introduce moisture from outside the kiln into the system. If I used a closed loop duct, that would work.

Thanks. I try to keep it short with just the facts.

Thanks.

Thanks. I like to keep it on point. I hope it helps.

I could not see the cut well enough. Plus I was always climbing in and out to take measurements. It was more work than it saved. Now it is taking up space in my garage.

I did not think of that. It would complicate the design a little but may improve on some safety concerns with having a heater inside the box. I used the amount of water drawn off by the dehumidifier as a gauge for when the wood was dry since I did not have a moisture sensor in the wood. In later versions of this design, I added 1 1/2 inch pink insolation board and found that the heat from the dehumidifier itself was sufficient for the drying process and only needed the heater for sterilization.

I do not use a moisture meter in the wood being dried but I do use a humidity sensor in the kiln that I monitor. I also monitor the water being pulled out of the wood. When I stop pulling off water, then I switch to the sterilization phase.

Your welcome. Thanks for the view.

Air drying wood will not get the moisture content to the goal of 6-8%. In the climate in my local area, a MC of 12% is about the best I can get air drying. I use my kiln to finish the drying process and sterilize the wood. I have dried wood from green but it takes 8 weeks or so.

I must be in a similar area, I can't seem to get it below about 11% where I am, in South East Tennessee. Makes sense now, thank you!

@@logstolumbernow2011 Im guessing air drying will leave potential for bugs to be still in the boards?

@@yessir6325 Yes. If the wood has been infected with wood beatles, they could remain dormant until the wood goes inside and warms up. Not all wood has insects but it is really disappointing to find a little pile of sawdust under your new farmhouse table.

What box are you using for temp control and humity control? Did you get it on Amazon?

As I detailed in a reply about a year ago to a question, the electricity costs were estimated to be about $25 for the period that the kiln was in operation.

In the video I use 3/4" foil sided styrofoam. I have since added 1 1/2" pink rigid foam board cut to friction fit between the 2x4s then wrap with the styrofoam. The added insulation gives me better temperature control.

@@logstolumbernow2011 Thank you

Thanks for constructive comments. I'll work on being more natural in future posts.