First Charge of Cypress!!

[JackLeg]

:wsmile:Finished up most of the details on the solar kiln today and went ahead and put in the first charge of lumber. This is 7/4 cypress from Ivey and is in 6' lengths.

The wiring is temporary, but the timer and fans are running OK and the air movement through the stack is good. Still have to paint the exterior. (You comin' up Dave O?) Maybe I can talk Mary into painting it!

The VT folks tell me that you can reduce the MC of cypress by 12% daily and not hurt it. It's a very forgiving wood. I'll let you know. I plan to install a temp/humidity meter so I can check it without opening the doors.

The weather should be great this week to get the process going.

Anyway, WE'RE DRYING!!

:wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile::wsmile:

 

[b4man]

Yoo Hoo!!!! U B dryin' and I B sandin'! Very nice Kiln. I am very :tongue2:!!!

 

[WoodWrangler]

Nice! Can't wait to see it when I make my trip out that way!

 

[DaveO]

If I come paint (keep in mind I tend to spill lots ) do I get some of the first charge :eusa_thin:eusa_thin:eusa_thin??????

Dave

 

[TracyP]

If I come paint (keep in mind I tend to spill lots ) do I get some of the first charge :eusa_thin:eusa_thin:eusa_thin??????

Dave

Maybe if you get a big enough bucket and spill it dead center on the roof it will flow just right and leave time forccasion1.

 

[JackLeg]

Problem is, the "roof" is the clear solar collector! SO, I guess there's nothing for it but to get out the old roller and brush and as Cathy says, "Start Now!"

 

[jeff...]

Cool way to go - your kiln should do just fine. Wow 12% MC loss perday @ 7/4 thick, your right that is a very forgiving species and a good one to test her out.

Congrats ccasion1

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

I'll be interested in how the first charge goes.

 

[JackLeg]

Came home late this afternoon. Took LOML out to view the working kiln. Opened the doors and the fans were blowing and warm, warm air was circulating through the stack.

Hope to put in some monitoring equipment later this week. Simple temp and humidity. Anyone have any suggestions??

Scott??

:notworthy:

 

[woodArtz]

Lookin' good Reg!:icon_thum Keep us posted.

 

[TBone]

Very interesting, thanks for the update and pics

 

[scsmith42]

Came home late this afternoon. Took LOML out to view the working kiln. Opened the doors and the fans were blowing and warm, warm air was circulating through the stack.

Hope to put in some monitoring equipment later this week. Simple temp and humidity. Anyone have any suggestions??

Scott??

:notworthy:

Reggie, the best monitoring system that I know is the Kil-mo-trol plus system from Delmhorst. Not cheap though...

Many kilns use a standard wet bulb / dry bulb. Personally I prefer a RH% sensor. Send Don Lewis on the FF an e-mail; Nyle may carry these - if not he will know who to refer you to.

In your photo, it's not clear if you've baffled underneath your stack.... You want your baffles installed so that all air is forced to go through the boards, and not underneath / or around the stack.

Nice looking setup; congrats on getting your first load started!

 

[Bas]

Looking great Reggie! I wonder if you could rig some affordable temperature/ moisture sensors to transmit the info to a PC via wireless Ethernet. Then we can feed that to NCWW so we can all watch the progress!

 

[Glennbear]

I have an airless sprayer I used to paint the interior and exterior of my shop. If you think the non-paintable surfaces can be masked off without a huge hassle let me know. The sprayer comes complete with semi-experienced operator. :wwink:

 

[CarvedTones]

I am not trying to be a wet blanket, I swear! But...
IMO, to say cypress is "forgiving" is an understatement. I bought about 200 BF wet a few years ago, did a mediocre job of stickering it and had it stored mostly dry as far as rain goes, though it often wet one end of the stack with the common winds, and it was damp as far as RH goes. I had some other wood stored alongside that was pretty much destroyed by my negligence. The worst that happened to the cypress is some of the top boards twisted and warped a little, but were still usable. Not a single board ever cracked while drying even though I did a lousy job.

That's a nice set up :icon_thum:icon_thum:icon_thum, but I would want to dry something a bit finikier than cypress (pretty much any hardwood) as a real test.

 

[jeff...]

Reggie what % moisture did the charge loose today? Will it be ready for the 18th? There are a few folks up here that would like to get some from down there.

 

[JackLeg]

Thanks for all the interest. I'll try to fill in a few blanks:

Scott: Thanks for the input. I'm hoping to start with something simple and inexpensive if possible. I'm mainly interested in seeing what the max temp is in the kiln vs. the ambient. Ditto the RH. Maybe I'm taking too simple an approach, but for now, that's where I'm at.

Bas: Think I saw somewhere just what you are describing. In fact, the Doc at VT had "data loggers" attached to his that he can dump into a PC and chart things. Maybe I'll ask him again. :eusa_thin

Andy: You're right about cypress. The reason we are focused on it is because it's what we use most of for our outdoor furniture. As soon as I can get ahead enough on the cypress, I have some WO and RO I want to put in there. BUT, I suspect the drying rate for those will be MUCH slower, so I need the kiln right now for cypress.

jeff: Honestly, I've been too busy to even stick my pin meter in it for the last two days. I did go inside today and the stuff is looking good, no more checking than when we picked it up. And every black surface in that thing was WARM! I hope to take some readings, maybe tomorrow. I suspect that if we continue to have sunny days some of that might be in the 12-15% range by mid month. We'll see.

Thanks to all for your interest. There is MUCH to learn about this whole deal.
:wsmile:

 

[ptt49er]

Reggie,
check out these Data Loggers
we used something similar in our energy management class, really slick little deals. They aren't too expensive and can record TONS of data. HTH!!

 

[jeff...]

Reggie,
check out these Data Loggers
we used something similar in our energy management class, really slick little deals. They aren't too expensive and can record TONS of data. HTH!!

Cool it's the beginnings of a automated enviromental control system - rig up something to work off the LED's like open / close vent - open / close awning - turn on / off fans. Dang with a little programing and some electronic controls you got it made Reggie...

 

[cskipper]

That's really cool. LOML has been interested in something like that or a dehumidification type kiln, Please keep us posted.