My first time processing lumber

[kristosig]

Quite a little operation you got going 👍

You can say that again.

Been a long day...



 

[Old Greenhorn]

I have to say, we have a lot of first timers to milling here and when you first showed up with a very aggressive plan we have heard many times before in slightly different forms, I was dubious. I figured, like most, you would realize you would need a little more time to get your goals reached. 
 I was wrong and I am impressed. You really have pulled this off so far and it is a lesson to me to keep an open mind. 
 Good on ya!

[Andries]

I was going to compliment you on having super diplomatic skills.
Keeping your neighbours happy while running all that equipment would be very difficult!
 . . . and then we see where you hide away from everyone.
.
Jag skulle gratulera dig för att ha superdiplomatiska färdigheter.
Att hålla dina grannar glada när du kör all den utrustningen skulle vara mycket svårt!
...och sedan ser vi var du gömmer dig från alla.

[Old Greenhorn]

.
Jag skulle gratulera dig för att ha superdiplomatiska färdigheter.
Att hålla dina grannar glada när du kör all den utrustningen skulle vara mycket svårt!
...och sedan ser vi var du gömmer dig från alla.

Det er Svenska Andries? Jeg er Nordman.
You are Swedish Andries? I am Norwegian. (or my best attempt at it, it's been a long time and I never was very literate.)

[kristosig]

I have to say, we have a lot of first timers to milling here and when you first showed up with a very aggressive plan we have heard many times before in slightly different forms, I was dubious. I figured, like most, you would realize you would need a little more time to get your goals reached.
I was wrong and I am impressed. You really have pulled this off so far and it is a lesson to me to keep an open mind.
Good on ya!

Thanks. Really appreciate it. This is a huge undertaking for me, I've been quite dubious myself at times.
Finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think I'll make a table top out of some of the first batch. A nice keepsake.

[kristosig]

.
Jag skulle gratulera dig för att ha superdiplomatiska färdigheter.
Att hålla dina grannar glada när du kör all den utrustningen skulle vara mycket svårt!
...och sedan ser vi var du gömmer dig från alla.

Det er Svenska Andries? Jeg er Nordman.
You are Swedish Andries? I am Norwegian. (or my best attempt at it, it's been a long time and I never was very literate.)

Ni är tokiga, båda två.
As a matter of fact, I am not Swedish. I live in Sweden, but I am Icelandic. I moved to Sweden in the beginning of 2014 and will be moving back to Iceland next summer. I have actually considered importing green logs from Sweden to Iceland. Gotten a bit hooked on this.

[kristosig]

I did install a climate detector yesterday. Of course, the kiln is off and the door is open, so right now it's just reporting the outside climate. But it'll be fun to follow. I wrote in some reference numbers in fahrenheit to help those of you who are not used to celsius.



 

[kristosig]

 

 The kiln has been running for 24 hours now. The thermostat is set to 55 degrees C (131 F) and the outflow vent is completely closed. Now I am just softening up the lumber.

I have a thermometer/hygrometer in the opposite end of the kiln from the WDU. According to its readings, the temperature is stabilising at about 54 C (129 F) and relative humidity about 75%, which means that the wet bulb temperature is 49 C (120 F).



 



I also started some safety enhancements. Work in progress.

[kristosig]

Unfortunately, it seems that while the temperature is stable, the humidity is sinking. I believe the steam is getting out between door and door opening.

I worry that I have already damaged my lumber. Almost hope the fan is not effective and the lumber has lots of moist air in between planks! But I am hoping that the situation is not as bad as it seems from just temperature and relative humidity, as the pressure inside the chamber is probably increasing as moisture is released from the lumber and turned into steam.

The dry bulb temperature is stable at 129 F but the wet bulb temperature has gone from 120 to 102 F in three days.

What do you think?





I've looked up some things. Seems that I remembered wrong about RH decreasing with increased pressure. It's actually the other way around.

I didn't do an oven-dry weighing of the lumber before starting, which I now regret. Seems there could be a lot of important variables I am missing. How much water the lumber has released being the key thing I am missing. The total absolute water difference in the air in the chamber is probably something like three ounces, totally irrelevant. But if the lumber has released a lot of moisture in the air, that could moisture is gone as well, and that is worrying.

@GeneWengert-WoodDoc is this something you could comment on?

[Old Greenhorn]

I would make a call to the kiln manufacturer. I bet they have a 'guy' that can set you straight quickly. This way be very normal for that setup, or not. ;D

[kristosig]

I would make a call to the kiln manufacturer. I bet they have a 'guy' that can set you straight quickly. This way be very normal for that setup, or not. ;D

Hope so. They make good products, but sometimes I find their knowledge of just kiln drying lacking. Their primary products are saw mills.
I've put in some quick fixes...


 

 
...and I am happy to report that the humidity is rising quickly. On the other hand, this also serves to inform me of how much moisture was leaking out previously.





I will probably let this run completely closed until tomorrow morning to get some steam time in with the lumber. Then open the vent early tomorrow morning before I leave for the airport. I'll have to adjust the vent on the fly, though. Won't have much time for fine tuning. I want to release about 30 m3/hour (about 18 CFM) out through the vent, keeping that stable for about three weeks.

[kristosig]

I've had the vent open for a couple of days now, and the thermostat at 45°C (113°F). Seems stable. Now I'm just waiting.

I'm updating the mill from petrol driven chainsaw to an electric one. Ought to make the neighbours happy, as it is considerably less noisy.



 

[kristosig]

 Opened the kiln now. Pretty happy with the results! About 520 board feet there. Will be milling 800 board  feet in the coming days and starting the kiln again.

I already have orders for about 900 board feet, so almost halfway to my goal of having the lumber sales pay for all my equipment and other costs.

Got a new chainsaw, an electric one, Logosol ES8. Will be using that to mill the rest of the lumber

 


 

[kantuckid]

You are one ambitious feller! :D

[kristosig]

So, I'd like to summarise the drying process a little bit, as this was my first time.

During the first few days, I wanted to maintain a temperature of 55°C (131°F) and as much humidity as possible. I added 2 litres (1/2 gallon) of water before closing the kiln. However, I found that my kiln could not hold the moisture in, and the humidity sunk very fast. As you can see in the attached picture, I put in some extra isolation around the door opening and managed to get the humidity up a little bit. After a few days of this, I turned the heat down to 45°C (113°F), opened the vent to let out (if memory serves) about 40 m3/h (23,5 CFM).



 

Then, I just left it for just over four weeks.



 

In the end, what I wanted to do was to equalise and condition. That didn't really go as planned. I figured I had left it long enough in a warm and dry environment, so it was likely already ready fairly equalised. So I wanted to condition the lumber, that is make the outermost parts a little wetter, while letting the inner parts continue to equalise. So I added more water and turned on the heat. Well. The humidity sunk again, not surprisingly, as even with the same absolute moisture, the RH sinks when the temperature increases. Also, when the temperature got up to 80°C (176°F), the safety switch in my wood drying unit kicked in and turned the whole thing off. When the safety switch is triggered, you can't turn it on again until it is down to 30°C (86°F).

So, I waited for it to cool off before making another attempt, this time continually adding water. This time, I set the thermostat to 70°C (158°F) and maintained that temperature for about 24 hours. I was largely unsuccessful in maintaining the desired humidity level, so in the end I just aborted the attempt and turned the kiln off. It cooled down in a few days (I didn't want that to go too fast).



 

The results were really good. No end checking, no deformations. Pleasantly surprised.



 

[kristosig]

So, a lot has happened with my little project. I´ve upgraded my equipment, gotten an electric saw. I made a little chip collection system for it:


 

Nothing fancy, but when I connect it to a chip collector, it works surprisingly well. Obviously no bag, as that would fill immidiately.



 

What you see hanging off that container is an ATV winch. I use that to pull logs up on the "sawmill" (a Logosol F2, for those who are interested).


 

I have had all sorts of problems. Mostly my own lack of experience. The balk where the saw slides needs to be completely straight and level, and same goes for the saw. Had all sorts of problems with that, which have led to difficulties. But it´s coming along. I have a big order now that I´m trying to fill; about 1000 bdf. Mostly ash, and mostly with straight edges, but some with live edges. A bit of cherry. I´m about four weeks behind schedule, and I didn´t manage to cram as much into my kiln as I had thought, only got about 600 bdf in there.



 

However, I have some over from the first batch, some private stash that I´ve bought previously, and I can buy a few planks if need be to be able to ship the whole order.

I have now started the drying process, turned on the heat about 36 hours ago. The heat is creeping up, have it at 121F right now, and 87,8% RH. I want to go up to 158F at least for a few hours, but we´ll see how that goes. After that, my plan is to reduce the EMC by approximately 2,5% per day.

This batch and the next one will be 2 inch slabs. After that, I will mill all the rest of my lumber to 1" thickness, mostly to be able to dry it faster. As I am moving this spring, I need to dismantle my "operation" soon to tidy up before I sell my house.

[samandothers]

You have been busy!  You are pushing through your issues.  I hope you continued success with your new business.

[Anderson]

I have really enjoyed watching your progress, please keep us updated!   8)

[kristosig]

A quick update. My "little kiln that could" was not quite able to reach my target temperature of 158F. It topped out in 140F and stayed there. I let it sit like that for a few days, vent closed, to soften the wood and get the tension out.

Now I have set the thermostat to 113F and I have opened the vent a little bit.



 
 

You may have noticed the two containers. One of them I use for lumber and machines that make a lot of sawdust.



 

The other one I use for a little makeshift workshop and a more varied storage. Anything that can make a spark is stored there.


 

Both containers are insulated and have electricity. I keep them warm with forced air garage heaters.

[kristosig]

For those of you who are extra interested, I'm posting links to a few videos. A friend came by and recorded a few short videos. The spoken language is Icelandic, but I reckon the videos speak for themselves even if your Icelandic is a bit rusty...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n3v3z8l436hqo05/video-1611509080.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3boa07ulvlb7a53/video-1611508969.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wl87dhgpp7ygk7i/video-1611508964.mp4?dl=0

[kristosig]

Sent a large-ish delivery to a customer. Huge milestone. A lot of hard work, but very satisfying.



 

 

 Already milled some more and put in the kiln. This will be the second last load and then I'm done processing all the wood from this adventure. Have some plans on how to proceed, but definitely not in my own garden. Never again...



 


 

  

[DirkC]

I did install a climate detector yesterday. Of course, the kiln is off and the door is open, so right now it's just reporting the outside climate. But it'll be fun to follow. I wrote in some reference numbers in fahrenheit to help those of you who are not used to celsius.

Which detector are you using? Most temp/humidity sensors I found do not go up to 80°C.