Drying thin (<1") slabs

doc henderson · November 27, 2020, 08:59:30 PM

will these have finish on them? if they are to be rustic, then they can dry in service. I hope you charge enough to make up for energy costs and handling. sounds like a neat experience/experiment.

YellowHammer · November 27, 2020, 09:28:35 PM

Quote from: JoshNZ on November 27, 2020, 04:21:00 PM
while plenty is going through I'm sure about 90% isn't.

Sounds a little much. No use burning the profits. I'm using about 1/2 hp.

JoshNZ · December 05, 2020, 03:17:38 PM

Well this is my latest setup hah. Being a forum and all, I only share this info to stop anyone else wasting their time lol

I don't know how effective it is really, the idea is good on paper but at the end of the day I can only feel slight drawing through the boards. I went to add plastic to the ends/corners and it definitely sucks on and stays there by itself but Ive put my hand inside the assembly and still only feel what I'd call a gentle draft flowing through the boards. What do you guys think? Is it enough, for wood that is down on the flat part of yellowhammers curve anyway.

Still no weight on it, I haven't seen any of then cup or twist even slightly yet but I'll abandon this idea and stack with weight if it starts happening.

doc henderson · December 05, 2020, 03:48:00 PM

unique idea. should work. depends on how picky this customer will be. once they cup or twist it will be to late to get them flat unless you want to re-wet them. if you know how you will do it (the weight), then I would do it now, and more stickers. if they like rustic, then no biggie.

JoshNZ · December 05, 2020, 05:17:41 PM

I don't really have a plan to add weight. I'll mill some more timber and put it on top of it that's the best idea off the top of my head haha.

I will get away with quite a bit of movement anyway, being that they'll be cut to 450mm lengths and planed down to less than 80% thickness.

Might try losing the shroud today, I don't think it helped, the air flow feels more disturbed than when I had the fan by itself sitting on the bench.

doc henderson · December 05, 2020, 06:50:08 PM

could place a 5 (20L) gallon bucket of water over each sticker would be 132 # (60kg)

JoshNZ · December 12, 2020, 07:25:48 PM

I probed around with a moisture meter today, all of the end grain and all of the faces of the board read about 13% which is the same as the meter reads the plywood on top which I assume is a good dry reference as its been in the shed for years.

I sawed the corner off a board and still get very high readings, higher in the center. Leaves me without much confidence it's going to be safe to use in 4 more weeks.

Any thoughts? More air speed? Is it possible to trap moisture inside by drying surface to fast, with fans?

doc henderson · December 12, 2020, 08:43:14 PM

higher air speed is for higher moisture contents. I think you will be ok. If they are to be rustic, and you are being pushed... these are going to be live edge platters, right? you are about where we get just air drying. heat is the only thing to speed it up now I think. Or vacuum. but if it just a slab of wood you might be fine.

JoshNZ · December 13, 2020, 04:28:44 PM

There's obviously a significt gradient across the material if I'm getting 13% on the outside and 30-40%+ at the centre, logically thinking there's nothing air flow can do to help that core MC.

They'll be live edge yes but some will be ripped in half, rustic probably but I would imagine planed and sanded. He can do a handful to get started and finish rest at later date too. Splits etc were ok by him

JoshNZ · January 10, 2021, 04:19:31 PM

Well this was the pile yesterday, nearly 2 months later. Almost no cupping, a little bit of splitting at the ends on pith bits which is ok for their intended purpose. And today they are gone to two seperate buyers, both who could've taken a whole lot more. Seems if I'd planned a bit better and setup somewhere out of the way without a leaky roof it'd be a good little money spinner.

I didn't bother testing the cores again, just warned them of my last observation. They're considerably lighter than boards that didn't get put in the fan stack. I guess I'll wait a couple of weeks on the feedback before I coin it a success but it appears to have been worthwhile.

doc henderson · January 10, 2021, 07:38:01 PM

would love to see pics of the finished product. still imagining what exactly he is doing with these. good job.

JoshNZ · March 11, 2021, 04:15:17 PM

For anyone interested, here are a few photos below of where they ended up.

He took them in January, still with the plan of making serving platters out of them and seems he has changed his mind, he said he didn't want to cut them up once he saw them. They are scattered throughout the restaurant as tables, shelves, and the main bar top. It looks pretty good but a shame we didn't cut thicker planning for this in the first place.

I don't know if they are fully dry but evidently it's not a fear playing on his mind haha. They're pretty well supported on steel frames but with overhanging edges which might wander off on him. Fingers crossed.

With a bit of a language barrier and a new restaurant still dialing in its portion sizes we ended up with about twice as much as we could eat, waiter putting platters down on the window sill next to us, hilarious night really. Pretty neat to see it in such a space, for me anyway.