Drying Sawed Lumber

[Randy]

Mercy there is alot of info on these pages and thanks to you Guy's and Ladie's for your help!! I need advice!! I am sawing lumber(mostly pine and all live tree's that I fall and cut then and air stack) for myself(between customers) to build a Very Rustic Cabin(1600sqft) in a remote area. There is no electric and will not be for years(if I can help it) only some solar panels. This cabin will be heated with wood and the Air Conditioner will be as many window's open as needed :D. I read this and that on air and kiln drying, so I don't know what is best for me. I have a 40sqft, 10ft high open shed  to air stack the lumber under until i need it,  which will be atleast a year, maybe 2. I have read some about solar kiln's, but seems all the kiln's need lots of electric or fuel. If I need to kiln dry some of this wood, can I build something like a green house(plastic) to stack some wood in to get the temp. up, maybe a small woodheater inside(shielded to keep from melting the plastic) and use some box type fans(want draw much electric) to move the air and manually open and close vents to get rid of some of the moisture etc?? Would something like this be better than not Kiln drying at all?? Can't afford no factory kiln at this time, and hauling it somewhere to get it kiln dried would just not be easy, tough enough getting the sawmill to that location.  If I build and don't Kiln dry anything, other than some sap softing and running, what would be my worse nightmares??? Randy

[Brad_S.]

If what you're asking about is the building construction lumber, just air dry it in the shed. The "kiln dried" lumber at the box stores is about 19%, and air drying it you'll get down to that or lower. The pitch won't be set, but that's not a concern for your project.
In my opinion, any wood you plan to use for cabinets or flooring should be further dried to 6-8%, otherwise I don't think you need to worry about kilning.
Don't forget pictures. Lots of pictures! ;D

[Buzz-sawyer]

Very simple answer.....which do you have more of, air or kilns
Seriously, if you arent going to use it for at least a year, it will be as dry as anything you will find at the lumber yard...if you get any sun on that shed it will be drier. No need to drag it to a kiln use electricity or kilns.....just leave it sit and it WILL dry out.
With pine the only concern you MAY have is mold or other exterior growth on the lumber...thats if it isnt stacked properly and exposed to some air circulation. I dry a lot of lumber by covering wood fresh of the mill with pieces of tin, so all the sides are exposed to air and breeze...gets down to 10-12% moisture.
Good luck sounds fun

[Ianab]

I agree with the other guys here. Rustic cabins were build long before kilns were invented  ;)
Properly air dried timber will be fine for your construction work. For furniture and cabinets where you have closer tolerances, then either kiln dried or at least acclimatised to the environment it's going to live in is best. If you build rustic furniture to match the cabin, then air dried will be fine there too  

To reduce the chance of pine going mouldy you need good airflow through the stack. Fans or a breezy location. As Buzz suggests a tin roof over the stack is a good option, or an open shed / carport. Once it's part dried it's a lot more forgiving and you can stack it in the shed out of the weather to complete the air drying

A solar kiln sounds like a good option. The only power required is to run fans. And they only need to run when the sun is shining. So a decent solar panel and some efficient fans should let you run a small kiln to finish drying your already airdried wood if you decide to go that far.

Ian