cheap wood fired kiln

[rebocardo]

I want to build a cheap wood fired kiln to dry some oaks I am planning to cut down. I am only interested in wood fired kilns because I have the free firewood  ;)

I want to dry the oak well enough to make furniture. My plan is to cut the oaks, use a mill to make true 2x lumber, dry it, then plane/sand all four sides. Also, I want to use it for drying firewood by the cord. So, something that opens up wide.

A shed type deal 12w x 10d x 8h would be ideal. I have searched on yahoo and most of the good sounding ones are for pottery or cost way over $5,000.

Any ideas?

[Minnesota_boy]

I think you really need two kilns, because the processes ahould be different to get the desired results.  To dry firewood, you only have to worry about removing the moisture.  Kiln drying lumber is different as you need to control the rate that moisture is removed to avoid stress and the minute cracks in the face of the board know as surface checking.

[BBTom]

You could build a modification of my kiln.  check it out at http://maplewood-farm.com/kiln.htm