Travis Johnson
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It is one nasty day here...okay it has been really nasty all week with rain and heavy winds. I just finished up my last woodworking project (a wooden model of my Uncle's silage chopper) so I am in between projects. No big deal but everything I started, I lost interest on. So I decided to cull my kiln.
Now my kiln is a solar kiln so its more storage then kiln, but I had lumber in there for the last 3 years. Its kind of funny too, I remember putting some Maple Boards in there and was very hesitant to put them on the bottom of the pile. Oh how I wanted to get right to them and make something from them. Now I am glad I put them on the bottom. Over the years I have steadily built up a pile of green lumber and slowly my kiln become inverted.
That is I had dry, dry lumber on the bottom and greenier lumber on the top. Since I typically use small quantities of wood, I would run out, grab something only partially down and use it. Something had to change.
So day I pulled everything out and redid the pile. I took out all my stickers and flat piled everything since its now all dry. I also put everything into same species piles like Ash, Basswood, Beech, Apple and Maple. That will make life easier when I want a certain species.
While I was in there I culled a lot of my nastier boards. Since I saw my own lumber I tend to keep the whole log, but after awhile I get tired of moving and moving again, marginal lumber. So I had a big pile of wood, and even bigger fire and culled my kiln.
I still have not got anything in mind to build, but my kiln is at least organized. The one thing I probably should have done is write down the lengths, widths and species of boards I have so I have an inventory of sorts.Perhaps in another lifetime I will be more organized
Now my kiln is a solar kiln so its more storage then kiln, but I had lumber in there for the last 3 years. Its kind of funny too, I remember putting some Maple Boards in there and was very hesitant to put them on the bottom of the pile. Oh how I wanted to get right to them and make something from them. Now I am glad I put them on the bottom. Over the years I have steadily built up a pile of green lumber and slowly my kiln become inverted.
That is I had dry, dry lumber on the bottom and greenier lumber on the top. Since I typically use small quantities of wood, I would run out, grab something only partially down and use it. Something had to change.
So day I pulled everything out and redid the pile. I took out all my stickers and flat piled everything since its now all dry. I also put everything into same species piles like Ash, Basswood, Beech, Apple and Maple. That will make life easier when I want a certain species.
While I was in there I culled a lot of my nastier boards. Since I saw my own lumber I tend to keep the whole log, but after awhile I get tired of moving and moving again, marginal lumber. So I had a big pile of wood, and even bigger fire and culled my kiln.
I still have not got anything in mind to build, but my kiln is at least organized. The one thing I probably should have done is write down the lengths, widths and species of boards I have so I have an inventory of sorts.Perhaps in another lifetime I will be more organized