Has anyone had their firewood kiln dried?

[Square Cutter]

I just picked up my first load ever of Madrona firewood. I heard it's an excellent wood similar to oak. I just had the idea of kiln drying it as I am a bit behind on wood cutting this year. Has anyone heard of a place that would kiln dry your firewood for a reasonable price? I have never done this before and likely won't do it this year but in a pinch I thought it would be great to be able to dump off a load of green firewood and come back with a dry load of wood in a week or two. Is this a thing?

 

[benjo75]

Never thought about it but if someone wanted to pay to run our kiln it doesn't matter what's in it, the price is the same. They'd have to load and unload it if it isn't't on a trailer or if we didn't have some way to set it in there with the tractor.

 

[Stonewoodiron]

I’d imagine that it would be cheaper to buy some seasoned wood. Save your green for next year

 

[Husky Man]

I’d imagine that it would be cheaper to buy some seasoned wood. Save your green for next year

The problem with that is getting Truly PROPERLY Seasoned wood. There are great variations in how many people define “Seasoned “

The first year that we were in our house, we didn’t have enough time to CSS, enough wood, never mind let it season for a year. I bought a cord of “seasoned” wood. It must have been selectively loaded, as what was coming out of his pickup first looked really Good, as more and more was unloaded it looked less and less stove ready

I finally asked him, just how was this wood “Seasoned”?
Oh, it sat in a logging slash pile for almost a year

In my area, and many parts of the PNW, that would end up with a higher MC, than green. The top layer would be ok, but get into the pile at all, and it rots not seasons


Doug

 

[Square Cutter]

Never thought about it but if someone wanted to pay to run our kiln it doesn't matter what's in it, the price is the same. They'd have to load and unload it if it isn't't on a trailer or if we didn't have some way to set it in there with the tractor.

So maybe throw it all on pallets and then run a forklift to load it in there? Do you think it would be worth it price wise? How much does it cost to run?

 

[Mad Professor]

My "kiln" is right next to the woodstove.

 

[Square Cutter]

Nice! Ok well thanks for everyone's input. I think I have figured out why kiln drying firewood is not really worth it. I just called a guy with a mill and kiln out here in the PNW and he said it would be about $300 to run the kiln. They use electricity and their bill is about $14k a month. So I guess I'll just have to make sure I get my wood split and ready to dry come spring.

 

[Captain Bruce]

I just picked up my first load ever of Madrona firewood. I heard it's an excellent wood similar to oak. I just had the idea of kiln drying it as I am a bit behind on wood cutting this year. Has anyone heard of a place that would kiln dry your firewood for a reasonable price? I have never done this before and likely won't do it this year but in a pinch I thought it would be great to be able to dump off a load of green firewood and come back with a dry load of wood in a week or two. Is this a thing?

Nobody in the Midwest...Our wood heats us 4 times. Cut, split, load, and burn. Seems rather pointless to try an re-invent the wheel, at a cost? If you are doing that, just buy seasoned wood from some farmer who stores it???? What is a kiln got to do with firewood meant to be consumed?

 

[Husky Man]

If one has the room, I have heard of retired shipping containers painted a flat black, doing a decent job, for a budget price.

There is a a little to it, some ventilation openings, and some fans. Over the course of several years, I imagine it is cost effective.

I have never used a commercial kiln, but I can’t imagine that, that would be cost effective, Effective Yes, practical, probably not


Doug

 

[Square Cutter]

Nobody in the Midwest...Our wood heats us 4 times. Cut, split, load, and burn. Seems rather pointless to try an re-invent the wheel, at a cost? If you are doing that, just buy seasoned wood from some farmer who stores it???? What is a kiln got to do with firewood meant to be consumed?

Good call. It sounds like I have my answer. It makes a lot of sense. It's pretty much useless to kiln dry firewood because of cost but also because of the added labor to move it in and out of a kiln. Not to mention drive time gas and wear and tear on the truck to and from the mill. If the cost was $20 or something like that it might be nice in a pinch but not at the price a kiln costs to run.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Nobody in the Midwest...Our wood heats us 4 times. Cut, split, load, and burn. Seems rather pointless to try an re-invent the wheel, at a cost? If you are doing that, just buy seasoned wood from some farmer who stores it???? What is a kiln got to do with firewood meant to be consumed?

Hey All; We're able to squeeze an additional 5% out of our burning process by adding cleanup time, lol.

My "kiln" is right next to the woodstove.

View attachment 1012627

Nice. Have you checked your humidity levels when performing this?

 

[alanbaker]

https://coltonenterprises.com/Large kiln dried fire wood company in Vermont.

 

[Aknutter]

@woodchuckcanuck

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

We're in Nova Scotia. We kiln dry firewood using a small Nyle L200M that holds 2 cords at a time. Could do 3 cords I guess if our set up was a little different. Maybe the next one I build. A few kiln video on our youtube channel if you are interested. https://www.youtube.com/c/JimBarryWoodworkersWorkshop/search?query=kiln
Currently our seasoned wood is $285. Kiln dried is $385. While the KD wood is $100 more per cord, you burn less because the wood produces more BTU's. Based on prices I mentioned, nominally seasoned air dried wood costs about $1.43 per 100,000 BTU. KD wood costs about $1.54. That's based on our own wood burning experience and those of our customers. After trying KD wood for a year they all say they burn about 25% less.

And yes, if people can get a year ahead of their wood burning inventory they could get by with seasoned or even green to let it dry out. But there's planning involved to do that. Not to mention have the financial means to set aside $1,000-2,000 worth of product to sit outside in the rain, wind, snow and ice. Many consumers nowadays see firewood as a commodity whereby they should be able to call and it's ready to go, have it dropped in their driveway and they can put it right in their shed, barn or house. Sure, it's possible. That type of service comes at a price and we are here to provide it.

Depending on the time of year, type of wood, how long the wood has been off the stump, how long it has been air drying already split and stacked, a kiln run can be as short as 2 days or as long as 9 days. We offer our service 365 days a year. We are by no means busy, certainly won't make a living from it.

It's a valued-added service for those that want guaranteed dry wood. Or for those new to the area, bought a home that had no wood or not enough wood to carry through the season. Many people never burned wood before and have no idea about proper drying, storage and burning. So we are here to help out and maybe turn them into a regular customer for either seasoned wood or kiln dried.

 

[Marshy]

I haven't tried it but there is a place that sells it for a premium. They use a propane kiln to dry it. I think it's a good concept but I find it hard to believe propane is cost effective. I would love to build a solar kiln and speed up the dry time of my firewood however, I have milled slabs that would be take priority.

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

Any applied process to speed up the drying of wood is cost effective so long as you charge enough for the costs incurred.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Has anyone tried solar kilns? Seems to me, there were a bunch of models on YouTube that had promise.

 

[LondonNeil]

For solar kiln info, go to h e a r t h . Com and search for solar kiln. There are 2 guys there that have built very very simple set ups costing just a few tens of dollars, done extensive measurements and successfully get wood down to bone dry/low single digit MC in a few months. I was looking the other day, I reckon a guy could run 3 loads a year through a solar kiln.

 

[Hermio]

We're in Nova Scotia. We kiln dry firewood using a small Nyle L200M that holds 2 cords at a time. Could do 3 cords I guess if our set up was a little different. Maybe the next one I build. A few kiln video on our youtube channel if you are interested. https://www.youtube.com/c/JimBarryWoodworkersWorkshop/search?query=kiln
Currently our seasoned wood is $285. Kiln dried is $385. While the KD wood is $100 more per cord, you burn less because the wood produces more BTU's. Based on prices I mentioned, nominally seasoned air dried wood costs about $1.43 per 100,000 BTU. KD wood costs about $1.54. That's based on our own wood burning experience and those of our customers. After trying KD wood for a year they all say they burn about 25% less.

And yes, if people can get a year ahead of their wood burning inventory they could get by with seasoned or even green to let it dry out. But there's planning involved to do that. Not to mention have the financial means to set aside $1,000-2,000 worth of product to sit outside in the rain, wind, snow and ice. Many consumers nowadays see firewood as a commodity whereby they should be able to call and it's ready to go, have it dropped in their driveway and they can put it right in their shed, barn or house. Sure, it's possible. That type of service comes at a price and we are here to provide it.

Depending on the time of year, type of wood, how long the wood has been off the stump, how long it has been air drying already split and stacked, a kiln run can be as short as 2 days or as long as 9 days. We offer our service 365 days a year. We are by no means busy, certainly won't make a living from it.

It's a valued-added service for those that want guaranteed dry wood. Or for those new to the area, bought a home that had no wood or not enough wood to carry through the season. Many people never burned wood before and have no idea about proper drying, storage and burning. So we are here to help out and maybe turn them into a regular customer for either seasoned wood or kiln dried.

View attachment 1012949

The ideas that kiln-dried wood has a lower moisture content than air dried is mostly a fiction. While it is true that the wood has a lower moisture content coming out of the kiln, it does not stay that way. Drying is an equilibrium process. Given time, wood will reach a moisture content that is in equilibrium with its surroundings. That means wet wood will eventually dry out to a certain moisture level and no more, depending on the humidity in its surroundings, and kiln-dried wood will absorb moisture until it is at the same moisture content as the air-dried wood in the same environment. Kiln drying saves time, not ultimate moisture content, but at the cost of energy usage. I air dry my wood under roof, and I reach 8% moisture based on my moisture meter. We are in Southern Ohio, which is not a particularly dry place.

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

The ideas that kiln-dried wood has a lower moisture content than air dried is mostly a fiction. While it is true that the wood has a lower moisture content coming out of the kiln, it does not stay that way. Drying is an equilibrium process. Given time, wood will reach a moisture content that is in equilibrium with its surroundings. That means wet wood will eventually dry out to a certain moisture level and no more, depending on the humidity in its surroundings, and kiln-dried wood will absorb moisture until it is at the same moisture content as the air-dried wood in the same environment. Kiln drying saves time, not ultimate moisture content, but at the cost of energy usage. I air dry my wood under roof, and I reach 8% moisture based on my moisture meter. We are in Southern Ohio, which is not a particularly dry place.

What you say about equilibrium is true... given time. Many of the customers we serve do not have the luxury of time to air dry their wood properly. They buy kiln dried to burn now (this season). Some like it enough to buy it every year.