First off sorry if this is in the wrong forum, workshops seemed to fit well with the topic.
I've got a great source for cheap green lumber locally and I'd like to be able to dry the lumber quickly at home. Right now my approach is to sticker it and stack it on the side of my garage. That is less than ideal because of limited space and the slower speed of drying. I'm looking at two main options.
Option one is a solar drying setup. I've found numerous plans online and am leaning towards something like this: http://www.woodscience.vt.edu/about/.../vtsolar_kiln/ or http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas...Designs_2.html (look for the blackburg va one). Which boils down to a small box with a sloped transparent roof, black walls and fans to circulate air. I'd scale the plans a bit so it fits around 1000bf at a time.
Option two involves assisted drying in the garage. Because of the tools I'll put putting in to the garage I am close to surrendering my parking spot anyways. So why not use some of that to dry wood. My thoughts were along the lines of a 2' x 2' x 8' box with a fan and small (closet size) dehumidifier in it.
Does anyone have any experience working with either of these or any guidance at all really on the subject? Also, I forgot to mention has anyone used Nelson's kiln plans I've only seen great reviews and seems to be a perfect match for what I'm looking at.
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