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Crazy idea....

#3
It sure seems to work very well for.... woo ok. Ill keep that to myself.

I use a dehumidifier and a large fan to keep the air in constant circulation (in a little area beneath the stairs, app. 70 sq.feet) humidity level is at 20% at all times and temperature at 35-40 degrees C. (105 F).It takes about 5 days to dry 4/4. I didnt think it would work, but actually works very well, without many checks and splits ! Just make sure you seal the ends. The Bill at the end of the month sucks though.
 
#4
Fennek Basses said:
It sure seems to work very well for.... woo ok. Ill keep that to myself.

I use a dehumidifier and a large fan to keep the air in constant circulation (in a little area beneath the stairs, app. 70 sq.feet) humidity level is at 20% at all times and temperature at 35-40 degrees C. (105 F).It takes about 5 days to dry 4/4. I didnt think it would work, but actually works very well, without many checks and splits ! Just make sure you seal the ends. The Bill at the end of the month sucks though.
Click to expand...

You mean you do that to green lumber, to essentially kiln-dry it??
 
#8
I used to work for a huge Commercial Kiln Drying company, and they would dry their wood in about 2 weeks. Mind you these were Steam kilns.

The important part for me is that it doesnt split or check, and it would split or check if the wood was drying too fast. And it's also quite stable, which is important as hell for bass building. I've got Ash and Butternut that's been sitting around the shop for a long time, the MC went up to 7-8% since it adjusted to room humidity, but it's still nice and straight.

Another thing I might have forgot to mention, I only cut dead trees (dead but still standing) because I have a lot of respect for the environment, and on top of that, dead trees, often means sick trees, sick trees can have sweet patterns and grain, such as Spalted Maple, which attacks the tree only when it's dead. So the tree has already rejected much of its water, then I cut it and bring it inside for about 4 months, so by the time I'm ready to cut it up in nice pieces, it's at about 12-15% MC. so that's only 7-9% left to push out of the wood, and this is the part that only takes about 5 days, depending on the initial MC and thickness of my pieces. I remember some of it taking 20 days in the kiln to dry. so it's all relative.
 
#10
There you go,
This is some Maple I cut almost 7 months ago (3''x9''x6'), it's been there since. I put these pieces through the roof supporting beams at my work... 18 feet high. It gets really damn hot up there in the summer, I installed a fan to keep air circulating. Ill probably cut these up to make Neck Blanks and store them somewhere to age for maybe a year or so... If I were'nt so impatient i'd let it age for 5 years but.... I wanna build Basses !!!
 
#12
As mentioned above (please check above) I bring all freshly cut Timber inside, either my house, under a tarp in the back yard, or 18 feet in the air at work, for 4 to 8 months, then I kiln dry the big roughly cut slabs for a few days, then I cut them in pieces (whatever size I need depending on the project) then kiln dry the final pieces (clamped and stickered) for 4 to 20 days. Then I let the pieces adapt to room temperature and humidity level for a few months, sometimes up to a year. I mainly do furniture with this wood so 8 to 10% MC is fine, but for Bass building, I let it 'age' for quite some time, and I mainly use Burl or Spalted maple (1/4") as tops, backs, and headstocks, not cores or necks. here check this out... these are Spalted Maple 1/4" pieces I cut and then kiln dried for 8 days. They are fine pieces of wood ! Try it out... you'll have a sore back the day after you bring the wood out of the forest, a lot of time looking after the wood and caring for it, making sure it's drying properly, but it's worth it ! even if the price of it all is the same, you can go back in the forest, sit on the stump, and play the Bass you built from the tree.... and trust me... This is one sweet MAGICAL moment !!!
 

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