Wooden Home Kiln

[AmaxB]

I saw this a while back it is a nice home kiln project and with a few minor tweaks could be great like a drain and could be done at a low cost.
Just ran across it again and thought I would post the link.
http://www.seedman.com/wkiln.htm

 

[AmaxB]

Just looked over it again to refresh my not so good memory tweaks a small fan, vents, humidity sensor, drain, seal the wood behind the insulation. I might have missed one.

 

[DonH]

I've thought about using that design. I would make it taller to fit a crockpot in it, though.

 

[deluxestogie]

The essence is any box, sized to your liking, with a controlled heat source (and hopefully a humidity source).

If you use a Crock Pot for the heat and humidity (recommended), rather than the industrial silicon heating pad (~$50+), then top loading is something of a pain in the butt. A piano hinge is no more vapor proof than a set of 2 or three cheap cabinet hinges. Also, there seems to be no consideration of a method of maintaining humidity.

If you already have a container (box), then a wood kiln makes sense. I built one using a large, very old wooden toolbox. Otherwise, the cost of this project (especially with all the doo-dahs, insulation and corner trim) should be compared to that of setting up a discarded freezer as a kiln--a la DrBob, Johnlee1933 and others.

I have two smallish kilns--the old toolbox and my Cozy Can--yet together, they still represent a bottleneck in my leaf finishing. I would suggest going as big as you have room for. A 2 to 4 quart Crock Pot and a crappy old water heater thermostat are adequate to get the job done for kilning, though you could spend more on fancier controls.

I think the project plans for the seedman kiln do provide a general concept that is worth modifying: box, insulation, thermostat, heat source (and water source), and an access door.

Bob

 

[DonH]

I agree, Bob, if it were taller and had a crockpot, the door would have to be on the front. I still may go the freezer route.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I made this thing about 10 years ago. For a heat source I used a warming plate with a heat thermostat for reptiles. The design calls for you to place your tobacco into a sack and place in on the shelf. It was pretty much impossible to keep the humidity controlled and the fact that my tobacco was in a pillow case meant it was rather time consuming to have to take it out once per day, mist it and put it back into the sack. All in all it was a learning experience for me. I would not recommend anyone start out with this design. The basic insulated box with a crockpot and water heater thermostat is a much better design, especially for a beginner.

 

[BarG]

The crockpot kiln works great! Mines in an old ref. and cost 15.00 out of pocket for water heater thermstat. [Ref. and crockpot were already available.] It made smoking homegrown cigar tobacco and cig. a real pleasure.