A Homemade Solar Lumber Kiln

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ILLUSTRATION: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF
Diagram: Homemade solar lumber kiln.

The search for self-sufficiency is, as often as not, a “have to” rather than a “want to” proposition. Consider, if you will, the sequence of events that led to the creation of my homemade solar lumber kiln.

I have a good life, doing what I want to do where I want to do it . . . that is, crafting handmade furniture from my home/shop in the hills of southeastern Ohio. I like the feel, shape, and texture of natural things . . . living and working in the woods . . . and the independence of being my own boss. In fact, in the past 30 years, there’s been only one real problem that’s consistently gummed up my otherwise idyllic situation . . . wet wood.

You see, building anything that’s supposed to hold its shape–whether it be a log cabin or a piece of fine furniture–requires dry, well-seasoned lumber. And if, like me, you live a considerable distance from the nearest large town, finding that ready-to-use wood can be a real chore. You usually can’t buy it at the local lumberyard (here in southeastern Ohio, at least, most such outfits stock only western softwoods, in pre-cut standard sizes) . . . sawmills likely won’t have any way to dry the lumber they cut for you … the nearest commercial kilns (which generally won’t be all that near) probably won’t handle “exotic” woods (a term meaning anything they’re not familiar with) . . . and if they do, they’re surely not interested in taking on small jobs (which translates as anything less than a truckload).

However, I’ve been a self-sufficient country boy for the better part of my life, and I vowed to find a way to properly dry all that walnut, cherry, and native white pine that was available on my own land, even if I had to build a fire under it!

What I’d have to do, I realized, was construct a kiln. But, I wondered, what could I use for heat? Oil is too danged expensive, natural gas isn’t available out here in the sticks, and I shuddered to think of the cords I’d have to cut to keep a woodburning kiln operating.

  • Published on Jul 1, 1982
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