Hi Guys - I've got about 4 acres of Red pine that I'm going to be thinning down for my managed forest program. I've got a small CM mill (PM14). I'm thinking about building a solar kiln, just because I don't already have to many irons in the fire. I'm curious about how much bigger I need to cut my boards to account for shrinkage when they are dry. Is there a formula or something I can reference or is it more of a trial /error thing Thanks! J
I just saw at full dimension. It's not like a 2x4 would ever shrink to 1 1/2"x3 1/2" or a 1x to 3/4". Your wide dimension will shrink the most but it's nothing to worry about. I'm cutting some red pine now that I was given (no market for RP locally) and I'm just taking the bark off and making cants for preserving it for later use.
Thanks Guys - That's primarily what I'm going to do. Was going to do full dimensional lumber up to 2x10's and a bunch of 6x6 8x8's and maybe 10x10's. don't know what I'm going to do with all the wood, but it'll be a fun project
