In order to go from this:
…to this:
…there are a quite a few steps and a shop made transmogrifier.
Despite that those split out sections of Sycamore have lived outside for almost two years, the interiors are at ~30% moisture. That is a good thing.
We can control the circumstances around getting that moisture content down to about 10%. This is the reason all exposed grain is painted – slows down the drying process. Further controlling the process by only increasing the kiln temperature to 120°F while under >27 mercury allows the moisture locked in cell walls to evaporate with minimal distortion and cracking. Best of all, this process only takes about three days rather than several months, although it is energy intensive.
There are large scale versions of vacuum kilns that dry large quantities of boards. We’re still a small operation and sometimes need to dry roughed vessels as well as boards. So we made our own vacuum kiln to the specs we needed.
A key component is a vacuum pump and ours is currently sitting in a pool of its own blood. There is a long, drawn-out adventure surrounding this refurbished machinery. I may be able to resurrect her again, but we have a load in the kiln that is about halfway complete. So we have a new pump flying here presently and anxiously await its arrival.
Please stand by while the following urn tops await their sauna: