|
Having a constant supply of food grown yourself brings great satisfaction. Also, producing seedlings for your landscape needs in large quantities is kind to the budget. Being less dependent on food sources far from home saves shipping costs, store overhead cost, and YOUR time traveling to get food you need! There is great benefit in growing your own plants, including taste due to freshness of your own homegrown produce. Another is the nutritional benefit from food grown in your own greenhouse! The Proposed Greenhouse Design   This is a major project I've just completed, but still have work to complete furnishing the interior. My REAL job (residential home design ... planshoppe.net) keeps me occupied most of the time, and it took longer than expected to complete. I've built it almost entirely on my own, except for a couple of tasks that I just didn't want to take on at my age. Anyway, the plan was to build a large greenhouse (36' x 24') down here in Louisiana to take advantage of our mild winters. I hope to begin seedlings for our yard, and then vegetables and citrus in the future. I just completed a concrete driveway, and had to wait until it was put in so that I could plant shrubbery in the right places. A few years back was the right time to take the plunge and just do it. It will hopefully serve my wife and I for all our remaining years, and the next few generations to come. Passive solar design simply means that the greenhouse does not require an active heating system. It uses the heat from direct sunlight collected during the day and stores it inside mass, which in this case will be a concrete block wall and barrels of water alongside the wall. The heat will slowly be dissipated back into the interior area at night, keeping the temperature (hopefully) above freezing. If the temperature in my area stays below freezing for an extended length of time, I’ve installed a backup propane heater for heat. The upper windows will open for venting during the unbearably hot summers here. They also have screen on them to prevent predators from coming inside. The rear storage room will be for my mowers and yard tools, as well as fishing supplies for my pond which is behind the building.
1 Comment
INTRODUCTION Providing yourself with a proper environment to store your lumber is an important addition to your building quality wood pieces. It is an effort to build a shed such as this, but it will provide a lifetime of security for your stock. Being able to select that perfect piece of walnut or oak immediately will always be a benefit to your passion for makings things from wood. Having lived with stacks of lumber cluttering up my yard and garage for years, it was time to build a place to organize and store my accumulation. Having a sawmill as a hobbyist means that you eventually WILL need a place for extra pieces from projects, as well as a place to store unexpected lumber from logs that just seem to show up. Many times, logs will be offered from folks that know or learn of your mill. Many hate to see the logs they believe useful going to waste, and will gladly give them to you. And that means MORE LUMBER! The first challenge for me (and doesn’t apply to large scale sawmill operators) was to design a structure with easy access. I lift my boards manually since I don't own a fork lift. It's just impractical for me at my home. I looked for lumber storage ideas all over the internet, and saw only a few that resembled the look I wanted. I finally came up with a system which provided strength, and good organization to meet my needs. I wanted to be able to store lengths up to 16′, since I rarely cut anything over that length on my Norwood Lumbermate 2000. I began by laying out a 16′ wide by 16′-8″ deep design with 2 aisles. Each aisle would have stacks on each side. I’ll show you the finished product first, and then a few pictures showing how I built it. Now that it’s done, its only about one third full, with all of my different wood species and sizes available for immediate retrieval. My Lumber Storage Shed  The front entrance doors lead to two aisles front to back, with shelves on each side. The shed is 16′ side to side, and 16′-8″ front to back. The glass area in my two flea market doors were perfect for allowing light into the storage areas. Both were found at the local Texas trade days flea market for $20 each. I cut the majority of the lumber for the shed on my sawmill. I ended up purchasing the 1″x4″ material for the shelves and a couple of treated 2"x6"s for the foundation since time was limited for me, and I wanted a consistent finished size of lumber to make the parts fit well. Lumber Shed Aisle  INTRODUCTION Being able to kiln dry your OWN lumber is a major benefit to a woodworker. This is especially true since many custom projects require species not available at box stores. Also, owning a kiln allows the furniture builder to use locally sourced lumber from logs which, many times, are left to rot where they fall. Owning your own kiln is a necessity if you are fortunate enough to own your own sawmill. The potential projects can then become limitless with this powerful combination. I came across the best Solar Dry Kiln design built by a local former military fellow, a great friend of mine, who was over the computer room in Huntsville, Alabama during the NASA Apollo Space program. His design is hands down more efficient than many other small solar dry kilns you'll see available. It can get as hot as 200 degrees Fahrenheit inside the kiln during the summer months here in the southern United States. The first photo shows the front of the kiln and five large doors. The center three are removable, and the two end doors are hinged. It's 18' long and 5' wide. If you build one, consider the length to accommodate whatever size your mill can handle. Just add (or subtract) the removable center doors as needed. Solar Dry Kiln  The system is basically a collector panel plenum (the area between the rafters) which heats up with the sun’s rays. The air is circulated through the lumber stacks by a couple of metal blade fans. Additionally, a dehumidifier is added inside to collect the moisture drawn from the wood. There is no other heat source but the sun, and temperatures can reach in excess of 180 degrees Fahrenheit. It can accommodate 16' long lumber easily. I also added a trailer hitch attachment in order to move it, although it's now in its permanent home. Solar Dry Kiln rear view  A Load Of Walnut Inside the Kiln  In the photo above, you can see the dehumidifier unit on top of the stack, as well as two metal blade fans that blow down from above. The main idea is the sun heats the black corrugated metal sheet that is attached to the bottom of the rafters facing up to the sun. The clear roof panels attached to the top then create a plenum between the rafters (sort of like a tunnel). If you’ve ever grabbed a black handrail that's been exposed to the sun, you know how hot it can get. That’s why the metal is painted black and facing up to the sun. It gets REALLY hot. The upper plastic roof panels on top trap the heat which rises to the mini attic and recirculates down by the fans blowing down. The air flows through the lumber and reenters at the rear of the roof (the lowest roof point.) Take a look at the drawing below:  Here's a video of me describing the kiln from a few years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTnvkeDsp7c&t=6s INTRODUCTION If someone is serious about building quality furniture, it's necessary to have access to a good supply of specialty lumber for projects. There is no better way to do that than by owning your own bandsaw mill. OVERVIEW OF THE MILL Here’s a picture of my Norwood Lumbermate 2000 bandsaw mill:  This is a pile of lumber that became my solar dry kiln:  As I’ve said in other posts, I only became aware of portable bandsaw mills after visiting a friend of mine who owned one after I moved up into the country in north Louisiana. I was intrigued by it, and knew I had to have one in order to make myself an endless supply of lumber for all the projects I’ve always wanted to build. Owning a personal bandsaw, and being able to cut any tree that has been sourced locally opens endless possibilities for the woodworker. Just be sure to read ALL THE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS that come with your mill. Try to get the original manual from the previous owner if at all possible. I did, and it's been a life saver for me. One of the top things I keep in mind is I never let anyone stand on the front of the mill while I'm pushing from the rear down the track. Anything can fly off and cause an injury. And NEVER allow anyone to be near the sawdust exhaust area. When a blade breaks on my mill, it flies out that thing! A random walnut cant on the mill. It's the best local wood that I've used for furniture:  By first owning the sawmill, a woodworker can then cut stock to build a dry kiln. I did just that, and the solar dry kiln construction is documented on another post. This is the best combination for a serious furniture maker that I could imagine. It has opened up endless possibilities of using locally sourced logs that might otherwise go to waste. The majority of the logs I’ve used (and it’s into the hundreds that I’ve milled in the last few years) were given to me. My solar dry kiln with a load of walnut for my brother's new house. He used it for his cabinets and his stair treads:  Finding a used bandsaw mill is not too difficult. Many folks want to upgrade to sawmills with more bells and whistles, and will gladly part with their old model. As I said, I found the same model my buddy had in the next state, and we went and picked the thing up. I got it for about half of what it was when new. That’s my point. Look around and be patient. You’ll eventually find one you can use. Cutting some 8" wide beveled lap siding:  |
GARY SAVAGEGary is a residential designer with many other interests. Woodworking, music, the JFK assassination, the bible and writing occupy most of his day. He and his wife Jenny live in northern Louisiana. ArchivesCategories |
RSS Feed