Off the wall question about processing wood

[Chin_Parent]

I've got a question about processing wood. I'm a college student who lives in an apartment that doesn't have an oven. During the school year I can use the ovens on campus to process wood, but school is ending in a month and the dorms will be closed for the summer. I'll be able to process a fair amount before the school year's out, and I can also process some when I visit my parents, although I don't want to be rude and hog their oven all day. So I was wondering if there are other methods to dry wood. Do dehydrators work for processing wood? I don't have one, but I can certainly get one. Additionally, would putting it on a grill (wrapped in foil) heated by coal work?

 

[Dewdrop]

Don't quote me. I thought I'd read somewhere here that some have placed wood in their cars (in the sun) during the summer...

 

[Chin_Parent]

Yeah, if I remember correctly, Ronda said that. That'd be a good idea, since I'll have enough wood processed for him by the end of the school year to last him a while. Looks like I'll be taking advantage of the sweltering Iowa summer for once.

 

[Chin_Parent]

Though naturally, it would probably take a bit longer than oven baking them. Probably a few hours for twigs, I'm guessing?

 

[Ronda]

It all depends upon how 'wet' the wood is. I've found that you leave small pieces of wood out in the sun and it is brittle in a day or so and larger pieces a bit longer. Using the car is great but one of the tricks is to layer it thin - a couple three twigs or sticks on top of each other - not a whole 2" pan full of them all crammed together. It takes a whole lot longer to cure that way and it also cures very unevenly. So basically the top layer or so will be really dry and underneath it will be sweltering wet. Even in the oven it takes anywhere from 4 to 8 hours to cure the wood at 150°.

Basically just leave it in the car and let it bake!

Ronda