Preparing wood without oven?

[LillyChu]

Hello everyone!

I had a question..
Me and my husband received alot of chin safe woods : Willow, Apple, Pear and Hazelnut.
We don't really have a good oven and was wondering if we could airdry them in the house/outside when it's not raining, after having them boiled and scrubbed?

I hope to have an answer soon! Thank you!

 

[Amethyst]

Unless you live is a very dry and hot or very dry and very cold climate (like a desert or high arctic) I don't think that is going to work very well. It would likely take several months of hot dry weather with no rain (even inside the rain can increase humidity) to fully dry out the wood. I would think it'd be similar to seasoning firewood, where it takes roughly a year before it's dry enough to be considered done/ready to use. Wood that has not been fully dried for chins can get moldy, which can make the chin very sick or kill it if it eats it.

The oven doesn't have to be that good, you basically use it on the lowest heat it can go and check on the wood until it's fully dry. You are basically just using the oven to dehydrate the wood, especially if you already boiled it to kill anything. If the pieces are small enough even a toaster oven can work (toaster oven not a regular toaster).

 

[mercynursie]

I use the covered electric roasters to slowly dry my wood without having to tie up my oven. I still scrub and boil on the stovetop, then drain excess water and finish drying in the roasters. Seems to work good for me.

 

[LillyChu]

Thank you so much for answering I will for sure use the oven then!