Hi, I do a bit of "stick" furniture (using thin poles, saplings etc) that makes use of the abundant acacias and regrowth eucalypts and am curious about small scale kiln drying. Mostly I use "sally wattle" (species unknown) and "spotted gum" poles, they get treated with borax to prevent borers then air dried (in less than ideal circumstances). It works okay but the acacia especially gets a lot of splitting; it is still usable and the splits can qualify as a feature but I think minimising it would improve the quality. With spotted gum there is much less but still some splitting and maybe I could end up with next to none if I had better ways to dry. Preserving the natural appearance of the timber surface is important too; the grain inside is fabulous and I like to make a feature of it being exposed and finished but most of each piece I make relies on that natural surface.

So, has anyone put thin, unsawn poles through kilns and does it reduce that splitting when it's dried that way? I go from quite thin 20mm up to maximum of about 150mm diameter.

I have had a look at a link Dave TTC provided to a woodworkingtalk.com thread about home made mini kilns but some Australian experience would be useful. thanks.