Wood Kiln

I had an 100+ year old tree in the yard die. I wanted to preserve the wood for some projects. 

Once the tree was cut down, it was cut into segments and allowed to spalt, then later was milled up into slabs.

I needed to ensure that there were no critters still living inside, so the goal was to get wood up to 130F for several hours.

I made a kiln out of some foam board and 3000+ watts of energy from heat guns.

It was below freezing outside but it was insulated enough not to matter.

I put my compost temperature monitor probes in the kiln to watch temp. I noticed that temps were not quite getting hot enough, staying around 110-120. I ended up filling a few of the large air gaps with spray foam and the temps climbed real fast.

I noticed that the sensor was not sending anymore updates for some reason. It quickly became obvious, when I noticed part of the wall melting away. I ended up throwing my compost thermometer in the newly minted access hole (from the melted wall). Temps rose above 200F. Temp probe wires melted from heat, which is why I stopped getting sensor readings.