In article om,
Puckdropper wrote:

Dave Balderstone wrote in
news:220720111644584940%dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_Sbalderst one.ca:

A neighbour's favourite mountain ash went down in a windstorm the other
day, and they have asked me to create some keepsakes as it was the tree
they were married in front of.

I've slabbed a section of the trunk into approx 1" x 5" x 18" pieces
for stickering and stacking. Am end-sealing them now. The wood is very
wet.

Can anyone point me towards a cheap way to speed up the drying
somewhat? I've told them that it could be 6 months before it's dry
enough to work, but she's been through chemo lately and even though she
seems to be doing well, I would like to do this as soon as possible.

I have never worked with mountain ash (rowant) before and don't know
how to expect it to behave while drying. All and any advice would be
most welcome.

I don't have any experience with this, but just having a fan blowing on
the wood pieces is supposed to reduce drying time.

Some pieces are turned green, maybe that would provide something neat.

I have a couple of crotch pieces I am going to toss on the lathe
tomorrow.

I'm considering whapping together a small solar kiln. It's not a huge
quantity. The boards are stickered in a singled laundry basket and I do
have a fan on them... but don't want to run it for 6 months.