Designing a wood drying box

[HoneyBadgerDC]

I am rebuilding my old wood drying box and hope to make it a little more efficient than my last one. I use the drying box to bring my all wood archery bows down to about 6% MC. The box will be about 6 ft long and have about 4 cubic feet of area to heat. I plan to run the temp at an average of about 130 degrees with a 140 degrees off and a 120 degrees on. ( not critical)

I will use the 2" thick foil backed styro foam to build the box. here are some of my questions that will hopefully make it more stable.

Is there any advantage to adding mass inside the box that will warm up?
I have a 175 watt circular heating element courtesy of old rice maker. Would there be any advantage to mounting this on a copper plate to spread the heat out a little more? I will have a computer fan blowing inside all the time.
Location of the fan and heating element. would a baffle be useful separating the box in half lengthwise to allow for a recirculation of the air? Should the heater be located above the baffle away from the wood if I use a baffle? Does it matter?
Ventilation. I wasn’t planning on any real ventilation outside of a few small leaks in the seams of the box. My average humidity here is about 65% which is a little too high.
I haven’t start construction yet so any tips will be appreciated.

[steatopygia]

I have no personal experience building a drying box, but this pagefrom the Gummint has a
link to a PDF with some plans and a lot of info.

[HoneyBadgerDC]

@steatopygia

I have no personal experience building a drying box, but this pagefrom the Gummint has a
link to a PDF with some plans and a lot of info.

I wish I had room for something like that, mine is much smaller, only about 4 cubic feet.

[Projammer]

I would think you’d want some sort of a barrier between the heating element and the wood to prevent hot spots. I know you’re going to have a fan circulating the air, but I’m thinking the same principle would apply as me having my smoker set up for indirect heat so I don’t have one perfect brisket and one piece of jerky.

ETA: adding thermal mass will help maintain temperature stability. You would just need to monitor the temp over time to see if it’s fluctuating enough to need to add something for that purpose.

[HoneyBadgerDC]

@Projammer

I would think you’d want some sort of a barrier between the heating element and the wood to prevent hot spots. I know you’re going to have a fan circulating the air, but I’m thinking the same principle would apply as me having my smoker set up for indirect heat so I don’t have one perfect brisket and one piece of jerky.

ETA: adding thermal mass will help maintain temperature stability. You would just need to monitor the temp over time to see if it’s fluctuating enough to need to add something for that purpose.

the more I look into it I am thinking about just adding a light bulb and monitoring the temp, too warm less wattage too cold more wattage, I think about 60 watts would do it and not even bother with a thermostat. I will be using a heat shield

[gnoitall]

@HoneyBadgerDC

the more I look into it I am thinking about just adding a light bulb and monitoring the temp, too warm less wattage too cold more wattage, I think about 60 watts would do it and not even bother with a thermostat. I will be using a heat shield

6 feet long but 4 cu ft? Long and narrow, then.

What orientation is this going to be used? If flat, I’d worry that single-point heating will be too uneven over the length of the box. Even the fan wouldn’t help, I would think; that’s seems like too narrow a plenum for a return airflow.

Just random observations based on way too little information.

[beowulff]

I would use silicone heat strips.
They will provide even heating along the entire length of the box.

[Gatopescado]

Misread the title. Thought to myself, “What? You mean a coffin?”

[HoneyBadgerDC]

@beowulff

I would use silicone heat strips.
They will provide even heating along the entire length of the box.

I will check these out.