OxonTurner
Established Member
What small oven would you recommend for my workshop?
After drying, stabilising wood, but not large items.
Thanks in advance
Graham
After drying, stabilising wood, but not large items.
Thanks in advance
Graham
Workshop Oven
- Thread starter OxonTurner
- Start date
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Lons
Established Member
I haven't tried that but a friend years ago had an old s/h touring caravan oven he picked up for just a few quid, connected to a calor gas bottle it was cheap to run, effective and heated his workshop at the same time.
Not quite. Temperature control becomes a big issue when you're not cooking (and sometimes when you are)sunnybob":3vw8oq8q said:
Yup. Both Lidl and Aldi offer do mini ovens which I think equate to toaster ovens in the US. They're 30-something here, so presumably around the £30 mark in the UK.marcros":3vw8oq8q said:
Tris
What am I doing here?
I use an old microwave oven to dry wood for turning and it works well as long as you do it steadily and allow the blanks to rest and 'relax' between heating.
Tris
Edit to add: my wife uses a basic toaster oven to bake polymer clay. Think it was about £30 from argos, only problem is the thermostat is way off so she has to use an oven thermometer as the temp is fairly critical.
Tris
Edit to add: my wife uses a basic toaster oven to bake polymer clay. Think it was about £30 from argos, only problem is the thermostat is way off so she has to use an oven thermometer as the temp is fairly critical.
Graham, what kind of space do you have? Does it have to be a plug-in item or can you run a spur?
Domestic ovens have two main issues with temp that consumers are largely unaware of: the dials aren't accurate (actual temp is regularly off by 30 degrees, occasionally more) and they don't hold temp well – the way they work is by an on-off process, so temp goes up and down in waves. You must assume that any electric oven you get, no matter the cost, has these issues, and smaller ones more so in part because they have a smaller thermal mass.
With a small oven or toaster oven you need to use a thermometer possibly every time, to ensure you're at the temp you think you are (rather than use it once to calibrate what the dial actually means as you might be able to do on a normal oven).
Another important question is will you need to use the oven at low power for a very long time? If you do it will rule out many smaller toaster ovens as their temperature dials may not go down low enough (minimum temp on mine is 100°) and they don't have a simple on switch, they're purely run by a timer dial. Although presumably you could bypass that last one.
One last thing is the fumes given off by stabilised wood may be a health risk if pumped into an area you're working in, I don't think it's safe to run one in a workshop unless active ventilation can be arranged. What this means in practice is you shouldn't be able to smell the resin when it's baking.
Domestic ovens have two main issues with temp that consumers are largely unaware of: the dials aren't accurate (actual temp is regularly off by 30 degrees, occasionally more) and they don't hold temp well – the way they work is by an on-off process, so temp goes up and down in waves. You must assume that any electric oven you get, no matter the cost, has these issues, and smaller ones more so in part because they have a smaller thermal mass.
With a small oven or toaster oven you need to use a thermometer possibly every time, to ensure you're at the temp you think you are (rather than use it once to calibrate what the dial actually means as you might be able to do on a normal oven).
Another important question is will you need to use the oven at low power for a very long time? If you do it will rule out many smaller toaster ovens as their temperature dials may not go down low enough (minimum temp on mine is 100°) and they don't have a simple on switch, they're purely run by a timer dial. Although presumably you could bypass that last one.
One last thing is the fumes given off by stabilised wood may be a health risk if pumped into an area you're working in, I don't think it's safe to run one in a workshop unless active ventilation can be arranged. What this means in practice is you shouldn't be able to smell the resin when it's baking.
user22161
Established Member
What temperatures are needed? Would a tubular heater (with thermostat) in an enclosure/box not be a safer option?
OxonTurner
Established Member
Thanks for the info, I was thinking of around 90 degrees for drying, hadn't thought about fumes but important, workshop is around 6m by 5.5m, considering microwave, can do on defrost might be better than oven. Food for thought. Thanks
AJB Temple
Finely figured
I have tried this. Using second hand RangeMaster oven. (Free , off cast from brother).
My experience was that the best results were achieved with much lower temps of around 50 degrees C. 90 is a slow cooking temperature. I used it to get blanks for knife handles to the mc I wanted.
Not many domestic ovens will run reliably at low temperatures. Speed is not of the essence in this area.
Good luck.
My experience was that the best results were achieved with much lower temps of around 50 degrees C. 90 is a slow cooking temperature. I used it to get blanks for knife handles to the mc I wanted.
Not many domestic ovens will run reliably at low temperatures. Speed is not of the essence in this area.
Good luck.
Sawdust=manglitter
Established Member
For stabilising wood with cactus juice resin I use a 23l worktop oven similar to this one...
https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-ovens-h ... 1341364366
But I do use a cheap oven thermometer every time as the temperature dial is not accurate on the oven. I’ve had good results with one of these thermometer...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Romote-Stainle ... 6331&psc=1
In terms of drying blanks you are aiming for as close as possible to 0% moisture content, so I aim for a temperature a little over 100 degrees celcius, but depending on the size of the blanks I leave it on overnight up to 24hrs. Once they’re done, while hot straight from the oven I wrap each individual blank in cling film to ensure it doesn’t take on any moisture from the air once it cools down
https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-ovens-h ... 1341364366
But I do use a cheap oven thermometer every time as the temperature dial is not accurate on the oven. I’ve had good results with one of these thermometer...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Romote-Stainle ... 6331&psc=1
In terms of drying blanks you are aiming for as close as possible to 0% moisture content, so I aim for a temperature a little over 100 degrees celcius, but depending on the size of the blanks I leave it on overnight up to 24hrs. Once they’re done, while hot straight from the oven I wrap each individual blank in cling film to ensure it doesn’t take on any moisture from the air once it cools down
AJB Temple
Finely figured
This is really interesting. Different approaches. I found that if I dried quickly at a high temperature (90+), what I got was a dry outside and the interior of a piece of wood (say cut into scales for knives) nowhere near as dry as the outside. I was at the time making scales to fit against carbon steel knife blade handles, which rust if you so much as breathe on them.
