Thanks Randy and Brian for replying. Your anwers helped. From your responses I'm not sure if your familiar with solar kilns. If not check out this article: www.woodweb.com/backart/wengert/solarkiln I realize that drying timbers for a profesional shop may take too long but if doing it for my own project and time wasn't as important, it would be cheaper than RF and if done slowly and carefully enough the checks would be minimal. I personally don't mind checks as long as they dont affect the structural integrity of the timber, which I'm told they usually don't. I even think some checking adds character. The reason I'm interested in solar kiln drying is not to prevent checking or even so much for what little strength factor there may be but for the stability/predictability of the wood. I know that green building works great but if the only reasons not to use seasoned wood is cost and time and if a solar kiln overcomes those problems it seems that it could be almost as good as using salvaged timbers only more renewable.

Thanks again
Gerald (dharmabum)