take some pictures of your system or a drawing. pictures get around language and terminology barriers, and tend to be more descriptive.
You shouldn’t -have- to oven dry your wood. Sometimes you need to use a bit of charcoal to help get it started.
Pin sized air leaks are a huge cause of issues with gasifiers, usually in welds. Pressurize it and use soapy water like you would to checks for leaks on a tire, over all the joints.