genbloke Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Ok, It's widely agreed that the less moisure there is in wood, the more stable it is. My question is that there are many techniques to manipulate wood eq steaming wood to do arm contours on drop tops and I've read a post from a couple of months ago where Drak said he used water to flatten warped boards. How does this intentional introduction of water effect stability??? Thanks genbloke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 keep in mind that although you're introducing moisture to manipulate the wood it will have dried out before use. i didn't read drak's thread but i'm guessing that he moistened the wood and then pressed or clamped it for quite a while before it dried out and stableized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdog Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 When you introduce water or steam to otherwise dry wood, you are actually only using it to soften the wood fibers. It is not replacing the water that was once in the cell structure (which was lost in the air or kiln drying process). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genbloke Posted December 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 unclej, yeah that is what Drak does. This is what I need to do to flatten my bookmatch maple top. I've just read on the net that that there are 2 types of moisture, free water (water inside the cells of the timber)and moisture vapour (water between the cells of the timber). Tdog, so you're saying that when timber is wetted or steamed the moisture remains as free water and doesn't penetrate the cells? I need to ask these questions for a peace of mind. genbloke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.