Violin Forum/Message Board

[Geemac]

And, most of the salted wood, if not all of it gets carved away. But, I'm 65 and I cannot wait until I am 85 to have nice spruce, so salting works for my ugly fiddles
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GeeMac

[Michael Darnton]

If the salted wood gets carved away, then that means you're only treating the wood that was carved away. Nothing can happen to the wood in the middle if nothing happens to it. There's a hole in your system.
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[mr_violin]

That is one thing I had read about ,but I thought the same thing. The salt will draw in the water later.
My wife told me in her home town ( in China) the best wood workers (making chiars and tables) alway put the green wood in a pond of muddy water for a few months. Then they said the wood will not split when it drys. Funny to me, But as you know it is China and they do some strang things there.

Larry Lewis

[Geemac]

I have never had it split nor have the boards I have treated ever seemed to have drawn moisture from the air. As I said in the beginning, give it a try. Go to your local lumber yard and get a rough a old block of spruce. I get mine from their scrap pile for free. (The most recent one had been frozen in the mud over the winter.) If I had to pay it would be five bucks for the block. Take it home split it. I run mine through the thickness plainer until it's a little more than half an inch thick. Then I boil it.

Try the epsom salts. When it's done set it aside for a couple of weeks and then take a look at it. The cost for you to try this is easily under ten dollars, and there is very little time lost either, so why not find out for yourself?
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GeeMac

[mr_violin]

I think for me living just outside of Chicago, there is not a very good chanse to find cheep Spruce . as you have living in Spruce Grove'

[Geemac]

Hmmmm you might be right, but if you hurry to the rink I think you might be able to get some lumber from Chris Pronger.
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GeeMac

[mr_violin]

You are funny! I have been watching the Chicago Blackhawks hockey this week. Are you saying you can make a violin out of a hockey stick??

[Geemac]

If I have enough of them.
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GeeMac

[byacey]

The very nature of salt is that it's hygroscopic. That's why the oceans are so wet.

Butchers that I know use a large wood butcher block and always sprinkle salt on the surface of the block at the end of the day after washing it. The salt does two thing:
1. Sterilizes the surface
2. Draws the moisture out after washing down the surface.
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Bill

[L P Reedy]

After thinking about this a little, the following ocurred to me:

My experince indicates that the salt solution will penetrate pretty well to the center of the board (you won't find green spruce at most lumber yards. It's virtually all kiln dried).

When you let it dry that solution migrates back to the surface, most noticeably on the ends, bringing the salts with it. There is no evaporation inside the wood.

Therefore, it is possible that the salt solution dissolves something in the wood and brings it out, too. What it is and whether it is beneficial, I don't pretend to know. I have soaked both spruce and maple in plain water for a couple of weeks, which can be very helpful for green wood. Doesn't seem to do much for well-dried pieces.

[Geemac]

Folks. Instead of debating whether or not this will work, just do it. It works and it COSTS NEXT TO NOTHING.
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GeeMac