Klarinet Archive - Posting 000925.txt from 1997/07

From: "Andrew Scholberg" <ascholbe@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Float "Test" based on false premise?
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 20:46:47 -0400

----------
> From: T.R. Baun <trbaun@-----.net>
> To: klarinet@-----.us
> Subject: Re: Float Test
> Date: Wednesday, July 30, 1997 11:00 AM
>
> pharmacy wrote:
> >
> > I'm looking at a clarinet to purchase for my daughter. It's been in
> > storage for several years, and the person selling it doesn't know if
> > it's wood or plastic. A friend of mine who has had experience with this
> > sort of thing says that if I float the clarinet in a bathtub of water
it
> > will designate whether it's made of wood or plastic, the wood type
> > floating higher and longer. My question to you is, does it matter how
> > many inches of water there are in the tub, and is the temperature of
the
> > water crucial to the float?
> > Thanks,
> > Carol
>
> Try looking inside the barrel or the upper joint...perhaps you can see
> the wood grain. Please don't burn it or float it!

Not only this this "test" ridiculous, it may be based on a false premise:
that all woods float. Some woods, such as Indian vermillion, are so dense
and heavy that they sink in water. In India, when a log of vermillion is
"floated" down a river it has to be tied to two logs of a lighter wood for
buoyancy. I wouldn't be surprised if boxwood, grenadilla, and ebony would
also sink, but I'm not interested in experimenting to find out.

Andy Scholberg
ascholbe@-----.com