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Klarinet Archive - Posting 000017.txt from 1999/02

From: "Dee D. Hays" <deehays@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Bore Oil
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1999 11:51:45 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Fay (LCA) <kevinfay@-----.com>
Date: Saturday, January 30, 1999 4:21 PM
Subject: RE: [kl] Bore Oil

>... My personal theory of cracking is that a horn will either crack, or it
>won't. Lots of new horns crack (boo-hoo!) Few 30-year old horns crack,
>however; my theory is that if the wood had a crackable flaw in it, it would
>have cracked 29 years ago. I am blessed with 3 Buffets that haven't. All
3
>definitely should have, given the temperature extremes that their somewhat
>stupid owner has put them through. Sometimes they do sit in my car all
>day--I have no choice. Sometimes the rehearsal room or pit is freezing.
>They've been tested over and over; I don't think that it's gonna happen.
>
>I do try to heat the outside of the horn with my hands/armpit/body before
>blowing through, though--while I'm stoic and stupid, I'm not extremely
>stupid. The biggest reason horns crack is that warm breath expands the
wood
>in the bore while the exterior wood is cold. A tip--don't do that.

I agree up to the point of the differential expansion causing cracking.
Some months ago I posted a calculation (either here or on the BBS) on the
stresses induced in wood due to the temperature differential. Unless the
wood has a pre-existing weak spot, the stresses due to this temperature
difference are less than 1/10 of what it would take to crack the wood.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to see if the wood has a weak spot to
begin with! So I do try to protect my wood instruments from extremely cold
temperatures.

However, when I turn on the winter heat, the indoor humidity drops to
virtually zero here and all the tenon rings get loose quite quickly.
Humidifiers in the case seem to help only a little. If your instrument has
stabilized in one climate and you move to another, dryer one, problems are
possible. My daughter's oboe cracked our first winter here.

Dee Hays
Canton, SD

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