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Re: Bathroom humidity as crack prevention???

Author: RobinDesHautbois
Date: 2012-01-28 18:12

Again, the words of my brother, 30 year forestry engineer with patents in quality control of building lumber.... he quotes industry world-wide rigorous scientific testing.

Moisture (humidity) and actual water runoff (condensation) have different effects.
* Temperature (alone) has NO effect on wood (but it does on the metal screws and rings).
* Depending on your geographic location, changing temperature can mean changing humidity.
* Dryness (and humidity) will cause contraction/expansion on the wood (in different directions than the metal)
* Water leeches away aspects of the wood that keep it "alive".... water "dries" the wood.

I think warming the instrument under clothing (next to the skin) must help stabilize humidity, because our skin gives off a lot of moisture, even when not sweating.

If you apply oil thinly and frequently, then a buildup of oil can help prevent water from working on the wood. This is why Laubin recommends applying Pledge-like furniture wax with a feather. But the most important thing is to swab frequently.

My blog has links to really good and animated previous BBoard discussions.
http://robindeshautbois.blogspot.com/p/discussion-threads.html

Best of luck!

Robin Tropper
M.A.Sc., B.Mus., B.Ed.
http://RobinDesHautbois.blogspot.ca/music

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