relative humidity question

[shofu]

Thanks Willie I will go to my friend's cigar store - good idea! Hi Jawge - yes that is what happened - seems weird but it seems Ocean Spray is fickle in drying?

[shofu]

here is pic
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[willie]

heat from the ballast? I dunno, they are the older style hanging shop type with 1.5 in dia  40w tubes The box is only about 12" on a side, and I am only running a single tube per 4' fixture for a 60 degree Fahrenheit temp rise.  had to add a 24 hour timer to keep things from getting too dry.


fancy digital readouts are not good indicators of quality sensors, with those kind of meters

[bradsmith2010]

you have to put alot of sealent at the handle and fades, that will always crack if the wood is a bit green,, or not cured enough,, after you work on it .... seal it there just in case,,

[DC]

This is the other one - they do not agree which is why I bought 2.  They were both $11 ea at Home Hardware so not sure of quality difference.  I will try salt trick with manual one and try to borrow a third to see if any 2 agree!
g

That's the same as what I have. I have two of those. I had to calibrate them. They were quite a bit off. It's a frustrating thing to do, you never know what to trust. In general, I'm with Willie, Trust your scale, But your scale will only tell you when wood has reached equilibrium. You still have to know the RH. I know I get kind of anal about this but everything I've read preaches that the MC has to be around 10% or you're not getting the best out of your bow. Maybe I should settle for good enough but I'm not built like that.

George, if you do decide to calibrate give me a call and I'll talk you though the adjustment part. No sense both of us having to break one to see where the adjustment is

[shofu]

Thanks for the advice Brad - will be more liberal with sealant.
Thanks DC! Will do and will contact you when ready to calibrate.  I am with you - I don't want to waste good staves by not maximizing them but it is frustrating not working on a bow when that is all I want to do!
BTW, scale from 1+ seasoned wood shows 18 gram gain with change in location and RH. Other staves consistent with this average gain of mass.
g

[mikekeswick]

Even going to a higher RH means little, the wood is still drying. As it dries it shrinks. It is the wood on the outside of the stave drying quicker than the center wood which caused it to check.
You can take your staves to a good floor tiller without worrying about the moisture content and this will reduce the likelihood of more checks.

[DC]

George- Maybe you should complete the bow you're working on and see how it goes. "Damp" wood will increase the amount of set. I know of people that don't concern themselves with it that much. They dry it until it stops losing weight and that's it. This chart will give you some idea of your moisture content. http://www.csgnetwork.com/emctablecalc.html    We live in a crummy area as far as bow making is concerned. Even in the summer it's too humid to dry wood properly. Somehow the native peoples dealt with it though, so just fly at the first bow and see what happens. There's lots of staves out there.

[DC]

Oh, I just thought George. Put a trouble light in that ski box you had in the back of your truck and you have a hot box. Monitor it carefully for the first couple of hours though.

[aaron]

In my experience, ocean spray will check like that easily. I'd say its just a hard wood to avoid checks. Rh meters are a good way to monitor wood moisture content, but it takes a while for wood to stabilize. I have had OS check like that after a year sealed.