smoked wood

[liolor]

Dear All,

I would like to ask if anybody has esperience with smoking wood as a stabilizing procedure. I heard this from a musical instruments maker (flute maker) who uses to smoke his rough wood to stabilize it and to prevent long pieces to warp (this happens often with boxwood). Thank you an happy Christmas time to all!

Lorenzo

[Jeff Mills]

Dear All,

I would like to ask if anybody has esperience with smoking wood as a stabilizing procedure. I heard this from a musical instruments maker (flute maker) who uses to smoke his rough wood to stabilize it and to prevent long pieces to warp (this happens often with boxwood). Thank you an happy Christmas time to all!

Lorenzo

I can honestly say I've never actually smoked any wood before (not knowingly anyways). But I sure have snorted a lot of wood dust although not intentionally . I also have not heard of stabilizing wood by smoking it, but I don't get out much either, nor have I recently stayed in a holiday inn express... I usually just bring it into the house for a few weeks and do all my gluing as quickly as possible after jointing.

[Sebastiaan56]

I heat treat bamboo to stabilize it before using it for flutes etc. It has a wax in it and if you polish it while hot it gets a lovely finish. It also considerably strengthens it. But Ive not heard of it being done to timber. Most flute makers bore their timber and let it rest for a year or so before making it into flutes. Terry McGee has a good description of his process on his website. Historical flutes are seldom round in profile so it seems like it will always be a losing battle.

[Farm boy]

Hi Lorenzo
American Custom Guitars have a smoked wood option for there woods
It would look nice on a maple neck for a bit of character