<HTML>In a message dated 11/28/2002 8:35:31 AM Pacific Standard Time, RNossaman@cox.net writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Subj:Re: Wood MC Puzzle Date:11/28/2002 8:35:31 AM Pacific Standard Time From:<A HREF="mailto:RNossaman@cox.net">RNossaman@cox.net</A> Reply-to:<A HREF="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> To:<A HREF="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> Sent from the Internet           Terry</BLOCKQUOTE>                      I think those kind of unnaturally high temperatures are generally reserved for a forest fire just before the wood burst into flame or maybe for a good wood roasted barbeque.      I've done some of this artificial drying and I didn't find it very useful  and that was with new spruce. I think the efficacy /reliability of the wood cells is permanately altered. Perhaps a better indicator of wood dryness for determing soundboard EMC would be to take a piece of new spruce and dry it your box to a very low say 4%. Let it live there for 3-4 days . Weigh it till your convinced it's bottomed out. Then let your emc levels rise to 6 ,8 and 10% respectively, logging the weights in each range. This is where our soundboard emc levels fluctuate in the real world. and will tell you what imho what you're after.   If I recall correcctly wood takes on moisture 7 times faster than it is willing to give it up. So be patient. Also I have a nice scale but I find that it needs to warm up about 15 minutes before it reads consistently otherwise it reads about ,2 tenths light. Sheesh technology.              Dale Erwin <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"> > >Anybody have and great ideas of why the wood seems to be staying dryer >after the cooking process? Is 250EF too hot - has it changed the wood >somehow so that it can't hold as much water? It looks the same. What is >going on? Anyone know a professor of wood technology? > >Terry Farrell Before too many tiny smoke producing demons show up to further confuse things, I'd suggest starting with wood that hasn't been cumulatively crushed by string loads and humidity extremes for 100 years. You might get different results. If not, at least you'll have two sets of demons for comparison and conformation. Ron N </BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>