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actonern
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Joined: 15 Aug 2007
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 Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 4:10 pm Post subject: long term shrinkage of wood |
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Does anyone know if wood tends, over the long term, to shrink? What I mean is, if humidity remains constant, does wood nonetheless shrink down over time?
As an example, if a Stradivari violin back measures 208 mm accross the bottom bouts, can we estimate that the instrument was 210 mm or something like that 300 years ago, newly off the mold? |
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Wolfjk
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Joined: 29 Jul 2007
Posts: 8
Location: UK
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:01 pm Post subject: Re: long term shrinkage of wood |
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| actonern wrote: | Does anyone know if wood tends, over the long term, to shrink? What I mean is, if humidity remains constant, does wood nonetheless shrink down over time?
As an example, if a Stradivari violin back measures 208 mm accross the bottom bouts, can we estimate that the instrument was 210 mm or something like that 300 years ago, newly off the mold? |
Hi actonen,
Wood does shrink over a long time, however one can't estimate the rate of shrinkage. The wood used for instruments is or should be well seasoned. The rate of shrinkage gets less and less with age.
Even with freshly cut timber,the shrinkage varies a lot, depending on the structure of the wood and the time of year it was felled.
Cheers Wolfjk |
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Wolfjk
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject: Re: long term shrinkage of wood |
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Sorry, double post
Last edited by Wolfjk on Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:08 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Wolfjk
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:03 pm Post subject: Re: long term shrinkage of wood |
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| Sorry, double post |
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actonern
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 9:32 pm Post subject: |
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Wolfjk:
Thanks for the post... I'm wondering if wood, once stabilized and seasoned sufficient for instrument making (lets say a minimum of 5 years of so) will continue to shrink down over the years if left in a moisture stabile environment. If it does, I would think that our mold dimensions for instruments need to be slightly bigger, if optimum dimensions are to be realized over the long run... |
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Wolfjk
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Posts: 8
Location: UK
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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| actonern wrote: | Wolfjk:
Thanks for the post... I'm wondering if wood, once stabilized and seasoned sufficient for instrument making (lets say a minimum of 5 years of so) will continue to shrink down over the years if left in a moisture stabile environment. If it does, I would think that our mold dimensions for instruments need to be slightly bigger, if optimum dimensions are to be realized over the long run... |
Hi Actonen,
Wood will continue to shrink, but at a progessively slower rate. We're talking about fractions of a milimeter. Plywood and fibreboard are very stable. Boxwood (Europian) was used for instruments and instrument cases because it is stable once seasoned.
I don' think there is any danger of the mould becoming too small.
Cheers Wolfjk |
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MANFIO
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Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 458
Location: Sao Paulo
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| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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I think that properly dried wood will not shrink, it's one of the reasons why we use seasoned wood.
But the conditions in which we live now are quite different from those found in damp Cremona or Venice, since now we have central heating, that is a very recent innovation and instruments (mainly celli) may shrink a bit under the extra dry enviroment provided by central heating.
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www.manfio.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7875988@N02/with/464604020/ |
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