[JohnJayPl]

Originally Posted by rattletrap

This is off of a thread in a luthiers forum that I've been reading. I should have said 390 degrees..........




Received my latest issue of "Wood & Steel" which is the Taylor Guitars periodical (and generally a good read), and they had a feature article on "Seasoning Tonewood"

Quite the eye-opener

"Most wood gets moved to the Kilns when it reaches 12 - 15% MC from air-drying, except Cocobolo, and Mad Rosewood. The general drying cycle in the kiln lasts a week. Temperature is increased daily up to the kilns highest temperature of 270 Degrees Fahrenheit. The Cocobolo and Mad Rosewood are kept in a climate controlled area until we're ready to "slow-dry them in the kiln, according to Chris Cosgrove." (He does not elaborate on the "Slow-Dry" kiln procedure).

"SPRUCE and EBONY are seasoned differently from our other tonewoods. After the stickering process, instead of being kiln-dried, the the wood goes into an oven, where it's baked at about 200 degrees Celsius (392 fegrees FAHRENHEIT) for about 2-3 hours."

"Spruce is very stable, can handle high temperatures, and it won't move. Baking the Spruce also hardens the sap resin in the wood"

"Ebony's extreme density makes it immune to cracking in the higher heat, and it won't shrink. It's also the most difficult wood to successfully dry - not because it cracks or warps, but because it doesn't lose moisture easily. Baking it facilitates the release of bound moisture"

"If we took wet wood and brought it down to 47 percent (RH), you'd have a larger piece of wood than if we dried it all the way down to 0 percent, and brought it back up to 47 percent", explained Bob Taylor...............

The 200C/392F numbers were "typos" in that wood and steel issue. Taylor printed a correction in the next issue. The actual number they use is 200F.

Correction: In the fall 2008 issue,
our “Seasoning” feature included
a sidebar stating that our spruce is
baked in an oven at 200 degrees
Celsius. The correct temperature is
actually 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
We regret the error.

John