# Saltwater/Brine drying!??!



## Daniel (Jan 27, 2012)

Here is an extremely interesting article about the wood Stradivarius used to make his instruments... and a method for mimicking his results.

Turns out that the old way of delivering logs was from stream to river to ocean... and it took many weeks.

The logs were soaked in fresh, and then soaked in salt water often for more than a month at a time.

So... this guy soaked hardwood in fresh, then salt water, and then dried it using dessicating silica... and got (at least according to him) great results - finer figure, better tone, and fewer cracks/checks/warping.

anyone every heard of or tried such a thing?


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## Kevin (Jan 27, 2012)

Daniel said:


> ...
> 
> anyone every heard of or tried such a thing?



Yes. It's been around since well before Stradivarius' family were making stringed instruments. That link you posted has nothing to do with historical accuracy though. No one knows for certain most of the hows, the the whats, or anythings that the Stradivarius family of luthier's did to create such sweet sounding instruments. And there's even a large contingent of professional violinists who do not believe that strad's instruments sounded nearly as sweet as some of today gifted luthiers. 

Some blind tests bare that out. But as with any such subject it's always a hot debate. The brine drying drying you mention is proven. Just takes a long time. 


.


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## Daniel (Jan 27, 2012)

Thanks for the info - it's a very interesting subject, and one that I had been sort of curious about. I spend most of my time doing geological research which means that I do quite a bit of chemistry at times... I spend my daydreaming time thinking about better ways to do interesting things, and started wondering about the dehydrating and cell-modifying properties of salt water... and then google was my friend. 

However, google plays second fiddle to experience, and I appreciate hearing about what others know.

Cheers


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