wood moisture

bubsbug

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I am a little confused about wood moisture and drying wood. It seems as most cuemakers hang there wood for years. They do all they can to make sure that it is very dry. This is great, but here is where I get confused. Doesn't most cuemakers dip there wood in either Nelsonite or Resolute? Doesn't this add more moisture to the wood that you had sitting and drying for years? Does this now mean that you have to let it dry for another extended period of time. I have heard of some people dipping their wood a couple of times. Im just a little confused over the misture content, can someone clear things up for me please? And by the way which is better Nelsonite or Resolute
 
Nelsonite doesn't make your wood wet.
It helps seal the outside and help the wood from absorbing or giving out moisture too abruptly.
 
None of the cuemakers I work with here in SoCal use Nelsonite or Resolute, thank God. In our climate when you start with dry, straight-grained maple, there's no need. Out of the last 150 shafts that I was involved in processing from dowels to finished shafts, I think there were 5 or 6 at most that wouldn't stay straight. No real problems with forearms either.

Martin


bubsbug said:
I am a little confused about wood moisture and drying wood. It seems as most cuemakers hang there wood for years. They do all they can to make sure that it is very dry. This is great, but here is where I get confused. Doesn't most cuemakers dip there wood in either Nelsonite or Resolute? Doesn't this add more moisture to the wood that you had sitting and drying for years? Does this now mean that you have to let it dry for another extended period of time. I have heard of some people dipping their wood a couple of times. Im just a little confused over the misture content, can someone clear things up for me please? And by the way which is better Nelsonite or Resolute
 
It depends on your climate why you hang wood. In some climates you hang kiln dried wood to let it dry a little more, but in most areas you are hanging dry wood to let it stabilize to your climate which usually means kiln dried wood will take on a little moisture. Nelsonite and Resolute do not block out all moisture exchange. Nor does it make the wood wetter except for a few weeks while the chemical evaporates out of the wood leaving behind a fine powder in the pores of the wood. What this does is slow down the moisture exchange to such a slow rate that the wood does not get shocked and warp as much or as quickly as untreated wood.
Chris
www.cuesmith.com
www.internationalcuemakers.com
 
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