Your point about orientation and spacing of the annual rings is right
on. But, one of the problems with very dense woods like Cocobolo is
that they do not willingly give up water in any direction, not even
through end grain. So, you get the shell dry (especially if you force
it by too-quick kiln drying or nuking it) and the interior wet. Then
the shell takes a set. When the center of the piece begins to give up
water, finally, the shell cannot shrink and you have honeycomb -- the
structure of the wood destructs from the inside out.

The box makers who use exotics (and most who don't) rough turn boxes,
dry them carefully, and then finish turn. I suspect that the three step
approach might be reasonable with certain nasty woods.

Anyway, with cocobolo you would want the walls to be thinner so that the
moisture gradient between the shell and the core of the piece would be
less of a problem than if the piece were thicker.

I've designed and built kiln drying equipment for cocobolo and a light
touch is called for. Just extracting water is a guaranteed way to fail.
You have to keep the shell from giving up moisture as quickly as it
would like to in order to keep the gradient down. So, in my opinion,
kiln drying cocobolo requires adding moisture to the air in the kiln to
keep the humidity up and to keep the drying time long.

BTW, another reason for wanting thinner walls with cocobolo -- the stuff
is so damned heavy! I sure do love it, though.

Bill

George wrote:
"Bill Rubenstein" wrote in message
om...

Now, to your question.

In Belize, the humidity is normally much higher than here and they don't
have the cold weather and heated houses to deal with. When you move a
piece which was turned green or partially green from Belize to the US, you
are going to have problems.

The 5/8" thickness adds to the problem -- thinner would be better. In any
event, though, there are some basics you must consider.



Well, no. Not necessarily. Wood has a certain moisture content with
respect to the relative humidity regardless of the location. If the piece
is turned in Belize and reaches EMC at 80% RH, it can go anywhere 80% exists
without a problem. Don't know how long the turning waits for shipment, but
if it stabilized, it certainly is not geography which splits it.

As to thickness. It is the orientation and spacing of the annual rings,
not the thickness that determines direction and dimension of deformation. I
think of the turnings and carvings my squadron brought back from Southeast
Asia which never split indoors in a North Dakota winter as an example.

I'm going with the nature of the wood. Of course the OP can determine
what's at fault by taking a piece at EMC with Belize outdoor and warming or
drying it slowly to ~60% RH, a good all-round place to begin for inland
areas.