I don't remember anything about high school chem. On the other hand I do
remember a lot about college chem. As a mater of fact I am currently taking
a course in fluid dynamics. Its impossible to determine the freezing point
of the sap in a log with knowing the chemical compounds present and their
properties. That said I think it is impossible to say whether or not the
sap would actually freeze at say 10 degrees F. I could try a simple
experiment of putting pure maple syrup in the freezer and see what happens.
This should have a lower freezing point than the sap of a tree based on you
simplified approach. Of course I'm not sure why you say that bound water
would not freeze. Are you under the impression that it is under great
pressure or something? Also enlighten as to why it is impossible for a cell
wall to break. I have not had a course in the microbiotics of cellulose
structure.Tony Manella
ndd1"at"prolog.net (remove "at")
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners
http://www.lehighvalleywoodturners.com/



"George" George@least wrote in message
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"TonyM" tonym.le(atsymbol)comcast.net wrote in message
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Charlie B,
I've never actually tried dying a turned item in the freezer but I have
stored wood (like holly) that gets blue stain quickly. It worked
somewhat for that. As drying went, the ends of the log did check so I
would think that some drying did occur. A freezer is a low humidity
environment. Some here have hypothesized (many moons ago) that the
expansion of the bound water in the cells will rupture the cell allowing
for drying without cracking. I'm not sure if this ever panned out for
anybody. It might be worth a try on your part though.

Bound water would not freeze. Unbound water would require a temperature
far lower than the home freezer unit. Remember your HS chemistry where
they talked about freezing point depression in solutions? Then, of
course, there's no way cellulose cell walls are going to break, not that
they need to, there being no live tissue inside, and holes in them anyway.