George writes:

Have to wonder about that. I know our monster mill is steaming the local
beech to make it look more appealing. Doesn't seem to have affected it's
working qualities much.

European beech is a whole different thing, though. I guess the steaming is for
appearance, but once dried EB is stable. American beech is unstable, wet, dry
or steamed.

Companies like E. C. Emmerich would long ago have gone out of business if
European red beech were unstable. All but one of the E. C. E. planes I have is
made of beech, and their workbenchs are primarily beech, too.

Charlie Self
"I think the most un-American thing you can say is, 'You can't say that.' "
Garrison Keillor