Tuning pegs for musical instruments are commonly made from ebony or boxwood, but in medieval times and renaissance they would also be made from roasted maple. Maple is a relatively soft wood, so the trick is to roast it, which makes it very light and porous, and then let it soak in a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine overnight. It soaks the oil in like a sponge, going from swimming on the surface to sinking to the ground when it's saturated. The oil hardens and reinforces the wood, kind of like epoxy stabilised wood.
A few tuning pegs made from roasted maple
15 Comments
Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz · 14 pts · 354d
So it is bioresin stablized wood! Ingenious!
Kirp123@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 354d
You roasted that maple? What did you call it?
violetsoftness@piefed.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 354d
maple wood?! you're not hardwood, you’re basically tree syrup in disguise. The only thing softer than you is the pancake you’re poured on!
boom roasted!
alleycat@feddit.org · 7 pts · 354d
I've just bought it roasted. It was originally intended for billiard cues.
Edit: sorry, I missed the joke. 😅
Shayeta@feddit.org · 11 pts · 354d
How long does it have to dry after that?
alleycat@feddit.org · 12 pts · 354d
Honestly, I don't know. I didn't expect to see literal air bubbles rising from the wood in the oil bath. That's a lot of oil, so I expect several months for it to fully harden. Maybe I can speed up the process with an UV lamp.
moody@lemmings.world · 8 pts · 354d
Linseed oil polymerizes very quickly. It probably won't be as long as you expect.
MxRemy@piefed.social · 8 pts · 354d
If you really wanna see some bubbles, check if your local woodshop will let you stick that wood/oil combo in their vacuum chamber!
This project rules, great job
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 354d
those are gorgeous
homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 354d
And here I thought Jimi Hendrix invented roasted maple instruments.
but srs I didn't know about the soaking in oil afterwards, that's very interesting!
SouthFresh@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 354d
How do they taste?
alleycat@feddit.org · 4 pts · 354d
Like linseed oil and caramel.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 353d
Guitarist spoiled with worm gear tuning machines here: How do these actually work? Do they just friction fit in a tapered hole?
alleycat@feddit.org · 3 pts · 353d
Yup, they're just lightly pressed into a tapered hole. You just have to turn them with a greater force than the string exerts on them, and ideally they stay put after you let go of them. Works well for gut/synthetic strings, less so for steel strings because those lengthen very little so friction tuners would be too imprecise.
ellisk@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 354d
I'm going to have to try this! Very curious about just how hard it turns out to be in the end.