[Bell Historians] Re: Ash

[David Bryant]

> I bought some, supposedly, air dried ash from a local, and pretty 
> reputable, timber merchant some years ago to make stay to replace two 
> worm-eaten ones at Great Ness. All I can say is that it must have 
> been air dried in the Sahara Desert, because it was clear from the 
> moment that I started machining it that it was desiccated beyond 
> belief. 

It's usually possible to tell by the weight of the timber. I've recently bought some stays from Taylor's because I couldn't get any air-dried ash locally. These were for St Laurence (8 cwt 8), where there had been quite a problem with breaking stays on front bells (I confess, I broke one...). I'm pretty sure the old ones were kiln dried, and it took very little to break them. I've put two or three of the Taylor ones on, and in the several months since none of them have been broken, despite being bumped a few times.

David

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