this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2025
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Woodworking

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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.

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[–] ellisk@lemmy.ca 0 points 10 months ago

I'm going to have to try this! Very curious about just how hard it turns out to be in the end.