Waterlogged wood

Thanasis Velios <natuk [at] ellinogermaniki__gr> writes

>There is a waterlogged piece of wood from a shipwreck in the sea of
>Crete. The density of the wood is d=0, 39 gr/ml and the relative
>humidity is 166,55%. These numbers show that the wood is generally
>in good condition. This piece of wood is also identified as oak. If
>we don't use PEG for the dehydration and consolidation of the wood,
>which other method would be best for this wood?

>From Quoc Khoi TRAN who is not on the distlist:

    For this type of wood I would suggest controlled air-drying or
    very slow air-drying in a closed green-room. At the beginning of
    the drying process the relative humidity of the atmosphere
    should be high (90%). It will be decreased step by step to the
    value of 60%;  the monitoring of the drying is based on the
    weight and dimensional changes of the object.

    Quoc Khoi Tran
    chemist engineer
    ARC-Nucleart
    CEA/Grenoble
    17, rue des Martyrs
    38054 Grenoble cedex 9
    France
    +33 4 76 88 39 36
    Fax: +33 4 76 88 56 58
    tran [at] chartreuse__cea__fr

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:52
                Distributed: Wednesday, December 4, 1996
                       Message Id: cdl-10-52-008
                                  ***