The New Guy

[OH SURE]

I Have Been Sawin For About 4 Months... And It Is Great.... This Is A Great Site Too... Very Much For All The Great Topics... I Have Learned Alot... I Seen That Penicl And Nail Puzzle And It's Driven Me Nuts... I Have Not Figured It Out Yet... Thanks Again Good Sawin To You All....

[kerry_nf]

Welcome aboard "New Guy" ... lookin' forward to seein' yer sawin'! lol

[NC Scroller]

Hey New Guy. Welcome to the board.

[miamw]

Welcome aboard, "New Guy"! Do you have a real name? You won't be the new guy for long.

[lucky788scroller]

Welcome aboard new guy! Dale

[Randy Huckeby]

Hey new guy--wecome!

[Greenfield_Bob]

Hey welcome to the group.

Bob

[GrayBeard Phil]

Oh Sure (The new Guy):

About the puzzle:

All wood is made up from the cell structure of trees. (You know this already.) If you take a softwood, like a piece of pine, and soak it in boiling water, you soften the cell structure. Since the dried pine cells no longer have normal tree fluids in the cells then the cells should be mostly empty.

After the cell walls are soft from the heat and boiling water, one can squeeze the wood and cause the cell walls to collapse. BTW, when I say squeeze, I mean using a lot of force, A.K.A. "put-your-back-into-it" type of squeeze force.

So you take one end of the puzzle, soak it for a while in boiling water, and then squeeze it moving the wood out of the way. Let it cool and dry for a few hours with the pressure applied. The wood will stay that way after you release the pressure. After you remove the pressure, you drill the hole, insert the pencil or the nail. Now soak the end of the wood in boiling water again, and the wood will re-expand on its own. It will take a few minutes of boiling to re-expand fully.

Two notes: The re-expanded wood will not have the same low moisture content as before, as some of the cells will absorb the boiling water on re-expansion. That is one reason why you seldom see this trick with a finish applied to the wood.
Also, Don't try this trick with Southern Yellow Pine, Maple, Ash, any nut or fruit wood (like walnut, hickory, apple, or pear wood); cell structure is too close and tight. Scrap 2X4 cutoffs from home construction trade works best because that wood comes from very fast growing pine.

Phil

[Dragon]

Hi new Guy and welcome to the scrolling group
Diane

[Mackem]

Welcome to the club OH SURE.

[OH SURE]

Thanks Everyone This Looks Like A Great Site... My Real Name Is Rick I Guest I'm Not The New Guy Anymore... Graybeard Thanks For The Solution To That Pencil Puzzle That Looks Like Something Fun To Try.... Thanks Again... Keep Those Blades Tight

[draken]

Welcome!

Cheers,
Draken

[LouF]

Welcome aboard new guy.
Lou

[ocm1952]

Welcome to the group Rick. You will learn a lot here.

[Pop]

Welcome Rick.... I thought the biggest past time for Erie folks was watching the snow fall, and fall, and fall, etc. Good to know they sell more than just shovels at the hardware stores. I'm still using my first scroll saw. A Delta I purchased at Home Depot about 3 years ago for $99 I believe. Being retired from GTE (Now Verizon) after 35 years, I've spent quite a lot of time up your way for 'dog and pony shows' (meetings to the novice) that required me to drive up there. Sometimes there and back the same day.