Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

In central and northern British Columbia (BC), over 1 million hectares of standing timber was submerged during the flooding of land following hydro dam construction. This occurred in the mid-1950s and, for the most part, the timber remains standing in three reservoirs: Ootsa Lake, Williston Lake and Kinbasket Lake. The 'trees' in these lakes are harvested using specialized underwater equipment; the logs are processed as usual by local sawmills. There has been little work on the acoustic properties of wood from BC and around the world. Since there are successful instrument makers in BC, submerged timber may be considered as a source of materials. A current study underway at UNBC has shown submerged timber from Ootsa Lake has similar densities to non-submerged wood; however, the acoustic properties were considerably lower than acceptable for non-submerged wood and wood from Europe and it has been attributed to drying of the wood. It has been recognized in Europe that slower drying (over years) at room temperatures produce an acceptable acoustic property. In this recent study, it appears that the short drying time used reduced the overall acoustic property; a more detailed study is needed to determine why that is the case with submerged wood. Therefore, the main objective of this project is to examine the properties of submerged wood that impact the acoustic properties. The acoustic properties are determined by sound wave speed (i.e., by a stress-wave tester) and are mainly influenced by density and anatomical difference (if any). However, since drying may be a contributor to overall acoustic properties, the proposed study will examine the acoustic properties of wood from the three lakes based on drying methods: convection drying, air-drying and vacuum drying with terms of laboratory conditions of 2 months, 9 to 12 months, and longer terms 18 to 24 months. The woods to be considered are spruce, pine and Douglas-fir. This work will ascertain the suitability of submerged wood for use in making musical instruments thereby potentially developing a local secondary wood manufacturing industry.