Stephen Baker wrote:

Brian N says:


It strikes me as one
of those things that seems intuitively correct, but really doesn't help.



I dunno. Dad had (at the tme I last saw him soaking oak) bee nbuilding,
designing and restoring boats for some 30-odd years. I know he wasn't a type
"A" personality, so can't imagine him wasting time or effort on something that
wasn't necessary to produce the perfect product.
Sadly, he died in '83, so I can't ask him to find out. I'll see if I can track
down his last apprentice and see what she has to say.

I'd be curious to know if he ever did a comparison between soaking and
not. I haven't seen any definitive tests and am just working off my own
experience and that of others I know who've tried it both ways.