Ted - grips

If the wood did not crack then allowing the bottoms to rest in water for a very very long time should eventually enable equilibrium of higher moisture content in the wood. The oil-filled voids might need to be cleansed with an organic solvent first, perhaps pentane or isooctane or other non-hydrophylic solvent. Acetone would probably work but also remove even more moisture and promote cracking as the wood dried (rapidly!). The pentane, cyclohexane or whatever, (chose something lighter than the water) would seep out of the wood through normal osmosis and float away--the water would replace it in the voids.


This is speculative but is a variation of the process used to replace salt water in old water-logged oak with ethylene glycol. This was done to preserve the great 1628 shipwreck of the Wasa.


dm