Humidor tragedy?

The Sniper

Good news first - a friend of mine recently purchased his first humidor!

Now the bad news - during the seasoning process, somebody bumped the humi, sloshing water out of the shot glass it was in and onto the side and a little of the bottom of the humidor. Its fairly well dried out now, but you can see the discoloration in the pic below, and that area has a raised feel to it, like a welt in the wood...





My question is this - has anybody ever gone thru this before, and what was practical effect to the humidor? I know we have all heard the wood will warp and jack it up... the warping part I now know is true, its the jacked up part I want to know if anyone has first-hand experience with.

Thanks fellas!

ljl

I know there is currently no mold present. Still I would just go about it like there was. Maybe a light - very light sanding as well. I don't have first hand experience, just saying what I would do.

laker1963

ljl:

I know there is currently no mold present. Still I would just go about it like there was. Maybe a light - very light sanding as well. I don't have first hand experience, just saying what I would do.

+1. If the water used was distilled water then there should be little chance of mold. Like ljl said I would get a small block of wood and use it as a sanding block and just lightly sand with 100 or 120 grit paper. After the sanding I would blow out the humi as well as you can so there is no dust left inside anywhere and restabilize the humi.

kuzi16

how raised is it? very?
i would let it dry for at least a week. then start over. see how it holds RH then. this may have warped the wood to the point where the seal is not what it should be. also, keep an eye out for developing cracks.
hope for the best.

jlmarta

For what it's worth, if there's room to do it you might try placing a folded piece of paper towel (or similar) over the raised part and pressing it lightly with an iron set at low to medium heat. I've used the reverse of this technique to raise dings that have occurred in woodworking projects - by placing a moist piece of paper towel over the ding and using the iron on it. Just a thought...

Marty

docbp87

Hairdryer on low/cool.

ljl

jlmarta:

For what it's worth, if there's room to do it you might try placing a folded piece of paper towel (or similar) over the raised part and pressing it lightly with an iron set at low to medium heat. I've used the reverse of this technique to raise dings that have occurred in woodworking projects - by placing a moist piece of paper towel over the ding and using the iron on it. Just a thought...

Marty

+1 Marty, good call - worth a shot. I've also raised dings on wood work with a damp shop towel and a solder iron. Like Kuzi said though watch for cracks, you could heat it too much...

laker1963

ljl:

jlmarta:

For what it's worth, if there's room to do it you might try placing a folded piece of paper towel (or similar) over the raised part and pressing it lightly with an iron set at low to medium heat. I've used the reverse of this technique to raise dings that have occurred in woodworking projects - by placing a moist piece of paper towel over the ding and using the iron on it. Just a thought...

Marty

+1 Marty, good call - worth a shot. I've also raised dings on wood work with a damp shop towel and a solder iron. Like Kuzi said though watch for cracks, you could heat it too much...

I may have misread when I first made my comments, but I was under the assumption that the wood was raised from water spillage and even though it was dry it was still raised. I have seen this happen to wood before and as far as I know once the wood has swelled and relaxed the grain like that it will not receed. That is why I said to sand with a bock to sand off just the raised spot.

The Sniper

Good advice all gentlemen, much thanks. We're going to start the seasoning process over this week, and see if it will still hold humidity once thats complete. I will try to remember to get back on this thread to let everyone know the outcome for future reference - hopefully nobody will have this sinking feeling again though! :-)

d-rob

Update: the wood remains swelled but humidors is holding at 71%. No mold is present. Prob wait another week before putting any sticks in.

The Sniper

d-rob:

Update: the wood remains swelled but humidors is holding at 71%. No mold is present. Prob wait another week before putting any sticks in.

WINNING!

d-rob