CA Sinking Into Un-stabilized Burl

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chriselle

chriselle

Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2008
Messages
1,251
Location
Ito City, Shizuoka, Japan
Got a problem with an otherwise perfect CA finish sinking or settling on some burl woods that are not stabilized. I let the CA off gas for a day or two before sanding out but the finish still becomes wavy in 3 or 4 weeks. It doesn't happen all the time but most of the mallee burl pens have exhibited this problem. A few of my Urushi finishes have gone this way when using mallee as a base. I'm going to try letting the CA'ed but unsanded blanks more time to adjust but I'm perplexed. Any of you have this problem?

Cheers,

Chris
 
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Chris,

Living in Japan and knowing the normal culture here, along with where you live (within a few kilometers) I would say that your location and Japanese shop/store contribute much to the problems you are having.

Location: living close to the ocean
Store/Shop - not heated or AC use on a 24 hour basis (strong cultural trait, also "green") No humidity control.
Woods that are not stabilized will telegraph the knots.

These humidity and temp changes on a 24 hour cycle that occur near the ocean - in which daytime winds come from the mountains with a dryer air - this is a recipe for expansion contraction problems.

I have had several blanks with knots that telegraphed through a few days to weeks later.
 
leehljp said:
Chris,

Living in Japan and knowing the normal culture here, along with where you live (within a few kilometers) I would say that your location and Japanese shop/store contribute much to the problems you are having.

Location: living close to the ocean
Store/Shop - not heated or AC use on a 24 hour basis (strong cultural trait, also "green") No humidity control.
Woods that are not stabilized will telegraph the knots.

These humidity and temp changes on a 24 hour cycle that occur near the ocean - in which daytime winds come from the mountains with a dryer air - this is a recipe for expansion contraction problems.

I have had several blanks with knots that telegraphed through a few days to weeks later.
Click to expand...

Telegraphing, yes that describes it well.
I knew there had to be a few negatives to living 20 feet from the Pacific. The other being tsunamis. Japan is certainly the place to test a finish. I've had this problem in the past but these recent troubles have been exceptionally bad. So, it's synthetics and stabilized woods from here on out.
 
Well put, Hank. This one had me stumped, as I'm 2 hours from the ocean and 2 hours from the mountains here in central Va. I had a couple of cracking problems due to wet/unstabilized woods so when I switched over to CA I also just standardized on using stabilized woods too. I have never had the problem you're describing using stabilized woods.
 
Very rarely do I use stabilised woods due to the cost of buying the blanks, when I am nearly at the finished diameter of each barrel I apply 2 coats of thin CA thats gets drawn in and helps stabilise the wood.

I feel that these thin coats also act as a platform/membrane for my normal CA finish routine and prevent the wood from absorbing the `finish` coats.
 
Ligget said:
Very rarely do I use stabilised woods due to the cost of buying the blanks, when I am nearly at the finished diameter of each barrel I apply 2 coats of thin CA thats gets drawn in and helps stabilise the wood.

I feel that these thin coats also act as a platform/membrane for my normal CA finish routine and prevent the wood from absorbing the `finish` coats.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark, Ya I'm going to try a few different approaches with this. One will be to flood the blanks with thin CA just before the final diameter. And another is apply CA and then let the blanks sit and settle for a few weeks before sanding out. I have some great un-stabilized burl blanks and it would be shame to not use them at all.
 
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