Howdy,
First time poster, long time woodworker (and still learning!)…
In 1978 I bought a bunch of zebrawood planks with the intention of making a nice diningroom table. Got so far as to join them together, making one large surface, 70″ x 50″. Then I got married, had kids, you know the rest. Still married, kids are grown and gone (Phew!), and we have a very nice, tiger oak diningroom table. So now my zebrawood table is trying to become a zebrawood desk with a little help from me. Problem is, its been standing in the garage since 1978, patiently waiting for me to love on it some… So now that its time has come, I’m worried the saw will create a crumbling pile of dust. Did I mention I live in the desert, where humidity sometimes climbs all the way up to 20%?
My question is how to, or, whether or not to, soak the zebrawood in some solution in hopes of regaining some of its lost juices. I’ve been hearing things like mineral oil, watco, linseed even crisco but thought I’d better keep on keeping on and search for answers elswhere, like from experts like you. You are experts, right?
Anyway, I’ve rambled long enough for being a newbie from the desert Southwest, where the air is dry and so is the zebrawood! Any input will be greatly appreciated.
Juan
Replies
ola Juan, your wood should be good to go. It is my understanding that wood constantly changes it's moisture content, so even had you finished it in 78, it would'nt be any drier or wetter than it is today. The bigger issue is probably termites, which we have in abundance here in the southwest desert (I live in Tucson). Be patient and you will get many more answers from much more knowledgable woodworkers than I. Chris
Hey, this is great news. Thanks so much! Guess I can cancel my order for that case of J & J baby oil, huh :}I'll be checking back and (most definately) will be posting more questions. My weekend woodworking abilities were never that great but have gone steadily downhill since. For instance, just finished a bookcase I had started in the 80's that was the other half of a 'pair'. Stained it darker, put the door hinges in a different location and it's a little taller then its brother! Oh well, it holds books and won't fall out into the room (I hope). 30" deep...Thanks again,Juan
Juan,
Don't worry about it at all. The wood has been patiently waiting until now, picking up moisture and letting it off over the years, and has acclimatized itself a long time ago. Thirty years is nothing in the life of those planks.
I had the chance to work a pile of Afromosia that had been waiting for over 20 years, and it was a pleasure. (BTW, I've been in the Middle East for almost 40 years and I've seen a bit of dry climates).
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
Sorry to take this off on a tangent, but Juan reminds me of something that I've heard but was always skeptical of. I've got a friend who talks about seasoned woods in terms of "oils lost" rather than moisture lost... As I say, I have always been skeptical of the way he frames the issue because I'm not used to woodworkers (at which he is more experienced than I am) talking about wood in those terms. My understanding has always been that moisture content is the issue.
So what gives? Are there oils that give wood a suppleness which can evaporate over time leaving the wood dry and brittle?
Kevin,
Frankly, I don't know. I've never come across the idea of "lost oils" in the literature. That doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. It's my feeling that for all intents and purposes, that is, for our normal scale of time, it has no significance. I once had the chance to work some 200 year-old oak, and I admit that it "felt" a bit different, but not substantially. I suspect that there may be some aging factor, not necessarily oil, that over very long periods of time can be felt. But for us it's of scholarly interest only.
In the same vein: although I know that Newtonian physics is not valid beyond certain limits, it certainly works for my purposes. I don't use quantum mechanics for building furniture, and I don't need to consider loss of suppleness within the limits of my lifetime. Still, it would be interesting to chisel into some of those 3000 year-old chairs they've got in the Metropolitan Museum...
regards,David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
Kevin When I first read your question, I was shaking my head thinking, I wonder where some of these guys get some of their information. Probably a lot of it may have come from our Grandfathers, who might not even know how to read, but they sure knew how to make things, and they were our idols, even if some of their beliefs were not really based on science.Then I thought about eastern red-cedar, Juniperus Virginiana, actually, With some heat, you can get some oily resin out of it. Actually just at room temperature if it is freshly cut, you can smell but after a while it gets less, and less, and finally is lost.
This wood is just loaded with chemicals, and whether some of those are out-gassed on VOC's or just water, I can't say. However when it is dry, it is always less flexible, and somewhat brittle, and not really very strong, so this is one wood that might seem to fit your friends claim.There are plenty of woods like pine, that need to be heated in the kiln to 140º to set the pitch, which is basically cooking off those chemicals to crystalize the resin. If you do that to cedar, it will loose its scent.All woods get stronger, stiffer, and harder the drier they are. But as is the case with many thing, you can get too much of a good thing.Woods that are subjected to really high temperature, can become brash. But that doesn't happen under normal conditions, unless you consider rafters under a black roof with poor ventilation normal, over a long period.I am not sure that I have answered your question, < So what gives? Are there oils that give wood a suppleness which can evaporate over time leaving the wood dry and brittle? > but I have a friend who thinks that lumber needs to breath.Back to Juan. I would recommend that you do NOT use any food oils for you top, because they will not dry, and will contaminate the wood preventing other finishes from adhering and drying. You can get the same look with penetrating oils that will dry hard. However for a table top that may have cold glass condensation and spills that will leave circles in those finishes, I would think more about a finish that is impervious to that.
Thanks, Keith. I hadn't really thought of conifers but now that you mention them it does make a certain sense. I know that Peter Gedrys has mentioned in the past some of the antique finishes made from conifer resins, which seems to me to gibe with what you're saying. Whether or to what degree that fits with non-conifers... I dunno. Although strictly speaking I think the conifers example makes the case for it being certain volitile organic compounds rather than "oils" per se.
The environment here in my paint shop at work must be a lot drier than I'd initially thought. A number of years ago I found a Redwood burl bowl in a second hand store that looked to be somebody's old high school wood shop project. It looked like hell, was all sticky from what appeared to be the liberal application of a non-drying oil and had copeous scratches from where it hadn't been sanded very well. But it was burl and I got it for next to nothing, took it to work and refinished it a really gorgeous looking piece of wood. This was several years ago. Recently I noticed that it's got a bajillion micro cracks in it from the wood having shrunk noticably. Not a big deal really, but I think it underscores the issue with conifer VOCs.
A quick word about food oils... Walnut oil is supposed to be a drying oil. It seems to take quite a bit of time to dry, though. There is at least one commercial source of a heat-treated Walnut Oil designed mostly for bowl turners.
Kevin,
Raw walnut oil is a semi-drying oil. It will take a long time to cure and will be gummy if it is built up at all.
Rob
I don't really know one way or the other. Jon Arno once told me that it was a fully drying oil. But the guy marketing the bowl turner's heat-treated Walnut oil asserts that untreated Walnut oil won't dry at all. Both seem credible sources to me yet they said the exact opposite things about raw Walnut oil.
What I do know, having tried the heat-treated Walnut oil is that it doesn't dry very quickly. The guy making it suggests waiting 24 hours between coats. I took that to mean that it had a 24 hour dry time. I ran with that assumption and ended up having to strip down a piece I'd finished with it and topped with lacquer because the oil clearly had not dried, and that was with giving it a bit over 24 hours before first hitting it with the lacquer. As I type this that piece is still sitting here unfinished. It may be dry by now but I don't want to have to strip it again and am not sure that I can fully salvage it as it stands now. So... a word to the wise... give this stuff plenty of time to cure.
Kevin,
The semi-drying definition came from Flexners book. I don't know why one would choose to use walnut oil instead of the more traditional oils. I definitely don't think it should be top coated.
Rob
Juan,
There is nothing to worry about, the wood is no drier than it would have been if you made it into a table 20 years ago. Finishes are primarily for appearance, they have almost no effect on the seasonal gain and loss of moisture.
John White, Shop Manager, Fine Woodworking Magazine
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