Long time lurker, first time poster….
Anyone have suggestions on how to preserve color variations in poplar? I have some poplar with beautiful purple and rose streaking but it seems to fade to brown over time. So far I’ve used some for a small box that I finished cheaply and quickly with a clear coat spray can.
Replies
Some where here recently Jon Arno addressed the confusion of the term poplar. So I will assume from your description of the color that you have <liriodendron tulipifera>. I have never found a way to preserve it's striking fresh cut colors. The deeply colored wood can still beautiful with its many shades of brown.
BJ
Gardening, cooking and woodworking in Southern Maryland
Edited 6/6/2002 12:29:16 AM ET by Bee Jay
I built a 14 foot rowboat last winter and made the frames and seats from tulip poplar. I used West System epoxy for a finish and it turned out beautiful. I should varnish it, but haven't got around to it yet.
I'm sure that your poplar boat was beautiful under it's west systems epoxy. Gpsaewicz was trying to find something that preserved the poplar's purple and rose tones. Does the West Sytem do that? I would expect that by the time the epoxy was applied that the colorful tones had already oxidised to rich browns.
BJ Gardening, cooking and woodworking in Southern Maryland
I can't help with preserving the exact coloring, but I've had remarkable results using liming wax on poplar (usually it is applied to more open grained woods). The various shadings take on an opaline quality that clients haven't seen before.
T
What is liming wax?
Here's good blurb. You can even use it on sealed and finished wood.
http://www.briwax-online.com/liming.html
Ted
Isn't automotive Armor All the stuff that you use on vinyl seats to keep the vinyl from hardening up? I always thought that it contained the plasticizers that are used in formulating the vinyl in the first place. It's been a long time since I was involved in the formulation of vinyl mixes and I can't recall the conpounds used, but I think that the stuff would gar-on-tee that an oil finish would never dry.
BJGardening, cooking and woodworking in Southern Maryland
That's what I would have thought. However, there's little odor, and it seems to be water base. Perhaps only a small amount of plasticizers and a bridging solvent? What about toxicity? Aren't those plasticizers pretty bad?
A cured oil finish that's buffed out will eventually become dull, as the surface oxidizes. So what if this was applied to a cured oil finish?
All just questions and speculation.
Gerry
I'm plunging in late here, but what I remember about Armor All from when I lived in a hot valley was how, when it evaporated for days and days after application, it left a gawd-awful film all over the windows. Not something I'd jump to try on wood.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Never bothered to find out just what is in the stuff. I got that tip from someone at a woodworking show in Halifax a year or two ago.
I'll admit I didn't totally trust that idea, and figured I would have to repeat the application or remove it all together and try something else, so after the Armor-All dried, I just buffed on a coat of homemade wax (beeswax and turps). The colour has stayed good (not perfect, but good enough) for nearly two years, not in direct sunlight.
Think it might have been the turps after all?
Doc
Out of curiosity, I'm doing a few tests now. I expected that film you described, but want to see if it can be buffed out over a cured oil finish. For general use, however, I don't think it'll be too useful, from the following response I got from the company.
"Unfortunately, we would not recommend our product on wood surfaces. ARMOR ALL Protectant is a water based silicone emulsion specifically designed to protect and beautify polymeric materials such as rubber, plastics, vinyl and automotive-grade finished leather. Our product actually bonds to the surface to help protect elasticity and fight surface deterioration. I hope this information is helpful. "
Gerry
Gerry,
Yup. Just as I thought. Armor All contains massive amounts of silicone. If you use it on wood and later want to put any sort of finish on it, there's fish-eye in your future.
Alan
Agreed; Probably all that and more. Even if you did get a smooth finish, I'd expect adhesion problems. I thought it would come out this way, but it was worth checking. As for UV in general, Hydrocote makes a separate additive that can be added to a finish.
Gerry
Two suggestions that may well be worth a try:
-Spar varnish, which contains an ultra-violet blocker;
-Armour-All, a product found in the automotive section of your favourite store. Its claim to fame is as a protective coating for trim, vinyl, etc in your car to prevent fading. I believe it is mainly a uv-blocker too, and works well preserving the colour of purpleheart and padauk. It won't restore a darkened colour, but if applied soon after sanding and/or planing, seems to save that intense colour.
Doc
Armour-All? Intrigiung. Do you use it as The Finish or do you apply a finish (shellac, say) over it?
Armour All is intriguing. I would be interested to find out if the automotive preservative product is the same or near same as the product they sell to restore fences and decks. If they are, then it would make perfect sense to use it. I wonder if it would work to preserve cherry. I have some scrap cherry, I think I'll give it a try.John
Isn't Armorall basically silicon? (Sp?) And doesn't that lead to finishing horrors--especially if you later try to strip and recoat?
Alan
For some reason I think that Armour All is oils and protectants and not silicones. Not sure though, I'll check an see what the bottle says when I get home. John
Armour-All? Now, that's one I haven't heard before. Not even on the great purpleheart threads! Checking their web site, there's no indication of the ingredients. So, I just sent them a question about this usage. I can just imagine their response:-)
I also wonder if it could simply be used on top of a cured finish.
I've got a piece of purpleheart that I was going to cut into a bandsaw box, and would like to perserve the color as much as possible. I have some Armor All in the garage, and it sounds like I need to do some experimenting first. I can also check for finish compatibility. I'll apply it to the wood, and check both wetting and adhesion of the finish.
Another thought is with an oil finish. I was probably going to use tung oil on the boxes. Wonder what would happen if I added some of this to the top coat? Maybe time to use up some scraps. Of course, it might prevent the oil from curing...
Gerry
Best finishes for poplar:
A) Paint
B) Kerosene and a match.
If you spend your time to build something,
use a worthwhile wood for the show faces.
Poplar is fine for structural use, but why
bother to put it where you can see it??
There's thousands of species that actually look nice.
An extra few dollars for wood is nothing
compared to the value of your time.
I actually prefer White Gas. Makes a much louder boom and can usually level most of the tents in the camp ground. Seriously though.. talk to us about why you don't like poplar, I always thought it was a very pretty wood.Steve - in Northern California
When freshly cut, poplar can sometimes look acceptable.
No matter what finish you use, it will oxidize to ####nasty brown/green color. It is too soft for a hardwood
and too hard for a softwood. It has none of the character
of pine or fir, none of the elegance of maple. The soft
fuzzy surface takes paint well, but it is not rot resistant
and not good for outdoor use. It does machine well and
works fine for painted moldings. Most every wood has some
best use, be it for firewood or veneer. Poplar is not
a good cabinet wood. It does not stain well. Maple costs
almost the same. Unless you're making drawer runners or
something like that, why bother? There are so many nice
species that are worth the investment of your time. Poplar
is fine for veneer cores or other use where it does not show.
The cost of the wood is minor compared to the cost of my labor.
When I spend many dollars of my time, use the accumulated
machinery and tools of a lifetime, spend time and money for
finishing, why waste it on poplar. For an extra $2/BF I can
get something that looks nice.
As has been noted here before, it's pretty well established by generations of 'baccer barn builders in Southern Maryland, Virginia, and North carolina, that poplar (that is, l. tulipfera) has excellent outdoor rot resistance. But then opinions are like anatomical details, we've all got one and, right or wrong, I enjoy my own.
BJGardening, cooking and woodworking in Southern Maryland
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