Replies

1. 
   mudman | Dec 20, 2004 07:38pm | #1

   could it be an oil or wax coming out of the wood?

   Mike

   please excuse my spelling.
1. 
   chateaupapa | Dec 20, 2004 07:45pm | #3

   My guess is that it's some sort of wax... it doesn't seem to me that it would be something natural to the wood.  Any suggestions as to how to stop it?

2. 
   BArnold | Dec 20, 2004 07:44pm | #2

   Ed,

   Can you show us a photo?

    

   Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting

   Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

   ---

1. 
   chateaupapa | Dec 20, 2004 07:48pm | #4

   I do a lot of photography and the "white stuff" is in so few places on the figures that I am quite sure it wouldn't  show up. And I don't think you would know a lot more just seeing a picture.  It's just white, not really powdery, but comes off very easily.  It just keeps coming back.

3. 
   douglas2cats | Dec 20, 2004 08:59pm | #5

   You're really testing my geography memory, but I think Malawi is a coastal country. Makes me wonder if the white stuff could be salt leaching out of the wood as a result of sitting in seawater at a coastal port before being milled into wood that your carver got his hands on?

    

1. 
   chateaupapa | Dec 20, 2004 09:02pm | #6

   Douglas, what would you do if you suspected it to be salt? (Malawi itself is not on the coast, but it isn't far and the wood could well have come from some coastal area.)

1. 
   douglas2cats | Dec 20, 2004 09:27pm | #7

   Boy. I don't have a clue what you could use to stop it, if it is salt. What you were seeing sounded so out of the norm, I just had to wonder if it wasn't something that the carver didn't consciously do while working or finishing the wood. What made me think of it was an experience with chemical preservative leeching out of some otherwise beautiful clear cedar that was given to me by a telephone company employee salvaging some downed phone poles. I spotted it before I had wasted any time building anything out of it, and I just ended up using it as firewood.

    

1. 
   chateaupapa | Dec 20, 2004 09:40pm | #8

   Douglas, I wonder about coating the figures with Deft (satin)...that won't show brush marks and might stop anything further from coming out of the wood.  (I still think it's probably something the artist rubbed in to provide the nice patina they have.)  What do you think?

1. 
   douglas2cats | Dec 20, 2004 10:16pm | #9

   Well anytime I'm trying to use something as a barrier coat, my first thoughts lean toward dewaxed shellac. It's usually pretty forgiving in terms of what it will work over (and under). The Deft might work fine. But not knowing for sure what the white stuff is, makes trying any finish over it somewhat of a crapshoot.

2. 
   chateaupapa | Dec 20, 2004 10:21pm | #10

   I have both Deft and dewaxed shellac in the shop...I'm sorely tempted!  However, I think I'll wait a little and see if any other woodworkers have a suggestion or to.  Meanwhile, thanks for your input.

2. 
   IanDG | Dec 20, 2004 11:05pm | #11

   If it was salt then given that salt is deliquescent, it wouldn't stay for very long as a white powder but would attract enough moisture to form a solution.

   IanDG