But can anyone point me in the right direction of a good guide for the oil content of exotic hardwoods? I’ve searched extensively and most sites do not discuss this aspect of the particular species. And if not then what are the characteristics that lead to a wood being high in oil, like dried weight or specific gravity?
What I have found is a resource that gives a scale for finishing… however they do not really get into specifics on how the wood is finished. From waht I gather the following woods are “easy” (on their scale) for finishing.
Hey Drew, I’ve used and am currently using all of those woods you listed above with the exception of koa. To me it looks like a list of least likely woods that UV poly will stick to. Those are all very dense and resinous woods. I say resinous instead of oily because I have a feeling that the solvents in poly have a tendency to soften those wood resins (making them oily) and ultimately lead to the delam problems.
I believe their finishing scale refers to the ability of the wood to take on a luster with minimal effort put forth by the craftsman by virtue of the wood being dense, tight grained and resinous - which all of those woods listed are. A few more you may want to add to the list are domestic and tropical walnut species, teak, aromatic and western red cedars, padauk, cocobolo, jatoba, various rosewood species, wenge, macassar ebony. . .
I started laminating small cut-off samples of these woods with UVpoly a little over a year ago because of my frustration with the curing times of epoxy. Did it so many different ways, and the results eventually ended up the same. Either small patches of delam would naturally occur in the heat of UV curing, or the lam would look perfect but could be peeled off completely and with very little effort like painter’s tape.
For me, the decision between hoping the lam stuck and waiting longer for the resin to cure was a no brainer. Epoxy will penetrate deep into those wood pores and has no solvents in it that will reconstitute those wood resins in the process. Regarding epoxy curing times - thank Greg that Resin Research introduced Kwik Kick!
Oh yeah, in spite of all that long windedness, I forgot to mention that the oil content of any wood can vary dramatically from tree to tree and from what area of the tree the timber was taken from. You may get poly to stick to one piece of chechen, and not at all to another. Epoxy will stick to both.
find a pen maker and maybe you can have them "stabilize" your block first with acrylics before you work it.
I think a piece of wood "stabilized" with epoxy or polyester resin won't contaminate the lam as much.
another idea is to glass the board first, then cut it, put a glass patch to seal the exposed foam then epoxy glue the block on to glas patch, then finish off the block and seal the wood with something other than resin.
those are the best woods and koa and zebra should'nt be too much of a problem but birdseye and quilted maple would look just as nice and not pose as much problem with the lam.
there's also artificially created dymondwood, colorwood, and strata-bond over here too:
hi mike, what’s the chance that steaming the finished (shaped) wood block (or fin) in an enclosed vessel prior to glassing will be able to ‘drain’ its natural oils/resins?
…not that i’ve tried, but i’m likening the process to certain fat-reduction techniques in preparing meat dishes. just thinking out loud hehe
Howzit drew, The trick I always used was to put a slow time curing coat of lam resin over the wood to seal the wood then glass it. The oils can't rise through the resin.Aloha,Kokua
Not sure if those oils/resins would be steam soluable, but seems like a vacuum would need to be pulled for a while in order to move them out. Problem is, that the resins and oils are part of what make those woods what they are. Probably protect the colors from oxidation too. Even glassing with epoxy I’ll sometimes “dry” the surface of certain types of wood with denatured alcohol and the rag I’m using will take color from the wood. Resaw a blank from some of those and sure enough the inside is a completely different color than the oxidized surface layer.
I’ve found that the the best, most consistent way to get poly to stick to those woods is how Kokua mentioned above. I’m interested though in what Oneula brought up about acrylic stabilizing. The guy I get my exotic cuts from around here is an pro wood turner, so I’m going to find out what he thinks about that next time I see him.
just thought about it as i’m not familiar with the process wood processors use to reduce moisture content, i’ve only read about it being pressurized especially when termite solution is applied to an entire batch in a curing vessel
Hey Drew - if you’re interested in giving those woods a try yourself I have plenty of smaller scraps pieces that wouldn’t be useful to me unless I start turning pens or make jewelry (neither in the forseeable future). Let me know and I’ll send you variety pack of pretty much everything listed in this post except koa.
If you are useing veneers you don't need to be conserned because before the veneers are sliced the logs are boiled so there isnt much oil left in the veneer. If you are sliceing your own thick veneers from solid stock then just wipe it good with laquer thinner 5 minutes before you glue with epoxy. If your useing a vacume bag it dosen't make a difference because the epoxy will infuse into the wood. If you are doing hammer veneering then you cant use epoxy. Vacume bag is the best way to do veneers !!
Howzit chris, I don't know if this will work with epoxy but when it comes to poly I just baste it with some a really slow kicking batch of thiined resin since it's the heat from the kicking resin that pulls the oil to the surface. I am sure you could try soaking it in acetone then let it dry or fin some old heart wood that the oil is no longer in that part of the wood. That was what they used back in the days of yore when there was a lot of old heart redwood being cut. I have had some luck with Balsa and UV resin, good luck and I hope you find away to make it work Aloha,Kokua
S’Ding, real nice ride! Wood Ogre and Kokua have the fix for high resin content. They are a variation upon the old theme of sealing with Shellac or sanding sealer before laminating or finishing. A thinned epoxy will penetrate quite well on most species.
I have no affiliation with this company, but this glue is what the high end boat builders use to glue purple heart to teak to ebony, etc. should handle tail blocks, wood fin blanks, with ease. long open time, though.
