DIYbanter - View Single Post - unfinished red oak boards that beer was spilled on ruined?

Leon[_7_]

On 1/20/2014 12:51 PM, wrote:
On Monday, January 20, 2014 10:58:02 AM UTC-6, Mike Marlow wrote:

This is good, but why a water and/or a water/soap wash not work? The water

and/or the water/soap is going to infiltrate those fibers the very same way

that the original beer spill did.

Wow... this thread is going from weird to surreal. Soon someone will suggest that the piece be sent to a lab in Germany for testing, then treatment at an undisclosed location using products that don't exist... or do they? This is probably an pretty simple problem (but we don't know without details as the OP bugged out)and no extensive wood rehabilitation (really... board planing?) is needed. Surely there are others out there that have experience finishing/refinishing contaminated surfaces...

Water on a piece of oak might stain almost as much as the beer did. And never use any soap in unsealed wood as it will leave a residue that is almost impossible to remove or seal over. Worse, the soap (which is most likely a surfactant of some sort) will simply redistribute the remaining dried particles over the area you are cleaning/washing.

Unless allowed to stand with a liquid on it, wood, even oak (don't panic over the tubules), absorbs very little liquid when exposed. I did some of my own experiments after reading how little penetration wood finishes get, and was literally stunned at low little finish of any sort is absorbed by wood. Whether the finish is thick or thin, the amount of surface penetration is probably nor more than a very few thousands at best. A simple spill is not different.

While we were not given any additional information to help with a better diagnosis, under normal circumstances it would be likely that the project had beer spilled on it and was immediately wiped down. If this is the case, the remaining residue can be wiped off with mineral spirits and a porous rag, then after completely dry, a little sanding. Loosened particles that contain the last of the beer should be easily dusted away at this point, then a quick wipe with a rage moistened with mineral spirits should do the trick.

Robert

Next up, perhaps the board should be sent up to the space station to see
how it will clean up under zero gravity conditions.