Help me keep the mold out please

Re: Help me keep the mold out please

Basil...S.C. countryside

>Well, it has been unusually warm and humid here. That's not the best weather for air drying fresh cut wood if you ask me.

If you have been keeping it inside, then I'd suggest storing it somewhere dry but at outside tempertures, with good airflow all around.

Basil

heal thyself....great article! *LINK*

Mike Schwing from Md.

>http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR-90.html


Lumber stains

Re: Help me keep the mold out please

John Lucas

>Mike

I can only answer your question about bleach not about the mold and discoloration. Bleach works differently on all woods and it's been my experience that it doesn't remove dark colors very often. Most of the time is lightens the light colors in the wood much more than the dark if it affects the dark colors at all.

For this reason I would think it might not be the best thing to solve your problem.

Re: Help me keep the mold out please

RevDoug

>I don't know, but I would think that something like Lysol or some other anti-mold cleaning agent that your wife would have for cleaning the bathroom might work. You might give it a try and let the rest of us know if it works.

Turn 'em round,

RevDoug

follow up..sort of

Mike Schwing from Md.

>After a LOT of reading, it looks like yellow poplar is one of the wood species most susceptible to staining. Most of the stain appears to be chemical stain, from oxidation reactions that take place on exposed wood and continue on throughout. The second most common on yellow poplar is fungal growth, and mold is not very common - thought I'm not exactly sure how that distinction is made.

The lumberyards have spent quite a few dollars trying to solve this problem and have resorted to chemical dips and water sprays - keeping the wood wet appears to produce the best result. The chemical dips they use aren't really available to me in a practical manner, and woodworking sites seem to prefer a "wood bleach" (oxalic acid) to remove the chemical stains, and a chlorine bleach to deal with the fungal/mold issue.

I'm pretty convinced the black/blue stain I see on the poplar is chemical reaction. This would explain why it continues to appear even after spraying with chlorine bleach, yet the gray stain does not.

What I have been experiment with this past week is a combination of things, including oxalic acid (WAY cheaper at HD than Woodcraft), chlorine bleach, finishing a bowl wet/thin and drying in microwave, or roughing it out, drying in microwave, then finishing it normally, either with or without oxalic acid. I have quite a bit of free time available to me and a high level of enthusiasm. (not to mention oodles of poplar)

Results? Oxalic acid works very well to remove these chemical stains. Sometimes it works PERFECTLY, and yellow poplar turns an amazing and pleasing shade of white/cream. It does work better/more completly to finish a piece, before sanding, and treat with oxalic acid than it does to rough it out, acid wash, and dry. Some workpieces do not clear up as well, even though they are from the same tree/location, were cut and treated in the same manner. Light colored smudges remain on these pieces, and I have decided I will dye them various shades and colors to mask the discoloration.

Chlorine bleach solutions have no effect on this blue/black stain, and will only mildly brighten up the wood.

I am very pleased with the appearance of yellow poplar after the treatment of oxalic acid.