| Newer woods are high in saps, oils and moisture content and take a process few carpenters, painters and homeowners alike are willing to wait for these days! Drying out times!
With a house fan, saw horses and a heated shop newer woods moisture content can dry out by an additional 20% in a couple of weeks.
Moisture meters are used periodically to test water content in wood before applying special alcohol based epoxies to dissipate additional moisture.
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| | Unfortunately wood has a tendancy to naturally split or crack from shrinkage as it dries out.
We apply 'Fill-it' a two part epoxy consolidant compound to fix knots and cracks in most wood. By mixing both portions 50 50 with a putty knife you achieve a light gray continuous color consistency.
This stuff is magical because it will give with woods natural expansion after treatment!
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| Notice the deeper amber colored shine on the prepped post to the right where the epoxy sealer and fill-it has been applied? We force the filler into the crack as far as it will go.
There is a post beam on the floor that hasn't been treated with epoxy sealer or filler yet. The penetrating epoxy dissipates even more moisture and penetrates deep into the wood to eliminate saps, wax and oils as well!
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| | The epoxy is pushed hard into the surface and if you look closely left you will see I have a piece of 1 mil plastic applied over it to protect the epoxy from moisture as it cures.
This is important. You cannot allow moisture to settle on the surface while curing as it contaminates the epoxies tensile strength. When fully cured, the epoxy is sanded smooth then more penetrating epoxy is applied before priming!
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This is the product called "CPES" Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer that we used on these columns prior to repairing with the 'fill-it'.
It was formulated for dissipating moisture content further from wood and is a terrific pre-grain sealer for clear varnishes and paint.
Special acknowledgements are given for the great mill work job done on the posts by HAZEN & JOHNSON, local contractors from Gearhart, Oregon!
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| | You wouldn't believe it but these posts alone soaked up over a 3/4 of a gallon of epoxy during prep, drying and treating process.
Thats good! The moisture content after drying for a couple of weeks (with heat and air-flow in my shop) was below 10% so the epoxy could soak into the wood deep to help dissipate even more moisture content!
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