Duff10 3 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Hi I am currently cleaning and sanding my wooden bilge and struggling to remove oil from the wood after many years of no maintenance. The bilge has previously been expoxy coated and wood underneath expoxy seems to be wet and oil has penetrated through the expoxy in most places. chowing through the sandpaper as it just keeps clogging. trying to dry out wood but the oil stained wood just seems to never dry. Does anyone know of the best way or solvent to remove oil from the wood as I plan on applying new expoxy coats once it is suitably prepped but concerned the expoxy won’t take to any residual oil left on the wooden bilge. thanks in advance if anyone can save me time. cheers JD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Psyche 795 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Dry it out first, a good dehumidifier 24/7 for a week or two at least will suck all the moisture out. Sound like it wasnt that well sealed in the first place, perhaps with everdure or a similar high solvent product? They are permeable unless there are very heavy coatings but the modern way is to use 100% solids neat epoxy warmed slightly and best applied to warm timber if possible. You need two coats, wet on tacky to cover holidays and pinholes. It's also important to understand the materials involved, epoxy does not soak into flat sawn timber very far at all, perhaps a millimeter or so end grain is another story but with regard to oil in the timber you can use degreasers to begin with and then once its dry use rags and solvents plus a bit of sanding to get as much out as possible. The important thing here is dry, once youve got the moisture level down youve got options. There is also no harm in test application of epoxy to seal an area to see if it sticks. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest 132 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 As above. Just word of warning on the dehumidifier. Seriously monitor the timber for shrinkage and use one with tank full, off that is working. It a confined space, drying effect can be brutal if left. Seeing as timber is already “sealed“ shrinkage may be less of a problem. I used one inside new bare timber sp hull to get moisture from 19 % to ~15ish%. considerable cracking! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Panache 4 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I used laundry powder mixed with warm water to break the surface oil down, put enough in the bilge to cover the oil contaminated areas, left it for a week or so, scrubbed the bilge every few days, repeated the process untill the bulk of the oil was gone from the surface timber. Dried it out, sanded the bilge as best as I could and put two coats of epoxy in the bilge. If you leave the bilge cleaned but uncoated for too long the oil will migrate back to the surface. My bilge was originally evedured then painted with red lead and very oily, it is now epoxied and painted white. Cheers Paul Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ianz 2 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I've used old flooring boards for things like making a table, and oil stains on timber can go pretty deep. Some boards I used were sourced from an old workshop and had various oil stains. Even taking off several mm with a thickness planer the oil stain is still apparent. Patina, they call it Anyway you might find you can't remove it. I don't think this is necessarily a problem though. I have had success putting seal coats over clean albeit visible oil stains. I would be less certain about using a dehumidifier unless you're sure the wood is unduly wet. Is that likely, given that long term exposure to fresh water would usually result in rot? A moisture detector might be a good idea so that you can compare it to other areas that are also below the waterline but above the lowest point. Ian 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Psyche 795 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 The other issue you may come across is delignification where the lignin in the timber has broken down due to electrolysis around metal fastenings. It results in fibrous patches that can be picked apart easily, the solution is to dry it out and soak in epoxy. Regarding traces of oil and epoxy, its not too much of a problem provided the surface is degreased, lots of timber is naturally oily, teak for example and the accepted practice is to wipe the mating surfaces with acetone before gluing. You are not going to get all the engine oil and diesel out but thats not a problem, I have used a heat gun to warm the timber and paper towels to absorb any surface oil, then you can degrease with acetone before sealing. West have excellent resources on surface preparation. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Duff10 3 Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 Thanks to everyone that has posted. Has been helpful and fast forward a heck of elbow grease and painstaking work I think I’m getting there…….. famous last words….. but I’m sure there are still a few surprises yet to come Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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