Glow fuel soaked wood, best treatment before recovering?

[martin collins 1]

Refurbing an old Svenson Wayfarer, most of the old covering is removed now and the fuselage has fuel soaking on quite a lot of it. I don't want to get into rebuilding the whole lot, what is the best way to treat it so i can get the new covering to stick? 

Edited September 4, 2023 by martin collins 1

[Don Fry]

I have read, standard technique is to put absorbent paper over effected area, and use a warm iron to press it to the wood, and the oil is drawn into the paper.
Note, I read, not tried.

[Cuban8]

This is a real old chestnut that's been doing the rounds for ever and a day. From paper and a covering iron to soak it up, to all sorts of patent concoctions, I'm not aware of any method other than replacement of the soaked wood that is any good

However, for what it's worth, I did do a passable repair and recover on my first trainer back in the early 80s and managed to get the covering to stick fairly well around the soaked engine bay by a lengthy process of soaking up the muck with towels/paper etc wetted in cellulose thinners but to be honest the chance of getting all the crud out of the wood is zero. I gave the wood a generous coat of Solarfilm Clearcote and ironed down the new covering. Not a bad job, providing you weren't looking for perfection because even a slight amount of missed oil will find its way through. Not sure what the modern equivalent of Clearcote is.

A bit like a small patch of rust that was missed in a car repair.

Edited September 4, 2023 by Cuban8

[RottenRow]

Yes the method Don describes works but you will probably get through most of a roll of kitchen paper. Also it’s difficult to get into enclosed spaces.

 

Then apply Balsaloc before the new film is ironed on (Clearcote would be equally good).

 

I saw a furniture restorer on a TV programme who cleaned up an oil-soaked oak work top by pouring methylated spirit on it, letting it soak in then setting alight to it. It seemed to work on the worktop pretty well. It doesn’t work well on an oil-soaked model though as the meths doesn’t soak up the old oil before it evaporates. Contrary to what you might think, the model doesn’t burn (but stand by with a wet rag just in case…).
 

Any really badly soaked parts might be best cut out and replaced though.

 

Brian.

[Nigel Dell]

Hi Martin

 

I refurbed an Aeromaster that was fuel soaked, what I did was using kitchen roll put that over the area and using a hot iron went over the area until the oil residue reduced then painted on liberally acetone leaving for ten minutes and repeating the ironing process sometimes repeating the brushing on acetone, the area will get visibly lighter but obviously will leave the wood soft.

I repair ceramics and plaster items and use a product call paraloid B72 for conservation, this is a granulated acrylic glue that is dissolved in acetone and once soaked into the material hardens and conserves, just painted this solution onto the area liberally letting the wood soak it up and it brings back the strength in the wood, not to be used in high stress areas but fine for the usual sheeted block areas around the nose, if it is around the engine bulkhead I glued triangular stock to reinforce the joint then soaked the new wood and fuel tank bay in the solution again which has been good and strong now for a couple of years, I use it on new builds now as part of the fuel proofing, finishing with epoxy finishing resin as real boot and braces finish.

hope the helps.

B72 can be bought from art restoration suppliers for around £5 for 100g they also do premix’s but these are pretty expensive and really for very specialised work.

[Cuban8]

41 minutes ago, RottenRow said:

 

 

I saw a furniture restorer on a TV programme who cleaned up an oil-soaked oak work top by pouring methylated spirit on it, letting it soak in then setting alight to it. It seemed to work on the worktop pretty well. It doesn’t work well on an oil-soaked model though as the meths doesn’t soak up the old oil before it evaporates. Contrary to what you might think, the model doesn’t burn (but stand by with a wet rag just in case…).

 

Brian.

Only just stopped laughing😁 - thought of a hapless modeller obsessed with lipo safety then burning down his house after the 'meths trick' - makes the mind boggle. Imagine the look on an insurance assessors face as he read the insurance claim. 😁

[J D 8]

  When sorting out the oil soaked Mannock I softened the hardened crust of castor with acetone, scraped the worst off and then after more acetone sprinkled talcum powder over affected areas. By the next day powder had gone brown and hard absorbing much old oil from the wood. Couple of more the same and what was a very soggy structure was saved.

[Andy Stephenson]

I used a generous amount of talcum powder and let it sit for a few months. After vacuuming it all off, I used Deluxe Materials Covergrip. The film stuck so well I didn't even need an Iron.

[martin collins 1]

7 minutes ago, Andy Stephenson said:

I used a generous amount of talcum powder and let it sit for a few months. After vacuuming it all off, I used Deluxe Materials Covergrip. The film stuck so well I didn't even need an Iron.

Sounds like it would work but i am against the clock, hoping to fly it on Friday 😜

[Nigel R]

2 hours ago, martin collins 1 said:

Refurbing an old Svenson Wayfarer, most of the old covering is removed now and the fuselage has fuel soaking on quite a lot of it. I don't want to get into rebuilding the whole lot, what is the best way to treat it so i can get the new covering to stick? 

 

Is it just the nose that is soaked? You might get away with something absorbent and acetone or whatever, but oil is pretty pervasive stuff. Can you get away with rebuilding a small section?

[martin collins 1]

No oil soaking is down to the tail end in places unfortunately so got to make the best of a bad job. 

[Ron Gray]

2 hours ago, Cuban8 said:

Not sure what the modern equivalent of Clearcote is

Clearcoat!

[kc]

It is probably quicker and cheaper to replace oilsoaked wood!

 

The easy answer to the problem  is once you a have got as much oil out as possible to NOT recover with an iron on covering but to use something else - tissue and dope, nylon and dope or maybe tissue and wallpaper paste.   Anything other than using heat which just draws the oil to the surface again and stops the film or 'tex sticking.

[Mike T]

I've used a variation on the talc theme, which I heard about years ago.  Mix a paste of meths and talc and 'paint' this into/over the oil affected areas.  Leave it a week.  The meths evaporates and as it does so it draws the oil into the talc.  Scape out the goo and repeat as necessary, finally swabbing out with neat meths and kitchen paper.  It works (though not as well as replacing the affected wood) but isn't a quick fix.

 

PS - to get covering to stick it needs to be sealed with something penetrating, like thinned dope and sanding sealer. Balsaloc it for belt and braces.

Edited September 4, 2023 by Mike T
PS