DIY Wood Restorer

[John Kennedy]

Hi Folks,

First real thread and hope it's in the right place.

My wood turning skills are years old but there is so much incredible information on these forums, might have to go out and get another lathe and some tools.

My main project ahead is to take care of a decaying outside deck, replace boards and patch those that can be salvaged. I found the AAW site searching for home made wood "petrifiers". Had only used Minwax restorer, but the product works well. Some of the comments in various threads have more information than any ten other sites. My thought was that before taking out a home equity loan to afford Minwax, there has to be a way to cook up a DIY formula for cheap. Minwax is obviously acetone, and don't know why the addition of methanol. From the discussions, 72 percent acetone, 3 percent methanol and I guess the rest is acrylic plastic.

It looks like dissolving acrylic chips in acetone comes up a lot and may work.

I can share that gloss polyurethane (oil based) diluted with acetone does not work well. Beside the long drying time, penetration isn't that great. The dried product is a bit harder but not acceptable.

One thing I find missing everywhere is experience with taking acrylic paint and diluting with acetone. Still have to make a pilgrimage to the big city to get some gloss acrylic, but was wondering if anyone has tried it out.

I was wanting to focus a discussion on tips, tricks, formulas for DIY wood restorers. There are some good thoughts in different places of the forums. Would be nice to get the experiences and discussions on home made petrifiers in a dedicated topic.

Stay safe everyone,

John

 

[Bill Boehme]

I can share that gloss polyurethane (oil based) diluted with acetone does not work well. Beside the long drying time, penetration isn't that great. The dried product is a bit harder but not acceptable.

A better product for thinning polyurethane is naphtha or if you want to extend the drying time then ordinary mineral spirits. I make a wipe-on-poly by using 50% polyurethane and 50% naphtha. However, as you have discovered that won't increase penetration much if any except in end grain. If the wood is punky then there would be a little increase in penetration. The problem is that the long molecular chains are still just as long after thinning ... so the solvent penetrates deeper while the poly winds up mostly on the surface.

Your thoughts about Minwax Wood Hardener sound spot on to me. It makes sense economically for small projects like punky window sills, the base of porch columns, and preserving small architectural elements. When it comes to large projects like decks I'm sure that it would be much less expensive to just replace the boards. Woodturners use thinned lacquer to harden punky wood. Thinned shellac is also used. The high cost of material and solvents means that it wouldn't be cost-effective for preserving a deck.

 

[John Kennedy]

Thanks for the tip on naptha and proportions, and also regarding thinned lacquer and shellac. Makes sense that the large urethane polymers are left on the surface of the wood. Got to look at some viscosity data and the scale of aggressive solvents, MIBK, MEK etc. Might be able to find a magic bullet. Will do some testing and report back the results, success and failures. Plenty of punky wood around here to experiment on.

 

[John Torchick]

Deck- replace the boards. Prevent falling through a rotten board. I'm getting a new deck as I was in the same boat...or deck.

 

[Rob Fridenberg]

"Deck- replace the boards."

I second that. The amount of time fussing with patches, and the resultant splotchy look when stained, won't be worth the few dollars saved. Especially when you have to fix it again next summer. Wood will keep rotting - just like rust on metal!

 

[Richard Coers]

I've never found acrylic paint to be hard at all. It's formulated to stay soft and flexible to handle wood movement. Water is the solvent, so absolutely no idea how it would work at all.

 

[John Kennedy]

Unfortunately (for me) you guys are right. Some boards will be replaced but I have a couple problem areas where the place was constructed over the boards. Bad design and would have to tear off door frames and adjacent good wood. If I can nuke with bleach, harden the areas, fill with Bondo and paint over, may get a decent fix. Have actually used automotive Bondo filler on wood with decent results. I figure if the fix can last for 10 years, will probably outlast me.

Still inspired to test some wood hardener recipes and will share the results of anything that works.

 

[Glenn Lefley]

Unfortunately (for me) you guys are right. Some boards will be replaced but I have a couple problem areas where the place was constructed over the boards. Bad design and would have to tear off door frames and adjacent good wood. If I can nuke with bleach, harden the areas, fill with Bondo and paint over, may get a decent fix. Have actually used automotive Bondo filler on wood with decent results. I figure if the fix can last for 10 years, will probably outlast me.

Still inspired to test some wood hardener recipes and will share the results of anything that works.

This product will do you well. A 2 part product is much better at absorbing and lasting with weather and water.

 

[John Kennedy]

Richard, good point. Don't know how Minwax pulls it off except for maybe an oil miscible concoction that will penetrate better than water. Obviously a lot of engineering put into the product and some reason for the 3 percent methanol inclusion on top of three fourths acetone. Then I guess the structure of the specific acrylic. Minwax hardener is great if it weren't so expensive. Trying to hack into their approach.

 

[John Kennedy]

So much good information being shared. Thank you Glenn.

 

[Bob Sheppard]

John-
Be aware.-there is NO wood filler that is structural. If you have any doubts about the integrity of the board, replace it.
I've used wood hardeners and fillers extensively over my years as a carpenter, but never where they had to be walked on.

 

[John Kennedy]

Absolutely. Nothing of the structural integrity is left no matter how hard the inclusion is. Only doing this approach because it will be in areas not walked upon that would be a nightmare to replace. Easily accessible areas subject to foot traffic get new cedar boards.

Sounds crazy but have done some wood repairs on external wood with the same risk benefit ratio that have stood the test of time (several years at least).
Bondo automotive filler with sections of wire coat hanger inserts, sorta like rebar in concrete. A few long nails thrown in at random to fortify. Only failures noticed in extreme weather flex conditions were some separation around the edges of the repair. Quick fix with latex caulk and a fresh coat of paint.

But like you said, nothing will restore the original strength.

 

[John Kennedy]

Well...

Experiment #2 was a complete failure. I felt Roberts omen over me as I opened the fresh can of acrylic gloss and the wife's bottle of finger nail polish remover.
Water based and the addition of acetone immediately clumped everything together resembling cottage cheese.
Guess I could still use it for festive occasions, holidays, Christmas tree decoration and the like.
On to my next great ideas and will report back.

John