Wood preservatives

[Tinker]

Our daughter has been visiting us for a week.  She is in real estate biz in D.C. area and she was telling me about a bedbug problem with a house she is selling.  I had looked up about Cedar Oil as a pesticide several years ago and so I went back to the internet for renewal research.  Along the way, I came across another cedar oil product used for preserving wood.

Petri Wood can be either sprayed, or brushed, onto clean wood and it drives all moisture out of the wood --- forever --- lifetime garanteed.

The site says you can spray on outdoor furniture and decks and no water will get into the wood.  If you treat the wood during dry season, spray with water first and wipe off excess; and then treat with Petri Wood right away.  The whole explanation of use and protection seems almost too good to be true.

Has anybody here had experience with this product?  I have several other questions, but will wait to see what comes of this first question.

Tinker

 

[PaulMarcel]

I'm interested in this, too.  I found that product a couple years ago and bought a bottle to fix some water damage on a soffit (in Arizona? man, you gotta try...)  I ended up not using it since a different solution was better.

Since then, I use CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealant) from Smith's to waterproof wood for counters.  Works really well.  Fumes will pickle your brain in a heartbeat (excellent way to see if your mask has any leaks!)  While it works well (2 coats to waterproof), I'd prefer something less 'chemical'.

CPES is expensive; Petri Wood looks like a reasonable alternative.

 

[Tinker]

I've had two experiences with epoxy.  I knew the three developers of epoxy way back when.  One was my brother's father-in-law and one was an old farmer friend of mine.  They gave me fabric and he two part goo to ut on the hull of a boat I was building. When i put the boat in the wter, i got to showing off (wimmin of course).  I slammed head on into a dock at full speed, flew over the front of the boat and about thirty feet across wet planking.  Luckily, the direction of flight was perpendicular to the planking.  I was ok and the boat never even felt the effects. 

The other use was to put a skim surface over a dairy floor.  I had to not only put the epoxy on the open surface, but I had to crawl on my stomach all around under all of the homogenizing, steam washing, bottling and all other milk handling equipment.  By the time i finished that job, i had a buzz on that was worse than i ever got from any bottle of booz. 

The only time i will use epoxy now is on small patch jobs where I use a spreader not much bigger than a toothpick.

That Petri-wood sounds great.  like too good to be true.  I would like to know if anybody has really used it.  On another forum, somebody told me it can do a good job of stabilizing wood against expansion and shrinkage. 
Tinker

 

[Tinker]

That CPES sounds like something they use on thin slabs of marble to strengthen it.  i used to do marble facings of fireplaces and marble hearths.  They used some kind of epoxy to work between the marbeling grain of the stone.  Otherwise, it would fall apart just picking it up.

Tinker

 

[PaulMarcel]

I've had two experiences with epoxy.  I knew the three developers of epoxy way back when.  One was my brother's father-in-law and one was an old farmer friend of mine.  They gave me fabric and he two part goo to ut on the hull of a boat I was building. When i put the boat in the wter, i got to showing off (wimmin of course).  I slammed head on into a dock at full speed, flew over the front of the boat and about thirty feet across wet planking.  Luckily, the direction of flight was perpendicular to the planking.  I was ok and the boat never even felt the effects. 

The other use was to put a skim surface over a dairy floor.  I had to not only put the epoxy on the open surface, but I had to crawl on my stomach all around under all of the homogenizing, steam washing, bottling and all other milk handling equipment.  By the time i finished that job, i had a buzz on that was worse than i ever got from any bottle of booz. 

The only time i will use epoxy now is on small patch jobs where I use a spreader not much bigger than a toothpick.

That Petri-wood sounds great.  like too good to be true.  I would like to know if anybody has really used it.  On another forum, somebody told me it can do a good job of stabilizing wood against expansion and shrinkage. 
Tinker

I have a great mental image of that boating incident

Waterproofing the wood stops the moisture-based expansion and contraction.  Thermal change is likely reduced, but isn't a big deal compared to moisture changes.  I made a solid-wood tabletop of 4 mitered pieces.  Miters were 10-11" long.  That table should have busted apart 2 seasons ago.  Not a change... because I soaked it in CPES knowing it would mitigate the moisture changes.  Still looks nearly perfect as it was a gift for my mom.  'Nearly' perfect because I assure you thermal (big thermal!) changes aren't negligible!  I only had warm-weather formula CPES so cure was 24 hours for each coat.  I didn't have time so I created a tent and put a space heater in it; thermostat set to 80.  Worked great for the first coat.  Second coat... I walk into the garage in the morning "hmm, doesn't feel as cold as it should in here "  The thermostat gave up and it just ran full-bore all night.  The tent was hot to the touch; table top surface untouchable.  It opened the miters slightly; i know what it looked like before so I know it isn't as totally tight as it was, but it still looks pretty good.

If I ever get another piece of figured Eucalyptus like that again, I'll remake the table for her and give away the other one  Was a nice one day build; 2-day cure  Moral? start earlier.