Oil Soaked Wood

Anyone know how to get castor oil out of wood?

Thanks,
Giffy

I have used cat litter with great success. If you can somehow manage to get the soaked area buried in the cat litter and leave it for a few days, it will take the oil out. I do suggest using the litter before the cat does.

I have also heard of folks using some type of spot or stain remover. Have never tried it and I can't remember the name of the stuff.

>I have used cat litter with great success. If you can
>somehow manage to get the soaked area buried in the cat
>litter and leave it for a few days, it will take the oil
>out. I do suggest using the litter before the cat does.
>
>I have also heard of folks using some type of spot or stain
>remover. Have never tried it and I can't remember the name
>of the stuff.
>
>Bill Hodges

K2R works well. Buy it in a spray can.

On the cat litter stuff, I hope you don't do this in the litter box. I can see the next question to be posted already. "What do I do when the cat...

In addition to the K2R. it helps allot to heat the wood while the K2R is on it. A $kote heat gun or hair dryer works well. The heat softens the oil and causes it to flow more easily. The heat also helps expulsion of the oil as it and the air in the wood expand and it forces the oil out the end grain of the wood.

>K2R works well. Buy it in a spray can.

Goddard Dry Cleaning Solution spray seems to be a K2R copy. It can be had at Tom Thumb.

All purpose oil sucker stuff...

The KR2 works great...but can be expensive. It is a fast evaporating solvent with powder. The solvent evaporates so quickly it draws the oil up and the powder grabs it. Then you just dust the powder off. It can take a lot of applications on a badly saturated area. I used 2 spray cans on a 60 size built up fuse engine cowl & compartment. The wood was like a wet sponge before the treatment and dry as new after.

Arm & Hammer baking soda. Cheap. Currell

Try this: Make up a mixture of talcum powder and alcohol - methanol or isopropyl (straight), to the consistency of a thick milkshake. Brush it onto the wood as thick as possible, then let all the alcohol evaporate. Then brush or blow off the powder. Repeat if necessary - it really pulls the oil out of the wood.
Bob Z

I use Diatomaceous Earth. It's used for swimming pool filters at about $2.00 per pound. It's also know as Fuller's earth. Absorbs a tremendous amount of oil.

Really effective if you mix it with rubbing alchohol to form a paste.
Spread it on and let it sit over night. Dust it off and repeat as necessary.

Does anyone know what the white powder is that's in K2R. I'm told its baking soda (or baking powder). But I haven't had a lot of sucess using baking soda. We can't get K2R California. Too many green weenies running the state gov. (My ST 60 didn't pass smog check last year.)
But the way, kitty litter and that oil abdorbant for driveways is diatmacious earth. I'll give that a try next, along with a little heat.

I tried several of the methods mentioned here and even tried Brake cleaner with limited success. The best method I have found to remove oil from balsa was discovered quite by accident. If you have a Monocoat iron or have access to one give this a try. Place paper towel on the bare wood surface of the oil soaked area of the model and then place the iron (on high heat) on top of the paper towel. Iron the paper towel like you would if you were trying to apply iron on film. The oil is pulled out of the balsa and into the paper towel. I repeated the process a couple of times on the nose of my model and this method really worked well for me. I refinished the model over a year ago with iron on film and have had no problems with the film pulling away from the areas that were previously oil soaked.

I have tried at leat three of the listed methods with varying success. However, here it comes, there are times when nothing works. So be ready in a few cases, to just cut out the oil soaked wood and replace it with new wood. If strength is not an issue, no problem. Just so you are aware that these methods do work, there is always that one time. Plan accordingly. Don't be afraid to just walk away from it for a day if it sems frustrating, and it will. Don't you love caveats??

I use a "hybrid" of what has been posted here:

1 - Heat the oily wood.

2 - When the oil shows up apply a mix of alchool and talc, more on the "thick" side (like a very thci paint)

3 - Wait for an hour, and just brush the oily talc)the alchool will be gone by then.

4 - Repeat untill no more oil shows up when heat is applied.

5 - At this point, use thinner. If the glue used was Ambroid try to keep away from the glued parts. Thinner also "forces" the castor to show his face. sprinkle w/talc, wait for 3 minutes and brush the talc away.

I've done it this way and was able to get rid of 90% of the castor.]

Not perfect, but good enough to get the balsa in a "useable" condition again.

In Christ,

I hope this is not a stupid question but does it make a difference whether the oil is castor or synthetic when you select a process?

Also, I have heard of but haven't tried corn starch.

George, I don't think it matters if synthetic or castor. The 60 size ship I used the KR2 on was purchased used from a guy who flew with Omega fuel (50% syn & 50% castor). The only reason I didn't cut the nose off was I thought it might be too oily to take glue again...it was wet.