The cedar planking on an old canoe is often very dry. Late in the restoration
process, some folks apply linseed oil to the planking before recanvasing, saying that it adds 'life' back into the wood, and provides water repellency. I've read the counter arguments against this: 1. wood is dead - don't feed it 2. linseed oil provides food for fungus so promotes rot. There have also been posts to these forums from people having difficulty getting old canvas off because filler or paint or resin seeped thru the canvas and stuck solidly to the planking.
This got me to thinking that maybe there's another way.
A solution can be made from paraffin or bees wax in gasoline. I let a jar of each sit at 50 degF to reach saturation, then poured off 100 mls each into clean bottles. After evaporation and vacuum drying, the paraffin weighed 10.2 gms, the beeswax weighed 4.3 gms. (1 pound equals 453 gms) No microbe eats paraffin and almost none eat bees wax. Painting cedar planking with either of these waxes would impart some water repellency to the wood, add some 'life', and largely prevent paint or other adhesives from sticking.
I have painted the red cedar planking on the exterior of two canoe hulls with
paraffin-saturated gasoline (OT 170733 and White 16-48-920). I estimate that it has added 100 gms, so in the vicinity of 1/4 pound, to the final weight of a canoe. When this treatment is done on an 80 degree summer day, the process goes quickly, the paraffin penetrates into the wood, and when dried, the wood really doesn't feel much different than usual - and not waxy. This process does not work as well if done on a 50 degree day: the wax lays on top of the cold wood and does not do a good job of penetration.
You would not want to do much sanding following wax treatment: the sandpaper fills fast!
Dipping brass screws into a wax-saturated solution serves the same purpose as rubbing the screw on a hunk of beeswax.
So I believe painting cedar planking with a wax solution is a good idea, but also
suspect someone has done it before me. Anyone have experience with this? But we won't know how effective wax-treating the planking is for 20 years, when the canvas gets replaced on my canoes. Tom McCloud
process, some folks apply linseed oil to the planking before recanvasing, saying that it adds 'life' back into the wood, and provides water repellency. I've read the counter arguments against this: 1. wood is dead - don't feed it 2. linseed oil provides food for fungus so promotes rot. There have also been posts to these forums from people having difficulty getting old canvas off because filler or paint or resin seeped thru the canvas and stuck solidly to the planking.
This got me to thinking that maybe there's another way.
A solution can be made from paraffin or bees wax in gasoline. I let a jar of each sit at 50 degF to reach saturation, then poured off 100 mls each into clean bottles. After evaporation and vacuum drying, the paraffin weighed 10.2 gms, the beeswax weighed 4.3 gms. (1 pound equals 453 gms) No microbe eats paraffin and almost none eat bees wax. Painting cedar planking with either of these waxes would impart some water repellency to the wood, add some 'life', and largely prevent paint or other adhesives from sticking.
I have painted the red cedar planking on the exterior of two canoe hulls with
paraffin-saturated gasoline (OT 170733 and White 16-48-920). I estimate that it has added 100 gms, so in the vicinity of 1/4 pound, to the final weight of a canoe. When this treatment is done on an 80 degree summer day, the process goes quickly, the paraffin penetrates into the wood, and when dried, the wood really doesn't feel much different than usual - and not waxy. This process does not work as well if done on a 50 degree day: the wax lays on top of the cold wood and does not do a good job of penetration.
You would not want to do much sanding following wax treatment: the sandpaper fills fast!
Dipping brass screws into a wax-saturated solution serves the same purpose as rubbing the screw on a hunk of beeswax.
So I believe painting cedar planking with a wax solution is a good idea, but also
suspect someone has done it before me. Anyone have experience with this? But we won't know how effective wax-treating the planking is for 20 years, when the canvas gets replaced on my canoes. Tom McCloud