Louis Michaud
LOVES Wooden Canoes
Maybe I'm the last one to find out about this tip...
Removing old tacks without damaging the surrounding wood, plank or rib, gets a lot easier when the wood is wetted out with warm water. The varnish has been stripped beforehand. The brittle wood becomes very supple and elastic. I've seen it absorb a lot of deformation with the withdrawal of a twisted tack and come right back. A lot less broken splinters, chips and craters. To my glass eye, the amount of damage seems to reduced by 80%...![Cool 8-) 8-)](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png)
Best,
Louis Michaud
Removing old tacks without damaging the surrounding wood, plank or rib, gets a lot easier when the wood is wetted out with warm water. The varnish has been stripped beforehand. The brittle wood becomes very supple and elastic. I've seen it absorb a lot of deformation with the withdrawal of a twisted tack and come right back. A lot less broken splinters, chips and craters. To my glass eye, the amount of damage seems to reduced by 80%...
![Cool 8-) 8-)](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png)
Best,
Louis Michaud