"leaking" spars -- any hope?

[Dennis Rioux]

I made the yard and boom for the boat I am working on back in March from a piece of 8/4 douglas fir. It warmed up enough to start planking so I let them be for a few months. In July I noticed the surface of the wood was splotchy and kind of sticky. The photo doesn’t show it very well -- the splotchy side is toward the right. I figure the wood must still be wet, yes? At that point I tossed them in the storage space above my garage/boatshop where it gets plenty warm thinking that might help. Well, no, of course not. Is there anything I can do short of having to remake them from a properly dried piece of wood? If I try to varnish them will it simply get blown off by the stuff oozing out? It’s not drops of sap like I have seen in some pieces where there were cavities inside the wood, it is more a film that develops on the flatsawn “sides” of the spars. But at the rate it travels to the surface it is effectively an infinite supply, and I am pretty sure this process will go on forever. I’d really appreciate any advice you care to share. Thanks.

http://www.phys.uwosh.edu/rioux/images/wetspar.jpg

Dennis

P.S. That's my "moaning bench" the spar is leaning on -- I thought that it was most appropriate to photograph it there given its condition...

[Bob Smalser]

Sounds like pitch to me. If it cleans with solvent faster than it does with water, it's pitch.

If the spar is still straight after 6 months, then it is either adequately dry or will soon be. Oozing pitch has little to do with how dry the wood is. When the tree bends sufficiently in a storm for the outer sapwood growth rings to separate, the tree fills the resulting cavities with pitch for protection.

It'll continue to bleed til the pitch is gone from that pocket/area. Clean off the pitch with mineral spirits periodically and leave it til last to paint. Those spots will take oil paint OK, once they stop bleeding.

[ 10-02-2005, 06:42 PM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]

[Old Bingey]

It was common in the south to put heart-in longleaf pine spars in the boat green. I did it with an antique schooner. They varnished them with pine tar varnish green and it worked well. The spars checked a little bit and oozed a little tar through the varnish but it did not loosen or anything. There was no problem with warping either and Douglas fir is not all that much different in stability from longleaf. I don't think you have a problem except for the extra weight.

[Jay Greer]

Pitch pockets can be cleaned out with a tooth brush and naphtha. Seal with shellac. Then varnish.
Shellac is the secret ingredient the old duffers used. It does work.

[George Roberts]

It might be worthwhile to se the pitch by heating the wood to 150 degrees or so.