Epoxy onto oil soaked wood ?

STATUE

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I have in the engine bilge deeply oil soaked wood, about 40 mm square.

I want to 'glass over' the whole piece.

How to prepare before epoxying?

I think this needs more than Bilgex.
 

TernVI

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I have in the engine bilge deeply oil soaked wood, about 40 mm square.

I want to 'glass over' the whole piece.

How to prepare before epoxying?

I think this needs more than Bilgex.
To be clear, is that a 40mm sq oil patch on a big board, or a length of 40x40?

If it's a small patch on a large board, it won't matter much if the adhesion is poor locally, if the glass work is sound.
If it's a length of square timber, maybe more of a problem,

If the wood is already wet, I'd use detergents.
If it's dry and I wanted to keep it that way, solvents.
 

ganter

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I have in the engine bilge deeply oil soaked wood, about 40 mm square.

I want to 'glass over' the whole piece.

How to prepare before epoxying?

I think this needs more than Bilgex.

Replace the wood first - forget epoxying - it won't adhere at all well to an oil contamonated surface. Your glass work will NOT be sound - a blister will open between the oiled wood and the mat and it will end up a bloody mess.
 

Fantasie 19

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Make a mould of the piece of wood, and then lay up your glass separately with a good border of glass round the edge - then you just fit it over the top of the existing wood and glass the edges of the border.. there's no direct seal, but it is glassed in??
 

jwilson

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Is there any reason the glass really has to bond to the wood, or are you just sealing the wood in for life? Boatbuilders seal all sorts of rubbish wood in, sometimes in Ye Olden Days even cardboard tubes got glassed in as stringer formers - not exactly a high quality structural material.....

If you really need to bond to the wood, you need new wood.
 

Refueler

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40mm square ? Pretty small then.

If its easily accessible, I would spray Oven Cleaner on it and around it ... oven cleaner is one of the best supermarket products that lifts crud / grease / oil from GRP and wood ..... BUT needs wiping off and good fresh water wash after to remove any residue.

It will not lift all the oil out of the wood but enough of the surface and maybe a little way in - you'll have a key for the epoxy.

The trick now is to glass not only the wood - but the cleaned area around the wood to encapsulate the wood ...

For those interested ... it was actually my non-boaty english ex who suggested Oven Cleaner to me when I wanted to change the Echo Sounder tube in my previous boat. The castor had stained and run from the leaking tube. I tried all the recc'd boaty products and still that castor was there. Out came the Oven Cleaner ... sprayed .. let it foam up ... wiped off after a few minutes ... WOW it was as if castor had never been there at all ... the GRP was pristine ... gave it a good FW rinse .. dried it off ... glassed new tube in and years later still good as new.
Its now my goto for cleaning oily bilges etc. BUT MUST BE WASHED OFF after.
 

TernVI

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Oven cleaner is a good call.
I think the issue can be not just the epoxy not sticking to the oil, but also the oil and epoxing reacting to make a snotty mess.
 

STATUE

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40mm square ? Pretty small then.

If its easily accessible, I would spray Oven Cleaner on it and around it ... oven cleaner is one of the best supermarket products that lifts crud / grease / oil from GRP and wood ..... BUT needs wiping off and good fresh water wash after to remove any residue.

It will not lift all the oil out of the wood but enough of the surface and maybe a little way in - you'll have a key for the epoxy.

The trick now is to glass not only the wood - but the cleaned area around the wood to encapsulate the wood ...

For those interested ... it was actually my non-boaty english ex who suggested Oven Cleaner to me when I wanted to change the Echo Sounder tube in my previous boat. The castor had stained and run from the leaking tube. I tried all the recc'd boaty products and still that castor was there. Out came the Oven Cleaner ... sprayed .. let it foam up ... wiped off after a few minutes ... WOW it was as if castor had never been there at all ... the GRP was pristine ... gave it a good FW rinse .. dried it off ... glassed new tube in and years later still good as new.
Its now my goto for cleaning oily bilges etc. BUT MUST BE WASHED OFF after.
Thank you everyone, now soaking trial wood in old oil and pestering wife for her oven cleaner !
 
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