I just returned from the second day of the Assoc. for Preservation
Technology International annual conference, this year held right here in
Portland, Maine! I heard no fewer than three different lecturers who said
"linseed--bad, alkyd--good," as a pretreatment for weathered wood
before priming and paint. If you
really love the smell of turps then you could use an alkyd mixed with turps
instead of paint thinner. Turps is quite nasty stuff and probably acts as
poison to the critters and fungus (that's why the sailors like to soak it
into their sales and ropes, just don't burn down the ship!) One person who
mentioned "linseed--bad" was the famous John Lee (just like me without the
"ke") from Philidelphia. John promised to give me the lowdown on the
upcoming replacement for epoxies which are "self-reconstructing molecules
that penetrate deeply into porous materials such as wood, attach themselves
to certian specific structures within the cells of the wood and then combine
to form compounds that restructure the cells to add stability, strength
water-resistance, etc., etc."-- just call me Mister Wizard and hold on to
your hats as I brush up on my kitchen chemistry, barnyard physics and nano
technology.

Also, Duffy mentioned which mildewcides could be added to oil base products
("short-oil" or "long-oil" refering to the length of the molecules) and
acrylic paints, but i didn't get in down in my notes. I'll ask him about it
tomorrow.

Stand by for more from the nexus of preservationeers as we sort it all out
downeast along the coast of Maine....



John
by hammer and hand great works do stand
by pen and thought best words are wrought

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
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