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Does anyone have any experience or suggestions about whitewashing or pickling the camper shell before epoxying? I’m playing with the idea of trying to get a lighter overall color while still being able to see the wood grain.
Thanks!
Jason
As a follow up to this question, is there another type of wood flour or other alternative that is much lighter than the MAS flour included in the kit? If I’m able to bleach the exterior, I’d like to keep the seams as light as possible as well. I imagine Cell-o-fill won’t get stiff enough for this purpose but perhaps it would work?
I dyed mine darker using Behlen Solar Lux non grain raising dye. If you can find a dye product you like it should work. Just remember dyes are different than stains. Dyes penetrate into the wood where as stains sit on top and would not work well with epoxy.
cel-o-fill is bright white I recommend mixing part cello part wood flour to obtain a filler that closely matches a sample dyed piece. I doubt you would sacrifice much mechanical strength with a mixture of the two.
(first post didn’t get saved so I’m posting again without photos then will add those later)
I’d like to share my initial results from testing a two part bleach process on the CLC plywood. I’ll go into more detail in the next few days but please ask if you have questions – that will help me flesh out a more comprehensive write-up. I used a 27% hydrogen peroxide solution and 8% sodium hydroxide solution based roughly on the process documented at http://www.airbrushingwood.com/uploads/6/4/0/3/64033319/making_yor_own_wood_bleach.pdf
I wanted to determine if the bleaching process would damage the plywood to the extent that it might cause problems like delamination and determine the right combination of solutions and time to achieve the bleaching effect I am aiming for.
The “E” tests were to test for potential damage were extreme bleaching in which I left the bleach on the wood for between 1 hour and 4 hours. Test E4 is the same exposure as E3 but includes a section with cured epoxy which seemed unaffected by the bleaching process. The second “C” tests were for the target color in which I left the bleach on for between 5 minutes and 1 hour. I applied the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) first then the sodium hydroxide (NaOH). For each test I let the solution soak in for a period of time before applying the next then I rinsed with water, then with vinegar and water solution (1:2 mix), then water again. The number of minutes for each solution is written on the tape on each test piece in the attached images.
In general, I don’t think the 4 hours of bleaching has compromised the strength of the plywood because it didn’t seem to penetrate very deeply and the test pieces showed no sign of delamination. But I do think the exposed edges might be a concern. The bleach wicked more deeply into the edges, especially on the edges where the grain pores were exposed (transverse section).
I just applied epoxy to the samples and will share those images soon. I can already tell that the epoxy will bring out more of the original color so the bleaching effect won’t be quite as dramatic as the un-epoxied tests might suggest but it will still be quite light compared to the unbleached wood.
No turning back now. I bleached panels 2 and 3 today with the intent of leaving 1 and 4 the natural color. I’m really happy with the results and am looking forward to seeing how it all turns out once I glass it.
(re-posting because original with images didn’t post, maybe this will work – images below)
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