Have I Hosed-Up the Cedar?

[LeftyTom]

Saturday, I was gluing up the cabinet I am building for a jewelry armoire. I used Jorgensen bar clamps, with plastic clamp pads. When I looked at it this evening, I could see dark spots where the clamp pads were. The spots are dark, like wet cedar. In the group's experience, will these fade away? Will I be able to lightly sand them away when prepping for finish (Waterlox Finish & Sealer), or am I stuck? :dontknow:

 

[Dutchman]

I think they should fade after some light sanding.

 

[jeff...]

Interesting that you would get black marks from plastic, it sounds like a little steel made contact with the cedar or your glue has mold growth in it? What is the moisture content of the cedar you are working with? If it's wet it will cause rusting of steel. try to avoid raw steel and use hot dipped or stainless steel fasteners when working with corrosive wood like cedar, oak and hickory.

Couple of things you can do to get rid of the "spots".

* Sand them away - although I doubt you get it all and will be noticeable.

* Assuming Eastern Red Cedar - Take an acid brush or small artist brush dipped in half bleach / water and dab (don't soak) the spots. This will turn the wood white and should remove the rust spots. You can dab a little more and make a "natural looking" pattern with the bleach water to try and blend it in to the surrounding wood. If the spots are big you may want to try a little Burnt Sienna alcohol based dye to give the bleached white spots a little red color. This is art work so just go with it and experiment on a piece of scrap first . To naturalize the bleach water mix - let it dry, rinse well with DNA and towel dry. Sand and finish as you normally would.

Have you hosed your cedar? No way - it's an opportunity to let your creativity flow and try some new stuff - be one with the wood

Good luck...

 

[LeftyTom]

I am using dowels to fasten things together. Some of the spots are definitely not in the area where glue would have bled mold thru. The spots are a dark red, a shade like finished cedar.

 

[Travis Porter]

Sap maybe? I read that the plastic clamp pads from jorgenson can seep a bit of oil when you torque them really hard. Hopefully, a little sanding will take care of it.

 

[jeff...]

Cool - if it is oil, a little DNA will take care of it and is a lot less intrusive to the wood than something like bleach.

 

[Mike Davis]

Could be that the wood fibers are compressed causing a bit of the natural oil to come to the surface. Light sanding should help if not then rub with a damp cloth to raise the grain then sand when dry.

 

[LeftyTom]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I think Mike may have the answer. A few of those marks, where I had moved a clamp or two, were gone this morning.

I am trying to post pics of the spots.

 

[jlwest]

I have had a similiar problem with the orange rubber pads and I think something comes out of the rubber when clamped. I trew them away and went back to wood blocks to protect from the metal clamps.

Jeff