PADAUK – I have read that this wood will discolor with exposure to air and sun light. I am making a tail vice and wanted to use a piece of padauk for the outside of the vice.
Does any one know of how to keep the deep red color or should I use something else?
thank you
Joe Clark
Replies
Joe,
The color will likely turn a rich brownish red. I think it's quite nice, but to each his/her own. If this were a piece of furniture I'd suggest a light-inhibiting finish such as a urethane or spar varish, but since it's a bench I wouldn't use that. Accept the color change or use a different wood. Besides, with all the abuse a bench gets you'll hardly notice it in no time flat!
Best,
Seth
and the is no fail . . . there is only
make."
John Cage
Edited 5/24/2002 10:26:31 AM ET by Seth Frankel
the deep red color is what you will end up with as long as you put some sort of a finish on. when you first cut it the wood is an orange color, and after a while it will get darker and darker. some of the padauk on my lumber rack is a nice bright red, while some is a reddish brown color, and they have all been sitting there for about the same time. just throw some oil on it and it will look great. btw, be careful with the dust, it stains clothes and is nasty stuff to breath.
I have found that oil finishes speed up the colour change a lot, as does exposure to sunlight. I have a hall mirror I made about seven years ago and finished with nitrocellulose lacquer. It never recieves direct sunlight and the colour is still almost as red as it originally was.
I've been working Padauk for about 6 months straight now and give the same warning about staining. It stain everything. Your hand, clothes, tools, floors, walls. It's also one of those woods that is very bad to breathe. But you were asking about color weren't you. I've finished this species a couple of different ways. One is to apply a coat of tung oil and top coat with a nitro urethane lacquer. Tough finish. The other is a 50/50 mixture of tung oil and varnish. Without a doubt the oil finish will darken much quicker. One dining table I made had a oil finish on the base and lacquer on the top. I saw the table about three months later and the base was considerably darker. Of course a lacquer finish in no good for a work bench so I'll agree with the rest by saying live with the darkening or use a different species.
Mr. Clark: I have just finished a bench with some Padauk in it. A friend who works at Lee Valley said that to keep the Padauk from turning brownish, that an oil with a UV protector would help.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=45090&category=1,190,42942,45209&ccurrency=1&SID=
(B. The clear Marine Teakwood finish has UV inhibitors and is suitable for above waterline marine applications.)
My bench is currently in my basement and receives very little sunlight so it still looks very red. But as soon as my garage is finished I will be moving the bench into the garage where it will get a lot of sunlight. I did not know about the UV protection until after I had already applied Watco Oil. I can't say if it would work.
This is the first time that I have worked with Padauk and have found that the wood that is on the face of the bench is rather soft in comparison to the wood that lines the rear tool tray. You could hit the tray piece with a hammer and not dent it, but the face wood is much softer and more "chippy". If I were making the bench today, I would look for the very hard wood. Maybe its the difference between heartwood and sapwood?
I am very pleased with the look of the Padauk and Maple.
Take care and the LORD bless
daleM
Many years ago I was building some custom maple chairs that had Padauk back slats that were to match an existing piece of a client. I purchased some rough Padauk that was a good color match and when I start to cut the slats I discovered that the wood was bright orange inside. I cut all the slats to size, put them outside in the sun and rotated them every 15 to 20 minutes. In an hour and a half they had turned the rich dark red that I was looking for, and they have stayed that color.
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