Mold - a common Texas problem

We are having a serious issue with mold on our tiki work. Is there a quicker way to dry out the tiki's without waiting a lifetime? Any ways to protect the wood while carving so it doesn't mold in the process???

[ Edited by: Neck Down Knucklehead 2009-03-29 11:04 ]

[ Edited by: Neck Down Knucklehead 2009-03-29 11:05 ]

You can spray the moldy areas with bleach/water mix and dry out the carving by putting a fan on it. Careful, drying too fast and it will crack on you.

what type of mold are you running into? if i remember right about a 10 to 15% solution of bleach water should kill the mold you have on any of the pieces of wood. leave it on for 10 minutes (time to soak in) and the scrub it with a brush and leave it. should do the trick. if not just put it in the sun and bake the shiat out of it. i know it cooled off here but we should be back into the 80's by tuesday. good luck.

bd

As long as you wait two years from "cut down to carve" there shouldn't be a problem. :)

2 years?....we can barely go 2 weeks without rain here...

The kind of mold? thats a question i can't answer......uhh "the green and fuzzy kind?"

I'm willing to try anything tho, so i'll try the bleach solution.

Carving wood anywhere near the Gulf Coast is going to result in Mold. The good thing is that the diluted chlorine should fix your problem. I'm guessing that your carving Sable/Cabbage Palms - Keeping the logs elevated and dry will help them dry. The longer you let them cure the less mold you will get (maybe 6 months). With the amount of Humidity and Rain you have in Houston they may never fully dry out. I have the same problem here in South Florida. Just keep carving the fresh logs and get used the fuzzy stuff. PS. you may experience Palm Rot as well. Thats when the outside of the log dries faster than the inside and traps the moisture (especially in the larger logs. After a while the inside of the log will become spongy or stringy. Good luck and post pictures.

the bleach solution will definitely kill the green and fuzzy stuff. you don't have to keep them completely dry but at least have something over them as a cover and elevate them. i think that my logs developed the dry rot aloha speaks of. the outside looks great but the inside is all stringy and mushy, then again they seemed that way when i first harvested them. good luck with the logs.

bd

this might be of interest when I use too do fiberglass on jet ski,s too dry up the repair I would use rubbing Alcahol worked preaty good . Just a thought

I haven't had too big a problem down here with mold. But I haven't carved palm either - if that's what you have.

I currently have a big pine log that has some mold on it. I plan to just scrape it off and I expect it to dry out with no problems once I start carving it.

Another time I locked some pecan in the back of my truck bed, which has a hardtop cover on it. After a month of carrying it around back there it had mold and fungus and dry rot! :(

I sprayed it with Jomax and let it dry, then started carving. Some of the mold came back but I eventually carved it all out and it dried just fine.

I've stayed away from the sago palms mainly because I heard at one time they were like the queen palms and not that easy to carve.

These two were done for a family friend. The guy is an "old, dirty, harley man" and wanted two: one with a schlong so big that it scared people away and another with big ol' boobies.

You can see though, that even after 4-5 months of drying, carving, and staining.....mold grew under the stain.

yet doing a mask or something of the same size, its not a problem.

[ Edited by: Neck Down Knucklehead 2009-03-30 18:47 ]

Alcohol is good for drying anything fibrous however, it can cause the wood to warp or bend. (learned that building models in architecture classes)

Your stuff looks great mold or not.

[ Edited by: drasticwagon 2009-03-30 18:53 ]

Great stuff.

any idea what kind of mix ratio with the water and bleach? Can too much hurt it?

i've always used a 10-15% solution. when i helped out during the ike clean up we were using a heavier concentration ( i think about 30-40% ) but we were using respirators because of the fumes. just do it outdoors or a very well ventilated place and DO NOT mix bleach and ammonia. rather toxic. good luck.

bd