M/meters and chemicals.

[TrollSpiel]

2 part post,,

 

Moisture meters and bug/preservation treatments.

 

Just a review on a product. I bought the Stanley moisture meter today ( and took it back within 2 hours ). Total kak. Weighed against the readings of my Doser Messtelhnik meter, I may as well have used a bar of chocolate to get a moisture reading. Couldn't get a reading above 17% on timber thats only been in a kiln 2 weeks. If you buy one, buy it from B&Q, then you can take it back again for a refund!

 

Wykabor -

 

Working with a rep from Sovereign Chemicals, on a house restoration that needs lots of treatments; he cocked an eyebrow at me when I said I'm using Boron based products for treating timber before kilning. The man seems to know his science, so if anyone else is looking for an alternative ( im not that impressed with wykabors 'mould retardant properties' ) to boron products for mould/insecticide, look at

 

SOVAQ standard, FLX. I will be on the next kiln-ful.

 

(the offending kak)

[Big J]

I'm interested to know why the chap you met had reservations regarding Wykabor?

 

Been using it since my second kiln now and it consistently produces clean and mould free boards.

 

Moisture meters are one of those things that it's worth spending money on. I have a Delmhorst meter with hammer probes and it seems to be very accurate.

 

Jonathan

[TrollSpiel]

Well Jonathan,

 

He's right in that most people are steering away from boron products - environmentally they're the pits, and then there's the health issues; least of all the nerve damage.. I still have 2.5kg of the wykabor but will switch to their products for the next kiln. I've been using a lot of their gear on a current job, they came out and supplied the entire job; timber treatments, tanking products, plaster finishes and I'm pretty impressed with all their gear, so I will use the Sovaq on the next kiln..

 

The MM... aye, that German one I have is a pricey enough unit, but doesn't measure above 20% and I wanted to watch it gradually go down, in order to better my kilning techniques, but really not worth buying those toy meters.

[Big J]

I'm certainly intrigued to see if Sovaq is as effective as the Wykabor. I was aware of the fact that Boron is environmentally dubious, but at the same time not aware of any alternatives. Final presentation of the timber is quite important to me, and I just don't want to see any evidence of mould growth on my boards.

 

I think that I will give the Sovaq a go - £67 for 25 litres is a fair bit, but still reasonable when you consider that would most likely treat around 500 cubic foot.

 

Regarding MM, I think mine does up to 40%, which is quite useful. The hammer probes are good too as it's the only way to test the MC in the middle of a 3 inch board without cutting it. Good for testing moisture gradient too as you can inch it in testing as you go.

 

Jonathan

[Big J]

Spent a few minutes googling borates, and the consensus seems to be that they are mostly harmless. I do remember reading a while back about them being in some respects harmful, but cannot find any literature to support this just now. Can you please post info Matt?

[TrollSpiel]

J... think I got a price of 30£ per litre (=25L) but then I'm buying a lot of gear from them. I paid the same )60( for 5kg of wykabor.

 

regards info... like you, i googled everything, found opinions from the basic to the alarmist nutters - and it would seem that people just say whatever suits them nowadays.

 

The Soverign tech man didn't knock wykabor as a product, he asked me what i use. I said Boron based, and he gave me a bunch of reasons why I really probably shouldn't. Sensible chap, and on the strength of that alone, I will be trying their sovaq. Company is good, you can call em up and talk science to their tech team.

[agg221]

I rate Sovereign - had things from them before which have worked well, e.g. they're the only people I know who supply a vapour permeable damp proofing additive for plaster, so you can use it with lime mortar.

 

Having had a look at the MSDS, Sovaq may work well for kiln drying. It's designed to kill latent fungi, so should be persistent for the duration of the cycle. What it won't do is protect long-term in the way that borates do. It's gradually biodegradable, which from an environmental perspective is why it scores over borates, but from a practical perspective it's less effective as a long term preservative.

 

Alec