Experiment for the day: Testing waterproofness of a cheese glue finish

[mmcnealy]

Lately I've been playing around with a period cheese glue in some woodworking projects. So far it is working great, and I love how nicely it sets up and how strong it is.

I also noticed how it changed the color of the wood, even when I wiped it off. So I asked myself, "Could it be used as a finish?"

Here are two pieces of Poplar wood.
The piece on the left has been coated twice in food grade Flaxseed oil. The oil was heated to 200 degrees F in my microwave, and the first coat was applied while the oil was very hot. I left it to cool for 5 mins, wiped the surface, and applied a second coat. It was left to sit in my coolish garage for 24 hours.

The piece on the right was given a medium coat of cheese glue and left to cure for 24 hours. I then lightly sanded it with a piece of 120 sandpaper.

To conduct this waterproof test, I put a large sized water drop on each piece of wood and left it to sit for one hour. You can see the water drops in this picture, I left the spoon in for size comparison.


After an hour, I wiped the water drops off and let the wood dry for another hour, to see if any permanent mark was left. Here is a picture of the wood, after the water drop test and having a chance to dry. As you can see, there are no permanent marks left on either surface. I expected that the flaxseed oil finish would be waterproof, but had no idea that the cheese glue finish would be.


Any other tests I should run on these two pieces?

Comments

[zihuatanejo.livejournal.com]

Huh. Neat! I've read about cheese glue in panel painting processes, too, and have been wanting to play with it.

BTW, hi! My SCA name is Sunneva, real name is Jenny. I was in your hat class at University and was intrigued by your scholarship.

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

Hi! I just looked at your Flickr account and remembered you. I've friended you. ;)

The cheese glue is super simple to make and use, its just cottage cheese and pickling lime. I've just been using it in woodworking projects instead of commercial wood glue.

[ornerie.livejournal.com]

try hot water and/or steam...
try an acid (lemon juice, maybe?)
try a base (soapy water, or baking soda)

chemistry is fun! :)

[gailsedotes.livejournal.com]

red wine
india ink
those are the buggers!

[merastra.livejournal.com]

When you're done with the other tests, leave both in the shower for a month in a place that doesn't drain well.

[jljonsn.livejournal.com]

Does it get sticky or rub off after being wet for a while?

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

It gets slightly tacky, but it didn't budge after being wiped and dried. Of course I didn't scrub it hard or with anything abrasive either.

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

Sorry, after the lemon juice, red wine test, it got tacky, but not after the water test.