Gooey Mess on Redgum Table

[Dommo]

Hi all,
FIL (father-in-law) bought a Murray River Red Gum coffee table approx 5 yrs ago when tripping through Vic/SA. During the dry wether down that way he coated the table with Linseed oil/ thinners and something else that he cant remember what it was (and doesn't have the container anymore). After "several" coats (approx 12 ) and now living back in Hervey Bay (Qld) in the nice humid climate the table is continually weeping a "gooey slime"....

FIL has asked me if i know what to do to clean / rid the goo. I am hoping for some advice.

To date FIL has sought advice from a Big Hardware franchise and has used Deck Clean to coat it and scrape off the residue, he has repeated this 3-4 times. This has worked a little but the piece continues to weep goo.

Any suggestions / thoughts welcome

PS. FIL is ok!! I feel like I should help him

[Claw Hama]

Hmm, I would maybe not put any more liquids on it and just scrape and then sand. The cleaners or whatever maybe becomeing part of the problem. Scrape, sand, leave it out in the sun to draw any thing else out. If you haven't already noticed the common word above is "maybe", If and when it stops oozing I wouldn't use any more oils etc I would then leave it for a few more months or longer if posible and then give it a coat or two of wipe on poly.

Ok, next ..... you should get some varied responses to this one. That was my best guess.
Or maybe some diorea tables crushed and rubbed in

[Dommo]

thanks claw, i will mention all of the above to him.
i especially like the idea of the tablets....

[ubeaut]

Turpentine, copious amounts of and lots of clean dry rag to clean it all off with.

If it's oozing, sanding will only clog lots of of paper. The urpentine should breal down the oil and help dry out the surface. Not sure about leaving it out in the sun as the timber has most likely never been dried and could warp and crack.

Would need to dry out for a few weeks to make sure there's no more ooze and if there is more wiping off with turps and clean dry rags. Leave it to dry out of the direct sun.

When and if, it ever stops oozing I'd be putting a surface coating on it, eg: shellac, polyurethane, etc. Not an oil.

Are you sure it's red gum and not rosewood, some of which is pretty good at doing the oozie thing?

[Claw Hama]

There you go, the good oil from The Boss, bound to be far better advise than from me.

[Dommo]

He is quite certain they sold it too him as red gum.

Thanks for your help and suggestions. He will send photos soon....

What type of polyurethane coating should he use??

Cheers
Dommo