pine frame excreting sap

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SusanG

SusanG

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Jul 1, 1999
Posts
2,362
Loc
Holland, PA, USA
I was just about to join a beautiful pine frame and noticed that my hands had sticky stuff all over them. Then I realized that there are little beads of sap coming out of the rabbet. Has this ever happened to you? I was going to seal the rabbet with frame sealing tape since it is an oil painting, but I guess that I better get a new one and not take any chances.

Susan
 
Hi Susan,

It's always been something I don't like about pine mouldings. Most pine will do it if it's hung in a warm place, even if it was o.k. while you were framing it.

Unfortunately a lot of mouldings are made from pine and we all need to use at least some of them. The easy answer is to tape up the whole package of glass, mount(mat), back mount and backing, before fitting it in the framing.

Pine is also prone to distorting over time. You get what you pay for!
 
Start over, give it back to your supplier, have them replace it.

John
 
The chop was $143, not on the low end for a 22x28. I never had this happen to me, so I wasn't sure how common it was with pine. The rabbet appears to be sealed, but it is seeping out in little dots here and there.

I am sure that the supplier will take it back.

Susan
 
I think the price puts it into a different class to what I was thinking. At that sort of price, it's probably laminated to prevent distortion and properly seasoned too!

I suspect you were just unlucky with the piece you got.
 
I wouldn't say that the moulding is "properly seasoned" at all!! In fact, it is kiln dried (read force dried) and the sap which is very prevalent in pine had no time to properly set up or harden as it would if the moulding material was air dried on a stack with stickers between the boards. That takes months instead of hours and the moulding manufacturers don't want to wait that long for something to happen naturally. They aren't making any bucks while that stack of wood is lying out there in the warehouse air drying over a period of months!

I am quite sure that the supplier would take the chop back and do another one for you if you have the time to do the exchange. Most times we are under the gun to finish the framing for the customer by a deadline date and that just negates any extra time to send back faulty moulding and get it exchanged for something that will work for you.
 
Pine does that. Get a new chop, but be warned: "Pine does that".

Stick to cars Tom, Kiln drying, or air drying has nothing to do with it. I've got some chunks off the USS Constitution. Original spar material... it is still weeping pitch pockets about 1" into the block. That is 200 years of "properly seasoned" wood..... or did you have something else in mind, because the interior cracks the meter at a solid 4 percent moisture, and that is considered bone dry.
 
Properly kiln-dried pine will go through a process at the end of the drying cycle to set the pitch. It's a short, high temperature phase that cooks and hardens it. However, even pine that has gone through the proper process is cannot be guaranteed to be free of weepy pitch. Wood is a natural product with many variables - all we can do is try to account for as many of them as possible. The occasional piece of wood with an unusual amount or makeup of pitch will likely fall outside the parameters set up by, yes, a kiln operator who is trying to make money.
 
You better stick to wood David!!:o

Oh wait, you do wood, hmmm, are you trying to imply that there are exceptions that can be taken into account when making a broad statement that is meant to educate someone who is not well versed in the processes???? I forgot that Baer probably invented the kiln drying process and met all the pioneers of that field in his travels!!:D

Well, I have no intention of bucking the all around expert of everything in the Universe on this one. I will keep my opinions to myself and let those who wish do what they want. Never let it be said that I know everything there is to know about anything!! That is why I put up with some of the others here, to learn more about what I am doing now.
 
FramerDave said:
Tom, the lesson to be learned here is that you should not build frames out of 200 year old wood salvaged from ships. I'm shocked that you didn't know that. Shocked, I say.
Click to expand...

Yeah Dave, I heard that "pitch" before!! I feel like a "sap" for not recognizing that very obvious fact of woodworking! But I don't intend to "pine" away the rest of the day worrying about it. I'll just chalk it up as being "spar" for the game!!;):thumbsup:
 
Aw c'mon Deb, why try to "needle" me??? I already know your "bark" is worse than your bite!!

OH!! I am on a ROLL!! I may "branch" out and set my "roots" in comedy next!
 
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