Butternut - Grease spot under clamp pads

Dan C · #1 03-18-2007, 10:09 PM

I glued up two pieces of butternut a couple of days ago, and clamped them together while the glue dried with four screw clamps. I took the clamps off today, and noticed a curious thing. Under each of the clamp pads, where the clamps had applied great pressure to the wood for 2 days, there was what looked like a grease spot on the wood - as if a small piece of butter had melted and soaked into the wood there.

So, I was wondering, is this where the wood gets its name? From the grease-like oil in the wood? Has anyone heard of this or experienced this before?

Dan C.

slivers&dust · #2 03-18-2007, 11:38 PM

I’ve only carved Butternut once and have never glued any up but I wonder if the spots came from the clamp pads rather then the wood itself??
I’ve put clamps on granite and placed a piece of rubber sandblast resist between the clamp and stone as a pad and it left a spot like you are describing. I think because the resist is maybe a Petroleum based product…I think…

squbrigg · #3 03-19-2007, 07:51 AM

I've glued a lot of Butternut and never experienced that, may be the clamps you were using?

Bob

AlArchie · #4 03-19-2007, 08:24 AM

Here's just a guess, but if those were NEW cast iron "C" clamps, it may have been residue from the preservative they put on the cast to keep it from rusting. I don't know what it's called now, but it used to be that cosmoline stuff the engine manufacturers spray on their cast blocks and cranks. It's a thin waxy material, pretty insidious to remove and it will stain wood, untill it's cleaned off the clamps. When using these clamps I always use a piar of thin shims between the clamps and the work.

Al

mark yundt · #5 03-19-2007, 09:54 AM

I too think it's from the clamps,, on various types of wood ,,it has shown up as black paint looking spots on some pieces I've done,,,put a scrap piece of wood under the pads as you clamp up,,no more problem,,, also be sure the pads are clean,,no glue or any type of residue on them..

Dan C · #6 03-19-2007, 06:32 PM

Thanks all!

This was really just a curious thing, and not a problem, as I will be carving this wood away.

These were the clamps that have the clamping mechanisms on a long steel rod. The one clamp is stationary on the end of the rod and the other moves up and down the rod and has the screw mechanism on it that applies pressure. The pads are semi-hard plastic pads. The clamps have been used a lot, and I keep them clean, and away from oil. I could understand how one pad might have gotten something on it, but its hard to figure all eight pads (two on each of the 4 pads).

Anyway, thanks for your feedback! I have 2 more 4" x 4" x 37" pieces that I will be cutting up and possibly glueing at some point in the future, and when I do, I'll put some clean shims of wood under the clamp pads and see if it happens again.

Does anyone know where Butternut gets its name? I imagine, from the nuts on the tree, but why are they called butternuts?

Hi_Ho_Sliver · #7 03-19-2007, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan C

Thanks all!

This was really just a curious thing, and not a problem, as I will be carving this wood away.

These were the clamps that have the clamping mechanisms on a long steel rod. The one clamp is stationary on the end of the rod and the other moves up and down the rod and has the screw mechanism on it that applies pressure. The pads are semi-hard plastic pads. The clamps have been used a lot, and I keep them clean, and away from oil. I could understand how one pad might have gotten something on it, but its hard to figure all eight pads (two on each of the 4 pads).

Anyway, thanks for your feedback! I have 2 more 4" x 4" x 37" pieces that I will be cutting up and possibly glueing at some point in the future, and when I do, I'll put some clean shims of wood under the clamp pads and see if it happens again.

Does anyone know where Butternut gets its name? I imagine, from the nuts on the tree, but why are they called butternuts?

Because "Oleo" hadn't been invented yet?

Dan C · #8 03-20-2007, 05:54 AM

Hi-Ho-Sliver - That's a good one, and it brings back some memories that I hadn't thought about in a while!

I wonder how many remember when oleo was invented?? I think it was back in the late 40s. As I remember it, the dairy industry lobby successfully got a law passed preventing the oleo industry from putting color in their new invention because it was false advertising - making oleo look like the real stuff - butter. Oleo was pure white.

So what they did, was to sell the stuff in a plastic bag with a little button of bright orange dye sitting there embedded in the bag of pure white oleo. One of my jobs, as a small kid, was to sit there and knead the bag around and around and mix the dye into the oleo until it was all yellow.

Anyway, I know its a little off topic, but I had to share the memory.

Also, I think the wood got its name because the wood "cuts like butter". (Sound better than "cuts like oleo")!

Dan C.

Hi_Ho_Sliver · #9 03-20-2007, 10:09 AM

LOL yep squeezed many a bag of oleo myself ha ha

AlArchie · #10 03-20-2007, 11:31 AM

I guess the statute of limitations has run so now this can be told. Wisconsin had a ban on oleo of ANY kind for a while....we used to smuggle oleo in those "button packs" down to our family in Wisconsin, from Upper Michigan.

Al