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So we are building an Ukulele with Ancient Kauri and found CA stains the wood if not sealed first.
I have known not to get it soaked into Spruce but didn't do enough research about Ancient Kauri before making a mistake

Thought it would be a good idea to get a list going of woods not to use CA without sealing first.
Tell me what woods would you add to a list?
Thanks,
Dennis

I have had staining from CA on end grain on spruce, cedar, redwood and mahogany (you would think I would learn?) The mahogany surprised me. I got some CA on the bottom of a heel (end grain) and it wicked to the top of the heel.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Thanks for a response John. I had it in my mind as a rule soft woods seal first but didn't think about Kauri since it is a hardwood.
Yea Mahogany does surprise me.

It happened a couple of times. I was surprised I had a small head of a pin sized stain that would not sand out. It happened when I put a bit of thin CA on the brass bolt inserts for a bolt on neck.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Anything with large pores can be a problem. I've used some Koa where, when I splashed mineral spirits on to see the colour under finish, the spirits immediately ran through to the other side. CA would do the same.

Test on scrap is the answer, and I only wish I could always remember to do this!

CA darkens/stains most woods - even those that arent porous. Cherry is an example. Do your joint prep as for hide/titebond and glue Cherry with CA instead - get a dark brown ugly "glue line" that is just the CA darkening the wood....

It all depends on what you need to use it for... I wouldn't seal a crack prior to repairing with CA... But I may think about sealing a rosette channel before wicking in CA or dropfilling dings.

In fact, Agathis australis (kauri) is a "softwood", a gymnosperm, and like all softwoods its wood anatomy is characterised by having tracheids rather than vessels as primary tissue types in its xylem.

But yes, both newly-milled and "ancient" kauri need to be sealed before CA (or epoxy, for that matter). It stains very easily.

Shellac is our friend for so many reasons. Any light coloured wood for starters. I seal all binding rabbits. And if you coat
any surface that you might get CA on, especially around tape, glue clean up is MUCH easier.

I suspect the lighter colored woods would be more susceptible to staining, but I have no experience with CA staining anything, I almost always seal with shellac before using CA. Since I've switched over to mostly HHG, I don't use CA that much anymore, even for inlays.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Yea I am going to use more Shellac in the future.
I keep learning and sometimes forget!

Thanks for the responses!

The only wood I ever used cya on was some 80 year old cracky BRW. I flooded the inside and outside with thin cya and let it dry naturally (in the spray booth), then sanded it down to raw wood again. No more cracks for years and years.
I would not use cya on ANYTHING else as far as wood. I also used small dots to set inlay before using black tempera powder and epoxy to fill gaps.
To me cya "cons" outweighed the "pros" by miles, but then I was just an old traditionalist.
One thing I did use it for though is holding glue joints together on mandolin ribs and blocks while the yellow glue dried. It would later be sanded off and any possible bleeding would routed off during the binding process.