Ready to finish project got wet - what do I do next

[Alan Lightstone]

I have a sapele audio/video cabinet that I was getting ready to start applying finish to. My air conditioning air-handler started dripping like crazy when I was at work and got a lot of water on the cabinet. I live in South Florida, so high heat and humidity, but my workshop is an air-conditioned garage that I have kept the AC on for a few months to help dry out the wood.

Measuring the moisture content - on the untouched wood it's 9.3%. On the wood that was dripped on, it's 10.3 - 10.6%. I can tell that the grain has been raised (which I'm not happy I'll have to re-sand), but I'm now worried about the finish not taking evenly on the piece, much less possible warping in the future. I was planning on using Waterlox over an application of non-grain raising Transtint dye over the weekend.

Should I be worried? Is there something I need to do now to mitigate the damage? Do I need to wait and let the cabinet dry out for a long period of time? Looking for advice from wiser heads.

[Timothy Juvenal]

I would wipe the entire piece down with a wet rag, so the grain will be raised evenly on the entire piece. Let dry for a few hours to a day, then sand with 320.
If any panels of the cabinet are veneered, I would be very careful not to get them too wet.

This should keep the final finish looking uniform.

Timothy

[Alan Lightstone]

Thanks. Fortunately not veneered. Looks perfectly dry now with a fan running on it plus air conditioning, but don't know how the surface will be affected taking dye and waterlox. I'm curious as to whether I'll see a decrease in moisture content later today when I recheck it.

[Dan Hahr]

The worst of the water saturation will occur where it contacted end grain. On the face or edge grain, it should dry out very soon. If it had time to soak it up through the end grain, it might take a little longer. I'd flood the surface well, as if you were washing it, and let it dry evenly. Then sand again and finish.

I use water based dye all the time and I basically soak the wood with it. I don't wait more than a day or so to finish and I have never had a problem.

Dan

[Harvey Pascoe]

Alan, I'm in Florida also. If I buy kiln dried wood (shipped from out of state) and it arrives at 7%, within 6 months or so it will rise to around 9 - 10%, so I consider 10% to be equilibrum level in this climate. Also, the difference between 9/3% and 10.3% is not significant to cause a problem in my experience. I've had many instances of raw parts getting caught out in a downpour without a problem after drying and light sanding. I would agree that if only partially wetted, I would wet the whole thing to even out the color change usually caused by wetting, IF sanding didn't solve the problem, which it sometimes won't when woods contain dyes or water soluble coloration.