# Hydraulic Oil On Cedar



## CobraCDN (Jan 8, 2008)

Well here is a new one n me, have a guy with a cedar fence, boards are raw, and some town equipment rolled by it with a hydraulic leak leaving it oil soaked on the bottom 12"s . Anyone have any idea how we could clean it before staining it this summer? Fence was built last summer and is wintering raw. 


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## Stonehampaintdept (Jan 10, 2013)

CobraCDN said:


> Well here is a new one n me, have a guy with a cedar fence, boards are raw, and some town equipment rolled by it with a hydraulic leak leaving it oil soaked on the bottom 12"s . Anyone have any idea how we could clean it before staining it this summer? Fence was built last summer and is wintering raw.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


This is going to be a PITA me thinks. Is it say a 4-8' section that can be replaced easily without any headaches from trying to coat it? If no then start with pressure wash and a heavy duty degreaser. Hydrogen peroxide maybe for set in stains, it works better for living / organic material but may be worth a shot.


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## CobraCDN (Jan 8, 2008)

Thanks, it's actually 6' H x 150' long. A hell of a lot of fence. They may have not much choice but to pick a dark stain for it now. Thanks for the ideas, we'll try them on a test section in the spring.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

CobraCDN said:


> Thanks, it's actually 6' H x 150' long. A hell of a lot of fence. They may have not much choice but to pick a dark stain for it now. Thanks for the ideas, we'll try them on a test section in the spring.


I'd be more concerned about whether whatever you're going to put on it will stay there with hydraulic fluid present as opposed to the colour. I think what Stonehampaint was getting at for dimensions was if just one little section of the fence got this stuff on it, might be a consideration to buy some lumber and replace.


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## JourneymanBrian (Mar 16, 2015)

As a degreaser ammonium hydroxide (ammonia) is very effective. It will react with the oil to destroy it.

Dont take it to strong though, thicken it with wallpaper paste and let it sit a bit.

As a Warning, however, if too strong it can destroy the lignin as well yielding greyed spots. This is not as much of a problem withe everegreens as with hardwood, though.


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## CRS (Apr 13, 2013)

*Removing oil from wood*

Sodium metasilicate, then pressure wash. Might require a couple of applications. SMS is the best oil remover out there. It's a great solution for removing oil leaks on driveways. Same concept. You could boost it with a good oil loving/water soluable surfactant.... i.e. "dawn" off the shelf.

SMS is high PH (PH 10) so you would have to neutralize the wood before applying any wood finish.

Good luck, sounds like a fun challenge.


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## Damon T (Nov 22, 2008)

CRS
What are some of the brand names SMS is sold under? How would I find it?


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