wooden umbrella pole stuck inside metal stand swollen and wet?
Okay, I have an (expensive) cast aluminum umbrella holder with little table top for the patio. I put in a wooden market umbrella. It was damaged in the wind. I tried to take it out of the metal sheath that holds it up and it was swollen and the pole broke off. Now there is swollen wood and the brown paint seems to be fused to the steel inside the tube and it is too swollen to get the wood pole out. I tried using a drill but hey it only goes down 6 inches and the umbrella holder table thing is around 3 feet tall. Is the only option to throw out the whole thing? Is there a chemical that will dissolve the wood? Could I put lighter fluid in it and burn it out? Help me out here if you have skills I need your advice, thanks.
2 Responses
wallmeister
04 Feb 2010
Rosebush
04 Feb 2010
Try spraying WD40 in there and let it in for a day or so. Maybe it’ll let you then stick something in there to twist and work more oil around it so it slides out. Spray liberally.
If you aren’t in a hurry, how about moving it inside so it can dry out? It might take a week or more, but surely that’s cheaper and easier than wrestling it? If you’ve drilled holes, spindle newspaper sheets and insert into the holes to wick out the moisture more quickly.
There are sulfur-based chemicals which dissolve the proteins binding the wood fibers together, but they are industrial and not something I’ve ever seen available for consumers. Pulp mills recycle them (black liquor into white liquor) so they don’t have to buy a lot.