Memory Foam attacking headboard finish

[Lee Schierer]

I made a headboard for my son and his wife in 1997 out of maple. kristin1.jpg It was finished with Deft Clear Wood Finish (lacquer based). In February she purchased a new Iso-Cool Memory Foam Pillow. This past week she noticed that in the morning the pillow was stuck to the headboard. When she felt the finish it felt sticky so she tried cleaning it and some gummy yellow material came off, but the finish is still sticky. The headboard finish on the other side of the bed where my son sleeps is not sticky and he does not use a memory foam pillow. Has anyone else encountered problems with Memory Foam affecting wood finishes?

I've used Deft on many of my projects, including other headboards and have never had a problem. Now I need to figure out how to remove the stickiness without affecting the color aging of the wood as sanding all the contours will be exceptionally difficult. I also need to decide what to refinish it with.

[Don Huffer]

Once I had a mattress top from that material. It took several days to gas it out. Might be what your experiencing. Also sounds like hairspray.

Don

[Loren Woirhaye]

I don't have an answer for you but I appreciate the visual of

"Memory Foam attacking headboard finish "


hee-hee.


actually... recently I soaked a plastic top of a water bottle I use a lot in a mild bleach water solution to get grime off I could not remove with soap and water. It was a bad idea as the rubbery plastic got sticky and weird after that. I put it out in the sun and it stabilized after a week or two. You might want to try separating the combatants and seeing how time handles things before attempting a repair.

[John TenEyck]

I'll bet it was hairspray or some other hair care product that did the damage and not the pillow. I think you can remove the sticky stuff with lacquer thinner, but it also will remove any undamaged finish you get it on too. To me it would be easier to just strip the entire headboard and refinish it. It would take less time and the result likely will be more uniform than trying to repair the damaged area. If I'm right that it's hairspray the probably is going to come right back if you use Deft for the repair. That's another reason to strip it - so you can use a more chemically durable finish. Something like GF's EnduroVar should be a good choice.

John

[Jim Barstow]

Although the damage to the headboard is unfortunate, for me I would want to know what is actually acting like a potent solvent. Think about what it might be
doing to lungs. Whatever it is, get rid of it ASAP.

[John Sanford]

The plasticizers in some rubbers/vinyls/etc will attack lacquer. It's not hairspray, which is usually a very weak acrylic, it's the pillow. I've got some Maisto 1/12 scale model motorcycles, their rubber tires attacked the lacquer of the shelf unit I had them on. On guitar forums they discuss the problem of some guitar stands being unfriendly to guitars finished with lacquer.

btw, I would contact both Deft and the manufacturer of the pillow.

[Sam Puhalovich]

I'd try googone and denatured alcohol.

[Lee Schierer]

I'll bet it was hairspray or some other hair care product that did the damage and not the pillow.
John

If it was hair spray why would it suddenly show up after 17 years? I checked she doesn't use much hair spray and hasn't changed brands in years.

[Mel Fulks]

Even something like a clock with rubber feet will sometimes stick to a table ,even though the finish is dry.

[Phil Thien]

Although the damage to the headboard is unfortunate, for me I would want to know what is actually acting like a potent solvent. Think about what it might be
doing to lungs. Whatever it is, get rid of it ASAP.

I couldn't agree more with this. Might as well sleep on top of a pillow soaked in some sort of volatile solvent.

[John TenEyck]

If it was hair spray why would it suddenly show up after 17 years? I checked she doesn't use much hair spray and hasn't changed brands in years.

My wife changes hair care products about as often as her shoes, and we all know how much women love shoes. So, from my perspective, it was good bet, but it looks like I lost and your wife is off the hook. So it must be the pillow - and time to get rid of it. Strange though, there are millions of memory foam pillows and memory foam mattresses out there and I doubt this is a common problem or lots of people would be complaining like you. Is the pillow your wife bought a name brand, like Tempurpedic?

John

[Frederick Skelly]

Ive never used laquer but I seriously goofed up the water-based poly finish on a table top last year by letting it sit on top of a long piece of that rubbery shelf liner you can buy at big box stores. Left an imprint of that liner all the way across that maple top. I dont know what chemicals were interacting, but it made a real mess. So I wouldnt be surprised to hear that foam somehow interacted with your laquer.

Fred

[Rich Engelhardt]

I don't believe hair spray has been lacquer based for 35 years or so.
It used to be @ one time.

I'm almost positive it's all some sort of WB acrylic these days.

It's probably the plasticizers.
I've had plastic fishing lures melt the plastic trays of tackle boxes plenty of times if they're left in the tray over the Winter.
They can be some nasty things to deal with.

[Lee Schierer]

Update.

My DIL wrote to the manufacturer. Here is their response.

"That kind of pillow can react with certain finishes. I would recommend some Old English to see if that would help. If not, please send me a photo of the headboard."

Has anyone have any experience with Old English on a lacquer based finish?

[David Macfee]

There is no defect with the pillow or the Deft. The issue is plasticizer migration (google it). Pro refinishers who use lacquer are very familiar with the issue and warn customers not to place plastic materials in contact with the finish for any extended time. Deft lacquer is formulated with hot solvents to extend the working time so it can be brushed, so the damage may occur more rapidly with Deft but the same would happen to most any lacquer or precat, just not so fast.

Choose between the pillow or the finish. I don't know if you placed the pillow inside a regular pillowcase, but possibly using one or two pillowcases would provide the insulation needed.