dealing with unwanted chemical offgassing.

[Cruciform]

I recently tore apart and sanded down an old entertainment center to make a display case that will go in our living room.

Since I didn't have the right backing for it yet, the wood has been sitting partially assembled in the garage.

Last night I discovered that my stepson has been using a part of it as his bench for spraying WD40 on things.

I've written the case off as lost cause, because I don't want to poison my reptiles, but for curiousity's sake, will epoxy or polyurethane block the gases coming off the wd40 stains, or any natural toxins (phenols) in wood?

[Derrick]

epoxy for sure would seal it up but you would most likely have issues with adhesion. Any kind of coating I've looked at emphasises a clean and oil free surface before application.

[Kyle Barker]

you could this the resins as to soak into the wood, nothing will pull that apart. probably cheaper to buy new wood though.

[Linds]

As Derrick said, epoxy will seal anything away. I love the stuff. It will go over anything and seal it well. The kind I use can go over anything. It should be applied to a clean surface, but not necessarily free of oil. When I used epoxy to save my cages, I applied it over oilbased housepaints, some of which was covered in partly cured polyester resin (some parts were dry, some were still wet though). I cleaned the bulk of the mess up with acetone and went to work. The worse thing that could happen if you applied it to a less-than-clean surface is that you end up with the substances permanently fixed on your enclosure. I don't know if that is the case with all epoxies, but it is with the type I use (Epoxal 3:1 available from Niagara Protective Coatings). Polyurethanes will not effectively seal in toxic substances.