My tea tray is leaking :-(

A few days ago I have received a nice birthday present from my wife: a
Chinese bamboo tea tray. It is a very special one (at least for me) that I
have picked out already this summer while visiting a Chinese tea house and
shop in Budapest, wherupon my wife has bought it in secret for my birthday.

Using it for the first time, I have just discovered that the tray leaks on a
certain point on the bottom at one of the joints, dripping very slowly but
surely. My first thought has been of course to return it to the shop for an
exchange, but there are several major obstacles to that: I live one thousand
kilometers away from Budapest, and according to my wife this tray was the
last one of its kind. So I have decided to keep it and try to repair it
myself.

For this I need some help from the more experienced members of this group.
Should I use some special waterproof lacque, or perhaps just an ordinary
nail polish to sealing the leak? I want to be sure not to damage the surface
of the bamboo. By the way, are these tray varnished with some kind of
lacque? Its surface is quite smooth and shiny, but I am not sure whether
there is lacque on it or it is just polished very finely. - Another thing is
that the hole or crack is so small that I can not even see it, so I do not
know whether I should seal it from the outside, from the inside, or both.

I would thank for any helpful suggestions.

Gyorgy

> I would not go that far - he may, actually overdo it that way. Just putting
> some wet paper napkin along the leaking line overnight will probably do it.
> If not - repeat. I would not soak the whole tray.
>
> Sasha.

Agreed, it is better to be conservative, as you suggest, as he can
always add more agressive moisture later if that doesnt work. Although
I have left my tray full of water for days with little to no ill
effect.

Mike

>> I would not go that far - he may, actually overdo it that way. Just
>> putting
>> some wet paper napkin along the leaking line overnight will probably do
>> it.
>> If not - repeat. I would not soak the whole tray.
>>
>> Sasha.
>
> Agreed, it is better to be conservative, as you suggest, as he can
> always add more agressive moisture later if that doesnt work. Although
> I have left my tray full of water for days with little to no ill
> effect.
>
> Mike

Sasha and Mike,

Thank you for the suggestions. I will make some experiments; I will start
with filling it up with warm water and let it stay overnight. I will let you
know about the effect.

Gyorgy

I thought that was called a "tea boat".. maybe I'm thinking of something
else.

Anyway some clear silicone gel would do the trick.

>> I would not go that far - he may, actually overdo it that way. Just
>> putting
>> some wet paper napkin along the leaking line overnight will probably do
>> it.
>> If not - repeat. I would not soak the whole tray.
>>
>> Sasha.
>
> Agreed, it is better to be conservative, as you suggest, as he can
> always add more agressive moisture later if that doesnt work. Although
> I have left my tray full of water for days with little to no ill
> effect.
>
> Mike

Well, now I have tried several things from the most gentle surface
moisturising to the most brutal submerged overnight soaking. I must admit,
it was only the last thing that helped. Indeed it has not had any ill effect
on the tray, and now it stopped leaking. Thanks again!

Gyorgy

> Hi Gyorgy,
>
> I am glad it worked out for you. I would hope that with regular use
> the problem will remain at bay. Let us know in a month or two if it
> came back.
>
> Mike

Thank you, Mike,

I have bed news. After only two days where I have used the tray only
lightly, I have had a longer gongfu session with many steepings and water
filling half up the tray. The result: the water is seeping out again from
the bottom. Now it is even worse than before, as there are two more leaking
points besides the old one. I will definitely send it back to the shop in
Hungary at the first opportunity (which will be in January where I get some
visitors from Budapest).

Gyorgy