Green timber for external use

[Burnsy]

What does everyone think is the best thing to use on green timber being used for external use. I am making benches (not for sitting on but for aquaponic tank supports) out of fresh cut spotted gum and want to put some kind of finish over them once they are bolted together to try and keep some moisture in and stop them drying to quickly. They will be exposed to the elements long term.

I was thinking linseed oil/turps mix. Any other suggestions?

[echnidna]

Fence stain

[Burnsy]

Fence stain

Do you have any more info Echidna, is that a Cabots product, oil or water based. I did some screens last week using kinl dried batu that we put aquadeck on and they came up great but I thought in this case I might need something oil based.

Can anyone see a problem using linseed, decking oil or similar on green timber?

[mic-d]

Linseed oil will make it go black, If that's OK, linseeds OK. It offers no UV protection though.
I've been toying with paraffin wax dissolved in some form of petroleum lately. Have been trying paraffin in shellite as a rustproofer, but I reckon paraffin in something cheaper like ulp might be good for what you want. I'm going to investigate further. I don't know if there are any nonvolatile components in ulp, I would want to use something that evaporated completely leaving just the wax in the wood.

CHeers
Michael

[Burnsy]

Black.......shouldn't bother me but the light spotty gum colour is nice if I could keep it as they will be sitting on limestone blocks.

Has anyone tried regular decking oil or Aquadeck on green timber? If so how does it stand up?

[Burnsy]

mic-d when you say linseed will make green spotty go black is this from experience and does it happen over time. My only experience is with Jarrah and it darkens it up pretty much straight away. I just trialed natural decking oil and linseed oil on two bits to see what it did, the decking oil gave it the orange tint that it gives everything (I think it is the UV protectant in it) and the linseed stayed the natural light timber colour.

Question is how dark will the linseed go over time? I like linseed as it can be easily maintained/re-coated.

Cheers,
Mike

[weisyboy]

sump oil.:2tsup:

[mic-d]

mic-d when you say linseed will make green spotty go black is this from experience and does it happen over time. My only experience is with Jarrah and it darkens it up pretty much straight away. I just trialed natural decking oil and linseed oil on two bits to see what it did, the decking oil gave it the orange tint that it gives everything (I think it is the UV protectant in it) and the linseed stayed the natural light timber colour.

Question is how dark will the linseed go over time? I like linseed as it can be easily maintained/re-coated.

Cheers,
Mike

Hi Mike,
linseed oil will make most exterior timber (meaning exposed to water and light) go black due to mould growth. I suppose green timber with all the moisture would also accelerate mould growth on linssed oil too. I did my first deck following the linseed/turps mix and it went black. It also oxidises to a darker colour. When tradac used to exist, they had some good info on this, alas Timber Queensland does not. Here are a couple of references I just dug up. You could add a mould inhibitor to the linseed oil too.
http://www.deckmaster.com.au/finishing_&_maintenance.htm
http://oak.arch.utas.edu.au/tbia/view_article.asp?articleID=297

I don't see why you couldn't use something like spa-n-deck too.

Cheers
Michael

ps. I have heard from a reliable source that the black/brown of tudor homes was due to linseed oil used over the centuries.