Vapour permeable interior wood finishing product?

[kiwi_grain]

Hi Guys
I have some heavy pieces of Totara (extremely durable native New Zealand timber) that I am going to use to make a couple of different coffee tables out of (xmas presents for parents and in laws alike). These pieces are 50+ years old and heavy (8"^2 in the extreme) and have been in the weather for the last few years, and although the timber has been kept dry for the last 6 months, when I cut a cross section through one of the main beams recently it was still damp in the middle. The wood is currently sitting in my air conditioned dessicator of an office but it is likely that the largest sections will still have moisture in them when the projects go together, so Im looking for a finishing product that will allow the wood to breathe. My plan is to leave the bottom of the legs of the tables unfinshed so that they can continue to dry over the next while (years probably), but still dont want to finish them in something that is going to seal the other surfaces completely... Am really looking for an oil type product and have read that teak oil allows some passage of vapour, although there seems to be water and solvent based variants around so it seems hard to tell what your getting when you buy 'teak oil'. To make things trickier Totara has an extremely high extractive content and can be difficult to finish, so would probably need to avoid products that are unsuitable for 'difficult' timbers in this regard. Living in NZ unfortunately all products wont be available to me but I certainly appreciate your suggestions. Thanks in advance
Matt

[AlexS]

Most people are usually trying to seal the timber to prevent moisture content changing, which is pretty well impossible. You're on the right track thinking of using oil. I use Kunos oil, which should be available there, - try googling it.
The longer you can leave the resawn timber before you dress it to size, and assemble it and finish it the better. Hope it all goes well.

[kiwi_grain]

Yeah, will put it off as long as poss but unfortunately have that xmas deadline looming! Have cut up all pieces to size to enable quicker drying, and will do as much prep as possible so that all that really needs to happen is glue it all together so hoping that moisture content is 'almost there' when the time comes... Still keen for suggestions on products though so keep em coming!

[rsser]

FWIW with green turned bowls I use nitrocellulose sanding sealer and wax. As they dry the finish will sometimes dull so another coat of wax is needed.

Also, if memory serves, I've used Organoil Hard Burnishing Oil on the odd green bowl too. The wet sanding process develops a slurry that helps fill and seal the grain.

But bowls can dry oval and look interesting. Movement with furniture is interesting but not in a good way!

Good luck.

[ubeaut]

Do not leave the end grain of the lags open as this is like leaving the tap turned on and it will dry out too quickly most likely causing cracks.

The general rule for drying timber in the air is to seal the end grain forcing the timber to dry through the long grain and thereby limit cracking.

Cheers - Neil