how to 'tart up' old wharf timber for internal beam

[wood newby]

hi everyone,

i have purchased a big beam of red ironbark (300x100x4.5m) to use as an exposed beam in between my kitchen and loungeroom. It is from an old wharf and so is a bit weathered and flaky and dull and grey. id love to bring out some colour and to clean it up a bit, whats the best way to go?

wire wheel on a grinder?
electric plane?
belt sander?
take it to someone with a thicknesser?

cheers
Leigh

[Krunchie]

Sanding disc on a 9 inch grinder has the best results to "clean" it then if your looking for a smoother look hit it with an electric plane ( OK no jokes about actually hitting the piece of wood with a plane)


Cheers Rob

[wood newby]

cheers rob, what sort of grit am i looking for? just one pass with one kind of get finer as i go?

[BobL]

If you attack it with a sander or planer you will end up losing most of its character or texture. Of course if you don't want to retain any of that then I would just put it through a thicknesser.

You might want to try using an angle grinder with a stiff wire wheel. That way it will retain most of the larger surface features and still get to some colour.

[wood newby]

Hi Bob, yeah i hear what you are saying - i definately want to keep the character, but it is very flaky and a bit dirty so i have a fair bit of character to play with. i have used a light wire wheel on some timber before but this is a much bigger stick! i think ill have a crack with a stiff wire wheel like you say, ive got one in the shed somewhere...

by grinder with sanding disk Rob, do you mean a flapper disk or straight sandpaper?

[madmix]

Don't suppose you have got access to a sand blaster, might give the
effect you are looking for.

[Acco]

I'd try a high pressure water cleaner first, followed by a sand blaster/stiff wire brush if you weren't happy with just the pressure cleaner

[Avery]

What Acco said.

If you try and put it through a thicknesser whilst it is really dirty , by the time you get to the end of 4.5 meters the machine could be well and truly .

Anyone that owns one of those machines would be mad to do that job.

High pressure water and then perhaps a rotating wire brush.

Oh, and before you use any machinery on it , get a metal detector. I'll bet it has nails and bolts all through it.

[pjt]

My vote also goes for pressure wash first especially if you are going to machine it afterwards, the pressure wash will get a lot of the old flaky stuff off and depending on your technique will determine the finish, it is possible to quite seriously furr up the wood fibres so it will look a bit wooly, it will depend on the species to a large degree, Ironbark will take a lot to furr up tho, the pressure wash will give it a cleaner look but I think something of the character can be lost if too clean, with some reclaiming I have done is just given the surface a good hard brush with a wire brush by hand then a brush off and then brush on a coat of neat raw linseed oil, it gets sucked in and dries quickly and it will go black if enough of the grey is still left behind, can look quite good


Pete

[wood newby]

well ive just given it a pressure wash and it definately got rid of some loose bits and some muck that was on there. Its drying at the moment and then i have a few wire brush attatchments to try, one thin one thick and more harsh. thanks all for your help so far i didn't want to stuff up such a nice big chunk of old timber.

another one for opinions... it has three big ''nails'' through it that are about 15mm thick that protrude out the other side and bend around a couple of inches... should i leave them in? i think i know the answer

[Avery]

OK so you have seen the big nails that protrude, I bet there are many more pieces of hardware that you haven't found yet.

[BobL]

. . . . another one for opinions... it has three big ''nails'' through it that are about 15mm thick that protrude out the other side and bend around a couple of inches... should i leave them in? i think i know the answer

If they are not in the way I would leave them there.

[Krunchie]

cheers rob, what sort of grit am i looking for? just one pass with one kind of get finer as i go?

I have used 40-60 to get rid of loose and semi loose particles (wood) and stone don't go to hard or yes you will loose the character another tip is to use the pressure washer first and while it is still wet and soft use the grinder to take of that top layer of filth

Hi Bob, yeah i hear what you are saying - i definately want to keep the character, but it is very flaky and a bit dirty so i have a fair bit of character to play with. i have used a light wire wheel on some timber before but this is a much bigger stick! i think ill have a crack with a stiff wire wheel like you say, ive got one in the shed somewhere...

by grinder with sanding disk Rob, do you mean a flapper disk or straight sandpaper?

well ive just given it a pressure wash and it definately got rid of some loose bits and some muck that was on there. Its drying at the moment and then i have a few wire brush attatchments to try, one thin one thick and more harsh. thanks all for your help so far i didn't want to stuff up such a nice big chunk of old timber.

another one for opinions... it has three big ''nails'' through it that are about 15mm thick that protrude out the other side and bend around a couple of inches... should i leave them in? i think i know the answer

P.S. have you considered the amount of chemicals that have been absorbed buy this piece of timber over the years and are you taking appropriate measures to guard yourself from them. ie mask, goggles, chem suit, Geiger counter, lead suit Lol
but serious
Cheers bob