Advice / Recommendation on finishing recycled jarrah

[Skippy Chippy]

Gday guys,

I'm after some advice on what finish to use on some recycled jarrah I'm using in a new house I'm building. I have a lot of surfaces that need coating, these range from 200 x 200 posts and beams (internal), 200 x 100 exposed king post trusses, laminated 100 x 50 recycled jarrah joists to form 300 x 40 stair treads, as well as around 150 square metres of recycled floor boards, and about 40 square metres of deck outside, which will butt up to the floor inside.

So I have a lot to finish. All the timber is curently bare, sanded ready to be coated.

Heres what I'm looking for,

- I dont want to darken the timber too much, want to try and retain as much reddness as I can.

- Dont want a high gloss shiney finish

- Dont want it to 'yellow' over time

- Dont want too many different types of finishes

- would like the inside floor boards to have a similar finish to the deck outside, as bi-fold doors open out to this (deck is under main roof, so would get
minimal sun / rain on it)


I have sampled some Cabots Danish oil, which I was thinking of using for the posts & beams, and Feast Watson Tung oil for the floors / stair treads (not sure if this is going to be too dark)

Am I heading in the right direction or is there something better out there?

I plan on living in this place for a long time so I want to get it right the 1st time.

Regards

Simon.

[BobL]

Sound like you need some sort of oil but be careful with Tung oil or anything with tung oil in it can really darken jarrah and if it is already chocolate brown it can turn it very dark.
Whatever you do get some of your offcuts and test out the product.

[Skippy Chippy]

be careful with Tung oil or anything with tung oil in it can really darken jarrah and if it is already chocolate brown it can turn it very dark.

Thats my concern, that it will end up too dark, is there any other oil suitable for floors that wont darken it too much and still stand up to wear and tear?

[BobL]

Thats my concern, that it will end up too dark, is there any other oil suitable for floors that wont darken it too much and still stand up to wear and tear?

The problem with other oils is you will have to apply it more often and you won't get as hardwearing a finish.

We have jarrah floorboards though out our house.
In the newer part of the house the boards are a light colour and could have handled tung oil but we didn't know any better at the time so we ended up going with two pack estapol. The shine took a couple of years to wear off and then it looks sort of OK.

In the old section (renovated after the newer part was added) the boards are already chocolate brown and would go almost black if oil was used on then so we used two pack estapol on these as well.

No matter what you do the red colour will fade.
This is an example of a blue tipped leafed Jarrah freshly cut from a log.
Unfortunately the colour cannot be retained anywhere near the original.

[Ticky]

Theres a place at Pt Adelaide, Cnr Bedford Street & Bower Cres. They specialise in Jarrah & Jarrah Finishes.

Steve

[FenceFurniture]

This is Jarrah finished with Organoil Danish. The pic is slightly warm in lighting as you can tell by the white bench near the rear.




Since then (7 months ago) it has darkened a bit, but not too bad. About a month after I used the Danish I finished it with another product called Gemini Floor Sealer which is a liquid wax designed for floors (developed for and used in Parliament House - high traffic). I've found it to be very tough (it's on my timber bench top as well), with a medium gloss. What I really like about it is that the "wet look" is retained. Water based, available in large containers. Bunnings have the One litre container - not sure who can supply larger containers, but Google is your friend.

The liquid wax should not be applied just by itself as a finish as it does nothing to feed the timber - that's the job of oil. Application is simply "wipe on - walk away". Buff later if desired.

Also, I no longer use Organoil Danish, but much prefer Rustin's Danish instead (similar price). The Organoil causes some timbers to nib up after a few weeks (particularly Blackwood), and also has a slight orange tint to it. The Rustin's is more neutral in colour and seems more robust too (it's thicker viscosity). Have never used Cabots Danish.

Given that you have a great deal of finishing to do it would be a good idea to narrow down your choices to perhaps three potentials and then do some testing to see what floats your boat.

[Ticky]

Perhaps just a fraction off topic, but....

Thats a hell of a drilling setup you have there FF

[FenceFurniture]

Cheers Ticky - works for me.

[Chesand]

I made a couple of CD/DVD shelf units from recycled jarrah and finished them with Feast Watson Floorseal which did not darken the timber to any extent. I used gloss which I realise you do not want. I am not sure if they have a satin or matt finish but it might be worth checking.

[Skippy Chippy]

Thanks guys, I might try and chase up some of that rustins danish oil and give that a try, I like the idea of it being more neutral in colour, and it seems not much difference in price to the cabots.

Also whilst looking at the peerlessJAL website they have the floor sealer available in satin, which is what I'm after, and also seems pretty reasonably priced too. http://cleanerswarehouse.com/chemica...ealer-5lt.html

So I would coat everything in danish oil, and apply the floor sealer to the floor boards and stair treads to provide additional protection. Would this still be suitable for the deck outside (under main roof)

Thanks again, you guys are awesome.

Simon.

[FenceFurniture]

So I would coat everything in danish oil, and apply the floor sealer to the floor boards and stair treads to provide additional protection.

Well you may want to use the Gemini on other timber things to get that wet look back - I really like the visual finish it gives. It's kinda like when the oil on the timber has just gone on and the grain pops.

Would this still be suitable for the deck outside (under main roof)

I don't see why not if it's under cover but maybe others can suggest something for a deck.