Need some ideas for treating rough sawn pine for work shop/barn/garage

[woodguy105]

Hi everyone,

Thought this would be a good place to get some insight. When my wife and I bought our place the previous owner had 3 big piles of neatly stacked milled pine under cover. So we're finally putting up our barn/workshop/garage. It's timber frame and all the wood is rough sawn and beefy (real 6x6s, 2x8s, 1x8s etc.) great looking stuff. We're hoping to keep it preserved with a rich deep stain or oil? But I'm not sure what to use. No paint and I do not want to have to scrape anything later on.

Any recommendations on something that can be sprayed on to give a long lasting deep natural but darker finish??? I've heard linseed oil, thomsons etc.

Thanks for your help!

 

[excess650]

I'll be curious to hear this as well. The guy building my new log house is using a brand name that escapes me at this moment, but is :censored: pricey. (Sikkens?) I sure hope that it holds up. He claims that it only needs a touch-up of UV coating every 5 years or so.

 

[The Lorax]

I have some first hand experience with this exact topic.
I have a timber workshop/junkstore, it is panelled with planed T+G but the door is rough sawn pine, I applied a coat of swedish oil Jupex 45 to it to stop it from weathering badly and the tung oil kept the wood colour instead of it going grey.
however with the rain we get here the door started to get patches of black on it, this is fungal spores that are present in the wood.
I sprayed the door with a weak solution of bleach and this seemed to arrest the growth of the spots.
I reoiled the doors and this year used some swedish paint called Wibo which is linseed oil based this seemed to make a big difference to the doors, painting rough sawn or even oiling it is not very pleasant, the splinters get everywhere and make a mess of the brush or rag.

I would be tempted to just paint the wood with a timber preservative and let it dry then use some danish/tung/linseed oil with some paint of your choice mixed in to make the timber the colour you want.
I am building a woodstore on the gable end of the shed now and I intend to use rough sawn for the cladding, I will try the method I just described and see how it goes.
Whatever you use don't use acrylic paint the wood will rot from the inside.

 

[woodguy105]

Thanks Lorax,

Given the rough and thirsty nature of the wood I'll probably end up with something oil based for sure. I'm going to test a small slab using linseed oil to start.

A side note: I've been researching Timbor and another Boron(?) based product for pest mildew /fungus control. It can be sprayed on and is a DIY product. Some of the wood I'm using has minior carpenter ant and termite damage so part of the process is going to be preventing them from doing any other damage.

 

[The Lorax]

I used Larsen preservative
Supposed to stop almost any kind of insect and rot, I have the green stuff but clear is available, it is better to have a colour so you know where it is treated.

 

[timberwolf]

Just oil will go black in a few weeks if you have any degree of moisture.

I tried some expensive clear wood oil based stain on a cedar deck just on a small section and did not like the way it looked so stripped it. Then tried thompsens sealer, that lasted a few months but by spring was not looking so good, so sanded it and just oiled the deck with tung and linseed oil. It looked great at first but turned an ugly black in a couple weeks, I assume some sort of mold or fungus. Then ended up stripping and pressure washing that and leaving it to turn a nice weathered silver.

 

[kuhndog]

I have a pine log home I built in 88.I had bores in 1 log which I chiseled out and replaced but was turned onto this product (Bora Care) I treated remaining log and problem solved,had I known I would have done whole house.We did stain but since then have only used Flood clear wood (OIL Base) not the UV one and repeat every 6-7yrs and it brings color back and it can be applied with a garden sprayer.I swear by this product.My experience FYI Kuhndog

 

[Woodsurfer]

Our old clapboard cabin is finished with oil-based (alkyd) semi-transparent stain. It has held up well for 40 years now. No fungus issues. Some boards that got splashed with every rain did eventually rot, no surprise. I buy whatever brand is on sale and slop it on when it looks like it needs it. Very low maintenance!

 

[goblin]

I've seen pine log cabins turned to punkwood by dryrot and borer worms in 20 years time. I don't know what the answer is, but you need not only a wood preservative, but also some kind of insecticide or pest repellent.

I saw someone mention a homebrewed diesel fuel and oil mixture here recently, and that sounded about right for preserving something porous and soft like pine. Worth looking into anyways, and maybe running some tests on assorted pine scraps for effectiveness, flammability, pest resistance, rot, etc.

Creosote and copper green are the tried and true methods...although illegal in most jurisdictions nowadays, I'm guessing.

 

[A. Stanton]

I have a cedar house, and I just started using this product called Defy. I used to use Cuprinol, but they sold off the company to Sherwin Williams, and they ruined the brand. I couldn't get my color anymore. Here's a link to a company that sells Defy cheap by UPS. Whatever you do don't use Thompson's. You would be better off just puting mineral spirits on it. It will only last for 1 year. The company is called the Sealer Store, number 866-856-3325.

 

[synness4]

hello wood guy and everyone else i saw this post and thought i might give my help Im a painter by trade so heres my honsest opion linseed oil will turn black (mold) thompsons is pure crap ! I don' t know what paint stores you have but sherwin willaims has oil base ex stain but what ever you use keep up on the maintance. (staining) good luck

 

[secureland]

Think about wooden boats.

This company makes several wooden boat sealer products
http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...do?pid=1269&familyName=Smiths+Cold+CPES+Epoxy

This is a link to the distributor, the company is actually Smiths.

I don't have enough experience with their products to name one, but if you start thinking along the lines of boat care and marine products it might help.

 

[The Lorax]

Think about wooden boats.

This company makes several wooden boat sealer products
http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...do?pid=1269&familyName=Smiths+Cold+CPES+Epoxy

This is a link to the distributor, the company is actually Smiths.

I don't have enough experience with their products to name one, but if you start thinking along the lines of boat care and marine products it might help.

Nope IMHO rough sawn pine and boats are a million miles apart.
The closest you will get is larch and that is pretty resilient stuff.
Rough sawn pine in a shelter needs different treatment to a wood immersed in salt water constantly.

 

[secureland]

Nope IMHO rough sawn pine and boats are a million miles apart.
The closest you will get is larch and that is pretty resilient stuff.
Rough sawn pine in a shelter needs different treatment to a wood immersed in salt water constantly.

There are also freshwater boats.

 

[woodguy105]

Thanks for all the insight everyone.

I'm still not sure what I'll be using but I'm going to talk to the folks at a local mill / timber frame supplier
http://www.sigfridson.com/main.htm where I picked up a couple of 6x6x12's to replace a few of mine that were damaged.


Goblin, I am looking into pest protection as well...have a couple in mind but forget the names...will post another time to see if anyone has used them.

I did find a jar of DDT in the old basement, left behind by the previous owner...hmmmm ( just kidding, I do have the DDT but it ain't leaving the bottle).

 

[jehu]

Hello woodguy105.

My good friend who owns this mill in N.H.
http://www.josselyns.com/index.html
recommends TWP for our log cabin in Maine and we have had great results
especially where we get back splash on the bottom logs, the cabin has been up since 1984 and we have no rot yet.

I used the same product on my rough sawn pine this summer for my deck "walls" and so far im very pleased, you can buy it direct from the manufacture on their web site.
http://www.woodsealants.com/

I called customer service and they sent me a sample of every
color they make so I could test before I placed an order.
Good luck.
Jim.

 

[sachi1010]

Treating rough-sawn southern yellow pine lumber for dry-wood termites

Hello, I am new to this forum and searching for info on treating my rough-sawn pine lumber for drywood termites. I harvested 28 standing pine sawlogs that started dying during our summer 2012 drought (very solid trees with hardly no blue stain). In addition, we milled a few trees that blew down during a previous hurricane prior to the drought. After some lumber was being sawn and ready for stacking with stickers, I noticed several termite galleries with termites exiting and running for cover. We attempted to separate the infested boards. Some termites just gathered between other boards. My air-drying stacks are 4ftx8ft and about 5ft tall. I cut 1x6, 1x8s and 1x10s and stacked each separately. I want to treat my stacks ASAP to prevent serious damage and I do want to exterminate any termites in the stacked lumber before I start using them. Some stacks have lumber with more moisture in each board than others -- some boards seem so dry that they appear they are ready to be nailed-up. Our process was so production oriented it was almost impossible to separate green lumber from the dryer, but we did our best. I'll end up with 11,000 board feet.

I could not find any info about treating stacked lumber, but everything led me to TIMBOR and BORA CARE. It appears BORA CARE is the best to use because it penetrates deeper. But I am concerned about its effect on lumber with different moisture content (dryer lumber in my stacks). I plan to spray the complete exterior of my stacks and between stacked layers (with stickers).

Any suggestions on the best pesticide to use while my lumber is air-drying. I also want to treat the lumber after I nail it up. I am using the lumber for exterior siding, interior walls and flooring. I am also concerned about chemical cost, but i guess that's not relevant if I want to save my lumber. I'm also receptive to any home concoctions, too.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.