Best treatment for restored wood

[cad]

I have spent months stripping back my bay windows, skirting and fireplaces.

They are antique yellow pine, Can anyone inform me as to the best product or method to adopt in order to get the best results.

I am also going to sand the floors, can anyone recommend a good quality varnish that won't cost the earth!

Thanks very much.

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

I'm just about to make a new window for my house, and I'll be using either Holkham linseed oil paint, or OSMO's white opaque coating for windows. For a floor coating I'd definitely recommend one of the OSMO wax-oil finishes for ease of application and beautiful finish. I've only recently come across OSMO products but I'm a convert.

I'd steer clear of conventional varnishes - they look good for a while but are a pain to renovate when they start to break down. To my eye the alternative water-based varnishes look too plasticy. As for cost, I'd say that it's worth spending on a system which produces the results first time.

 

[essexbearhunter]

If you are trying to show off the wood itself (as against the shape of moulding) then (with the exception of the floor which has to stand heavy abrasion) the main qualities for selecting a finish are how it affects the colour of the wood and repairability.

I have given up on varnish....clear shellac dries much faster, can be repaired/cleaned with methylated spirits, covers knots and oily deposits...and produces a finish that can be modified from gloss to soft glow with a bit of fine wire wool and beeswax.

Colron Antique Oil (with Tung Oil) also scores high..being rubbed on in coats and drying fast with little tendency to alter the colour of the wood.

I confess to being a fan of Colron/Ronseal because they never let me down..... They may be a more expensive ways of buying stuff that I could have got cheaper as a generic but little things like what NOT to overcoat with what makes them almost foolproof to use. My huge swedish camphor wood travelling chest (which handsomely houses my bags of hydraulic lime) was stripped of its' red/brown paint and sanded to bare wood, re-conditioned with their Wood Reviver and finished with their Antique Wax.....and hopelessly abused by Yours Truly dragging stuff (including cement bags! )over it BUT can be brought back up to scratch really easily with a wipe over with Meths and a rubbing of Antique Wax.

If water and alcohol damage are not going to be an issue, give these softer finishes a try.

 

[thiambal]

I confess to being a fan of Colron/Ronseal because they never let me down

Do they do exactly what they say on the tin?

 

[Penners]

I confess to being a fan of Colron/Ronseal because they never let me down

Do they do exactly what they say on the tin?

Listen, thiambal - if I can resist using that line, anyone can.

Just behave.

 

[tony]

i have just finished varnishing my loung floor using.

ronseal contractor- quick cure- 1 pack floor seal, for domestic and commercial flooring.

100% cure in 12 hours ,recoat in 1.5 hrs, low odour, non yellowing

used the matt version, 5 litre can cost me about 40 quid, gave it 5 coats

purchased from painting wholesaler.

Best bit its water based, so easy clean up.

did the dining floor last year, still looks good.

best regards

tony

 

[Nemesis]

For any historic wood floor - I would not recommend a hard coating.

It eventually 'tracks' with wear and the whole lot has to be removed. This is not an easy job.

 

[tony]

theres nothing wrong with this type of coating.

it is designed for high traffic areas

if it does need re sanding its not a problem, as it a matt version a sand down with a 160 grit glasspaper or a rub down with course steel wool will suffice. and re coat the affected area.

or resand lightly with electric sander the whole floor and give another coat.

i dont think the likes of BLO or similar will be any good on a floor.

regards

tony

 

[Nemesis]

For a historic floor, I would suggest it really is better to use something else.

I wish I hadn't varnished mine, I am going to have to remove it someday and it's not going to be an easy job.

Depends really on the floor, the wood - but period floors need gentle treatment.

Something easily removed without having to use aggreassive methods and too much sanding in future.

 

[Moo]

Please, sir -what's BLO?

 

[Gervase]

*oiled *inseed *il!

 

[Toby Newell]

Hi cad

Pine = Not v durable wood even though older wood may be better cut and more finely grained. I would reccommend a quality microporous paint/stain from someone like Sikkens, dont know about Osmo but probably they do a similar product. Clear yacht varnish will look good but you really need some pigments in there to protect the wood from the UV. Tip: You can colour the wood with a pigment suspended in shellac then coat with clear yacht varnish for a lovely durable finish. You can vary the amount of opacity in the stain so will still be able to see the grain etc. This is what I sometimes do although the microporous stain/paint will be slightly more durable.

Inside, well old pine has a lovely colour but tends to go orange with a solvent based PU varnish so I wouldnt use that. It all depends on the "function" if your floor will get light use, i.e no children/pet destruction testing/friends happy to take shoes off then I dont think you can beat traditional shellac and wax. If you wear shoes in the house, have pets or children regularly visiting or lots of dinner parties! (spills etc) then you might want to look at a modern water based finish, the Ronseal mentioned is very good, so are Bona products, infact I use both myself. Osmo or any other oils fall somewhere inbetween in that they are more durable than shellac but less than the water based lacquers. Personally I dont think you can beat shellac for a period building. Click on the www at the bottom of this message and have a look at the gallery you will see an example of Nigels pine floor finished in shellac (It is colour matched with hand mixed spirit stains so your colour may be different but the sheen level would be similar)

Regards

Toby

 

[Penners]

Hello Toby. Welcome back!

Cad - for your information, Toby's advice can be regarded as highly expert.