should we oil the oak yet?

[rog and gina]

We have finally come to an end with the new oak frame, and have started to limewash the new panels, the question is should we wait till most of the tannin(sp?) has washed away from the green oak before we use linseed oil on it all?
should we even be using linseed oil externally?
we love the effect of the linseed oil on all of the internal beams, and are able to get to it all easily while the scaffolding is still up(7 years and still counting!)
will the tannin be able to wash away through the oil or should we wait till next year when the rain has stopped streaking it?

sorry, lots of questions!

 

[biffvernon]

If you want to oil it, go ahead and oil it.

I think you may have a little bit the wrong idea about tannin. It is pretty mobile in green oak - and in oak a few years old. When the wood gets wet some will wash off but most of it won't and you don't want it too. Its the tannin that gives the oak its colour and, more importantly, gives the durability. You want to keep it in there.

 

[middi]

Our modern way of thinking, where exposed oak beams are concerned, is not the same as our ancestors.

They would have lime washed panels and beams, as the panels ( and oak ) shrunk, they would have stuffed the gaps with compacted hair, wool, etc... with lime putty and lime washed the whole lot again.

As trends,tastes,etc.. changed, the beams would have been painted black or left to age naturally to their silvery grey appearance.

Ox blood was also used to paint the " new" beams.

Obviously like most of us you like the look of the prominent exposed beams.

If you leave them in their natural state, the tannic acid will leach out and stain everything in its path but only unsightly in the short term, eventually they will turn silvery grey.

If you apply linseed oil, this will tend to seal the tannic acid within the wood and most of the initial unsightly problems are avoided, eventually they will still turn silvery grey.

As to using linseed oil internally on oak beams, this is not usually recommended as it tends to darken the wood and will become more of a dust trap. Bees wax will give the oakwood a more natural appearance and a sealing quality.
Unfortunately bees wax is of not much use in exposed situations.

 

[rog and gina]

thanks for the replies,
thats basically what we thought, just wanted to make sure before we started on the outside.

The inside had been covered over for so many years it needed something to make it look remotely like oak again, the rest of the green oak has absorbrd most of the oil and has helped blend the old with new, its now beginning to resemble a house again!

The option of limewashing the beams isn't really an option as we aren't allowed to change the outside due to the listing. The linseed oil does help disguise any bits of limewash left from years gone by tho, and any recent splodges of lime plaster!!!

Thanks again

 

[andrew gayton]

I would limewash over the whole lot .... that is how exposed frame was treated originally.