I recently purchased 400 bf of unbelievable old growth heart redwood. The person that I purchased the lumber from gets this lumber from old wine vats (spelling?) from Northern California. It is extremely straight and very fine grained (25 to 40 grains per inch. When I resaw it I can showcase the wine stains and it is magnificent. He recommended finishing with a mixture of equal parts linseed oil, tung oil and turpentine. He told me that the mixture was the old “redwood” technique. I’m building a table top with some of it. I tested the mixture on some scraps and it’s gorgeous but too dark. Any recommendations?
Thanks,
Goathead
Replies
Why not just test a scrap with a wipe down of mineral spirits? That will be the color you get with a clear finish like a wipe on varnish. If you like it, then you are there.
The other mixture has a lot of oil in it. Decreasing the oil might decrease the darkening. Wipe a scrap with linseed only and see what it does.
Thank you for the advice. Ironically after I posted the message I went back to my work shop and ran a test on a scrap piece. One section with just linseed oil, one section with just tung oil and one section with linseed, tung and turpentine. Linseed and tung sections were similar with linseed slightly darker. Both were an improvement. All three mixed was too dark. Whether its the turpentine or the combination of all three it's amazing the color change when mixed. I should qualify that the outcome of the mixture is dazzling but just too dark for my taste. Thank you for taking the time to answer.
Goathead
Redwood is a gorgeous wood but it will definitely darken over time - no matter what finish you use. Unfinished and exposed to direct sunlight, it turns dark grey - eventually almost black. It's also pretty soft (about the same as pine) so I would be cautious about using it for anything that's subject to much heavy use.
Try some polyurethane on some scrap pieces. Poly gives a hard surface which will help resist dings. An exterior poly (with UV protection) will slow the darkening.
Thanks for the advice. I really wanted to use oil but I think you're right. I'd be better off with a poly. It won't see any direct sunlight and really won't see much use but dings are inevitible. Thanks for taking the time to advise.
Goathead
Redwood turns darker when it's coated with a finish. Like Gretchen said, wiping it with mineral spirits or any other clear liquid will give you a pretty accurate idea of what it'll look like when it's finished.
I've got a large turned Redwood burl bowl that I picked up at a Goodwill store several years ago. It looked like it'd been someone's Highschool shop project. It hadn't been sanded very well and whatever they'd used for a finish was all sticky. I paid $1.75 for it. I took it to work and stripped off the old finish with lacquer thinner and then sanded it down nicely. I was surprised at how much lighter it was without any finish on it. I then refinished it with lacquer. It certainly is dark with the finish on it. But, I think it's gorgeous. Sorta reminiscent of Carpathian Elm burl like you see as interior trimwork on exotic cars like Jaguars. In fact a painter buddy of mine who restores show quality hot rods thought that it was Carpathian Elm.
The way I look at it... yes, the Redwood turns pretty dark when finished. But, it's a very attractive look. I mean, look at how famous Carpathian Elm is as trim work in super expensive cars. There's certainly a market out there for that kind of rich, reddish colored wood even if it is on the dark side.
"Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud" - Sophocles.
We buy a varnish from Ohio that is like a paste, very easy to apply and work with. It looks great on any wood, fills the grain (which should not be a problem for you) and is most forgiving. It gives a good protective finish and has all the attributes of varnish (and draw backs.) I don't remember the name off hand but if you are interested let me know and I'll get it later. Any finish with tend to darken the wood to some degree. Terry
old growth heart redwood.. DANG you one of them guy standing in front of that HUGE Redwood you could drive a M1 tank through??
OK.. Just funning you.. If it is cut already.. Why not use it...
I had a really nice Redwood deck around out BIG old Above the ground pool.. The Kids grew up using it ever day in summer and it had snow and ice on it all winter..
As i remember it was out in the yard about 20 years here in chicago..
As I remember only one board rotted out.. I just cleaned the wood in spring with fresh water and a scrub brush! OH.. And in the fall when we shut the pool down...
EDIT:: I forgot.. Some sanding in the spring to get rid of any slivers sticking out.. That Redwood is SOMETHING special..
Edited 8/6/2005 3:45 pm ET by Will George
One of the bennies of living in CA is that redwood is very common and usually reasonably priced. I use quite a bit of it for decks, etc - although Trex and other man-made products are catching on.
I paid for my surface planer when I recycled my 20 yr old deck after tearing out a semi-underground pool. I was able to salvage almost enough S4S 2x6 redwood boards to build a new 400 sq. ft. deck. I had to buy 6-8 new deck boards and when I ran them thru the planer so I would have the same thickness as the old boards, I was surprised to find that I took almost nothing off of them. - lol
In the process of salvaging the old deck boards, I generated about a yard of redwood shavings that got spread around and tilled into the yard.
I have used the same material and I put Dekswood cleaner on it from The Flood Co. It made the redwood its original pink color in about 20 minutes. I then used conversion varnish. Any finish will do though. CWF from the Flood Co allows you to clean the redwood when it darkens again later. aloha, mike
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled