I have a friend doing the log work on a log house where I am installing radiant slab heat. He is building a rustic staircase out of thick white pine timbers for stringers and treads. Looks great but he is concerned about the softness of the white pine for treads. Asked me if I knew of anything that could toughen up the pine surface.
My best guess was some sort of penetrating finish that would fill the wood pores. Polymerizing is a term I’ve heard around some finishes but I’m not sure if it would apply here. Guessing a “danish” oil or tung- type product, but thought I’d check with those of you who know more about such things.
Suggestions?
Thanks – Roy
Replies
Good old Boiled Linseed oil will polmerize just fine. Ya said "rustic"..so my idea is let it get rustic.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
'Zactly. Pine used as flooring requires a mindset all it's own. It will scratch and dent more easily than anything else commonly used as flooring. You can see that as damage, or you can see that as a record of your life. I've put down around 800 square feet of pine boards in my house, all finished with linseed oil; I love it. There are crayon stains, dents, cat claw scratches at corners where they dig in while my kid chases them around. I've actually been surprised at how tough it's turned out, but it changes with time, as do we all.did<!---->Cure Diabetes - Death Valley 2006!<!---->
Yep, I'm sittin' here on the computer while the dog does screeching laps around the kitchen island on the 1886 heart pine, hoping the kids will drop pepperoni. That's the kind of patina ya' just can't buy. . .
Forrest
Kinda on the same subject... faced with buy'n 220 treads or using what i have... i have enough #1 2x10 pine thats been in my warehouse for at least 7 years (stacked right) that i think I'm going to put a heart pine nose on (i need 10 3/4") and i have enough heart pine that i can plane joint , glue & bis joint...... final plane and sand...
sound like too much work to save 5k? i was play'n and glued one up... looks pretty good... with a few guys work'n I know it will take several days... but... i kinda like the look... but open to ideas...
I'm with the other posters... the more dents the better... "character marks"
p
Wow. My pine is just 1x6 boards from Menards, splined and grooved together with face nails. It might be vintage 2005...did<!---->Cure Diabetes - Death Valley 2006!<!---->
Ok, reality is you cant make a soft wood hard. End of story. Now you can choose a finish that will hold up well to one sort of abuse or another, and that's where you / he should direct the search.
A penetrating oil ain't it. They look nice on jewelry boxes and things that don't get wear, but foot traffic, no. And polymerization is a term you're going to see in conjunction with oil finishes. Some of the higher grades have been heated to the point that they polymerize, which basically means they've changed to the point that they do form a slight film. The most prominent use I know of for polymerized oils is gun stocks.
For foot traffic, your best bet is looking at urethanes of one sort or another. You can use a poly. But I would at least get one thats designed for foot traffic, not a Minwax can off the Home Depot shelf. If you're feeling a little wild, at least look into something like Rexthane, which is a moisture cured urethane. You'll probably find it only at a paint store, and read the label first. The minute you crack the lid, it starts going. You can not use part of the can and store it. You can not look at the liquid and play with it and decide to use it two weeks later. You open it, you apply it, you live with whatever prep you've done at that point.
There are also some very good waterborne options out there. One local hardwood supplier sells only waterbornes, and while I don't know exactly what the thing is they put it on with, it looks a lot like a swiffer. Some kind of cloth square on the end of a stick. They mop it on, leave it alone for 24 hours. The pros and cons there, waterbornes will not give you the look, and often not the same sheen as an oil, but they are, or can be, extremely durable, and they are non yellowing by nature, so however it looks today will be how it looks ten years down the road.
Back to the initial comment - you can put an extremely hard surface on a soft wood, but you still have a soft wood under the film. You will avoid a lot in the average realm of scuffs and scrapes, but a rock in the boot or dropping something heavy will still yield the same end result. The film has only so much strength; it is not thick. I recollect vividly a stair in a house I trimmed last summer. Much effort went to protecting that during construction so as to avoid any damage at all. When the painters got to it, it was pristine. When the house was done, the movers used an appliance dolly to get an upright piano upstairs. At the nose, the weight crushed the wood, and each tread shows right where the thing passed. And that was on oak. I think that's illustrative.
"A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you." -Bert Taylor