Front Door and shutters

[Aitch]

Have just had new oak front door and shutterrs fitted and I am wondering what is the best treatment to use on them. We are not staining them, just leaving them natural. Would linseed oil be ok to use, or is there someting better and more dedicated to the oak? Any suggestions much appreciated.

Aitch

[Chris Head]

For exterior use, Lasure, an oil based product which inhibits UV rays and has anti-fungicide in it.  Buy the best you can.

[Chris Head]

>>The best finishes for oak are either nothing, or old-fashioned hand-made paint.If you are persuaded to use linseed oil, make sure you use the right kind, because some types stay sticky.<

Paint on an Oak door? Mmmmm.....Please don't be tempted to put linseed oil (either boiled or raw) on new, exterior Oak. It's passable for interior Oak, just. Nothing is fine but the timber really has to be dried properly.

Sorry to disagree Robin

 

[Alane]

I'd second the idea of using nothing - I made an oak door three years ago in a new oak frame that I put into our half timbered barn conversion in Normandy and decided not to stain it and it has weathered  and is now blended in well with the surrounding timber frame and looks great.

In this case I didn't put preservative on either the door or frame but have found that on some other replacement posts to which I did apply Xylophene that the oak has not weathered to the silver colour as the preservative seems to stop that process. The downside is that over a period of time the wood will decay but I reckon that it will easily see me out. I will probably wait a couple more years for the weathering to advance a little more and then apply preservative.

 

[Chris Head]

You don't need to preserve Oak, mother nature has that one figured out already, so Xylophene is just not necessary. Sure Oak will decay, but not in a hurry, perhaps in seven or eight generations somebody might think about having to replace it? By that time time I sure as hell wont care.

[Alane]

Chris

Belt and braces really and there is the worm to consider, the barn was riddled with worm as I'm sure all such buildings are - the posts on the door I mentioned already have some worm holes after four years. You're right though,  the door and posts will certainly see me out even without preservative worm or not. But what would you expect from an armchair theorist? :-)

I'm trying to save my descendants from the job I've done in replacing/repairing two main posts that had suffered from rot and worm. It's difficult to gauge exactly how old they were as the barn is around 200 years old but had been built from re-used timbers which had already suffered some rot when it was built!

edit - that's the last time I try to insert an emoticon, not sure how it got into the title.