Exterior wood repair query - cracking / linseed oil

[skhudy]

Wondered if anyone had experience or renewing outdoor wood with linseed oil?

We have some wooden railings on a balcony which have gone grey, very weathered, cracked and have been given no tlc for many years. it's probably 12m of railings / spindles to do.

I've been told linseed oil will bring the wood back to life so have been looking into it.

I've read I need to do the following
1) Sand the wood
2) Apply a mix of 50:50 linseed oil and white spirit
3) Apply an oil based primer
4) Apply several coats of linseed oil

I understand I would need to wait 24 hours between coats, probably more sanding as the wood comes back to life?

What I'm not sure about is the oil based primer - what would that be if I wanted a natural look / finish?

I'm open to advise or different methods

TIA

 

[opps]

Where did you get your advice from?

If the wood has become grey, yes, it will need to be sanded to restore it to its original colour. If the wood has previously been varnished, not only will you need to sand away the varnish but you will need to sand 0.25(?)mm of the timber as well to get back to the original colour.

The hand rails aren't too bad to sand, the spindles will take ages though.

Let's assume that you sand everything thoroughly, linseed oil will not stop the UV light bleaching the wood. Last week, a customer asked me to coat up a wooden graveyard cross. I used Osmo UV Protection oil

https://osmouk.com/product/uv-protection-oil/

I could have used linseed or teak oil but given that wooden crosses are normally only used for a year (until the ground is compacted enough to install a gravestone) I didn't want the UV light to change the colour. The Osmo has a UV factor level of 12. That isn't a lot but AFAIK linseed oil has no UV protection

 

[MisterBoy]

I've seen linseed oil used to maintain wood used on garden tool handles - looks lovely but those aren't (shouldn't be!) stored outside. Osmo sounds a great recommendation for a natural finish though of course the wood will still weather and need re-treating periodically.

Do you want the wood to look new again, or just to restore it from being cracked and horrible?

I was confused about the idea of applying primer and then oiling on top as I'd have thought a primer would seal the wood.

 

[skhudy]

I was looking at this site - https://thecraftsmanblog.com/revive-old-wood-w-boiled-linseed-oil/

I wanted to stop it looking so grey cracked and old looking!

Thanks for the info - and its a good point with the spindles. There are over 70 of them (rounded) I guess I need to assess what my time is worth and if its better to keep the posts and renew it all and maintain it from the get go which would guarantee the finish...

 

[MisterBoy]

... its a good point with the spindles. There are over 70 of them (rounded) ...

Yikes. Unless you can remove them I would not be embarking on that project!