How to get a white painted look to an arbour

[GrinAndBearIt]

I'm currently designing an arbour ... and need it to have a white painted look. We also would like quite a chunky look to the pillars (eg. 8" square posts ... or maybe even 10"), and you can't get this in planed all round. The guy at the timber yard was suggesting buying rough sawn stock and then using a belt sander and then some kind of staining oil I think he said.

Does anyone have any experience of this approach? We don't mind a reasonably rough finish, but do not want to have to treat the timber every year or re-oil it etc..

Here's a rough pic ...

... thanks for any tips or advice you might have!

Untitled

• GrinAndBearIt
• 15 Apr 2015
• 1

 

[Deleted member 174758]

The guy at the timber yard was suggesting buying rough sawn stock and then using a belt sander and then some kind of staining oil I think he said.

Does anyone have any experience of this approach?

The rough sawn and sanded look is used in a lot of posh restarants and up-market pubs these days. It can look very good

We don't mind a reasonably rough finish, but do not want to have to treat the timber every year or re-oil it etc.

Face it. If you have an external timber structure there are probably but three choices if you want a long life:

1. Use tanalised timber it and restain every 3 to 5 years. The issue is that tanalith comes in two colours, brown or green ONLY which will bleed through any stain for the first 6 months or so

2. Use a durable hardwood (or softwood) which doesn't need painting e.g. teak, iroko, English oak (not American), etc (or in softwoods (US or Canadian red cedar). These timbers will fade-out to a sliver grey look over 2 to 5 years. BTW you CAN get 8 x 8in or 10 x 10in planed oak and other timbers if you find a more knowledgeable supplier (this size is boxed out from the heart of the tree and is used for gence posts) - not as easy, but I've had 24 x 9in planed pitch pine in the non too distant past (although it took some finding!). All your yard is doing is admitting ignorance IMHO.

For whiet finish on a durable hardwood (NOT cedatr, though) you might want to consider either milk paint or chalk paint which are far more durable than conventional stains and paints. They won't work very well on tanalised timber ad they can't protect untreated softwoods, though. Expect 2 coats to give you 5 to 15 years

3. Use an untreated timber and protect and restain it annually

 

[GrinAndBearIt]

Thanks J&K ... ok, I'm plumping for option 3 ... chiefly because we live in a rendered building and have to have a very light painted structure ... and it's only £30/post in material costs for these 8" x 8" timbers ...

Is this the kind of thing that would work do you think? It seems good in that you can build up to the opacity you require ....

http://www.protekwoodstain.co.uk/by-colour/white-wood-stain

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Probably. Do the manufacturers say how long their coatings will last?

 

[foxhole]

You could run a plane over the sawn timber for a smooth enough surface to oil.

http://www.osmouk.com/sitechaptern.cfm?bookid=Products&chapter=82&page=263