I am making a bar top for my camp that will be outdoors.outside all the time..It is made of old cross arm braces from electric utility poles. They are mahogany that has been treated with something. I was thinking breadboard ends. My questions are what to seal it with… I was thinking about trying to lock in any treatment with shellac then possibly something similar to Thompson's water seal or clear deck stain .. Does anyone have any suggestions???
Would a spar varnish lock in the treatment that was used in this wood.?? Notice the dark coloring in the pieces and how they have sweated into the others close to them.. Some of them are fairly wet still. Hopefully I can get this top to take some sort of finish being as wet as it still is.. thanks for the response..
if that wood is wet I strongly suggest you let it dry before finishing it. Rule of thumb for fresh cut timber is that it will dry 1" of thickness per year, that would be your worst case. Call the manufacturer of the finish you plan to use- they all have tech lines and are usually very knowledgable about their products.
I can't give you guidance on the treatment used in the wood. You should do some investigative work to find out exactly what is used in this wood- is it toxic? Maybe it's not suitable for a table top.
Keeping a top exposed to the elements flat, especially one as long as yours' may require something more than breadboard ends. The best way I know of to keep a top flat, other than or in addition to using quarter sawn lumber, is to kerf cut the bottom face of the top. Simple saw kerfs would work but are pretty ugly when viewed from the end. Bottom side relief cuts can also be made with a core box bit. On my outdoor tables, I spaced the center of the grooves about 2" apart and the depth was about ¼ of the thickness of the overall top. The tops, made from whatever sawn red oak, have stayed flat on a covered patio over several years and, with the rounded bottom side grooves, look fine to me.
While I have not used this particular product, Skikkens offers a product for wood exposed to the elements. From memory, the first application requires a sequence of three coats of differing products to lay down the initial layer of initial protection. Thereafter, on cedar at least, a refresher top coat is applied about every three years to continue the protection. My understanding is the refresher coat is only the last of the sequence of three products initially applied. I am familiar with this product because a friend whose home was built in the 1980s and clad in cedar used this product and has kept up with the maintenance. Even thirty years later the siding looks great. If you are interested, I recommend contacting a Sikkens dealer and discuss your requirements. I found the representative at Twin Creek Log Homes Supply very knowledgeable and can probably correct any info I got wrong and help select the best products for your application.
I know I would be tempted top tarp the bar top when not at the camp. If you elect to do this, ensuring air can circulate around the entire top would, I suspect, be better than laying a tarp directly on the bar top where moisture can be trapped.
I started on the breadboard ends.. thank you for all the replies..I'm going to wing it and see if shellac will seal it ….If I don't like it . It may turn into firewood….We shall see…
Shellac will not even remotely seal it against open weather. But mahogany is very rot resistant. Your biggest enemy will be UV against which a pigmented deck stain or paint is your best defense.
Shellac will break down pretty quickly from UV exposure. If you use it as an exterior "sealer" you will want to coat it with something with UV blockers.
Can you test some off-cuts to see if a marine varnish will bond to the spots that are bleeding the "something" that the wood is treated with?
I think you are going to wish you had included a long stub-tenon in that breadboard end, to keep the wood between the mortises flush with the BB end. You could still do it with a loose tenon.
I tested a scrap with some shellac and it seemed to seal off the bleeding treatment..I will try to follow up with n outdoor deck stain or the like when I get some. I may even try a spar varnish marine type also.. I am hoping they will go together… This wood was free mahogany so I had to try it…lol..Those breadboard ends are on the short side of the L-shaped piece the other two sides will have a long tenon..
This wood has been kiln dried then pressure treated with something.i believe that if I cannot seal it up then I'll have a piece of glass cut for the top..This only has to last us one year then it's for sale as we are moving campgrounds…
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