Timber Framers Guild Forums General General Forum Questions Cleaning up pine

Does anybody have any ideas on the best way to clean up grayed, water stained white pine without planing or heavy sanding? Has anyone tried sand/walnut/corn blasting? I know in the UK they routinely silica blast freshly raised oak frames with good results but I'm unsure about the pine. Thanks

Why do you want to clean it up? What is your aversion to planing or sanding? Resaw the timbers. I don't know this from personal experience but have heard the blasting is costly. Tim

Bleach works well for cleaning up gray-wood, better on some species than others, but particularly well on EWP.

Regular old household bleach – Dilute it one to one in a garden sprayer, apply, then follow with a hosing – This fades the gray nicely, but leaves the wood dull looking – Follow with a treatment of Oxalic acid, commonly sold in powdered form in hardware’s as Wood bleach, this brings out some nice coloring, and is something I routinely do to Pine Frames after a cleanup planning and before applying finish.

I’ve also experimented in applying lightly tinted finish over light graying on newly hewn timber for a faux time driven oxidated look, even going to the trouble to roll sticks for even graying.

Never blasted anything, but I’d think Pine is not a likely candidate.

Tim – I have a deep aversion to sanding. Don’t own a sander, and if I buy sandpaper it’s by the sheet

call the folks at canadian log home supply. they've helped me out before with this very issue.

without going to the extent of corn blasting.

www.canadianloghomesupply.com

One of my crutches is the 6" orbital Bosch sander, I don't smoke or drink so I have to have something. I don't like it. I would rather hand plane a frame than sand it. I use it as an eraser at times. I have been sanding wall planks of late in lieu of setting up the planer, just taking the fuzz off.

A worse crime would be to sand an axe handle. I just made one and finished it with the spoke shave. Nothing is smoother than a clean cutting edge. It has ridges along the handle which I like. I finished 20 rafters, they had an adzed reduction at the foot followed with the spoke shave. Every time I handled the ends they left me surprised with the glossy feel. For some reason the surface made me think of white chocolate, another crutch.

I have never experimented with Oxalic acid or bleach for improving a timbers looks. Something to keep in the theoretical tool box to use later. Tim

The pine in question is in the frame, raised and closed in. The frame saw alot of rain before the owner put a roof on it. The interior is still in the rough-in stage so if blasting was the cure now is the time to do it. Planing would fix it I know but like I said the frame is up.

Hi,

Re Rays original enquiry, I believe that the use of silca sand blasting in the UK would no longer be permitted under Health and Safety at work laws because the resultant sand / dust mix created can cause sillicosis of the lungs. The other downside to this method of treatment is that the seasonal early / late wood becomes very pronounced and the wood becomes rough to the touch unlike a welcoming fine hewn surface.

Because blue stain in pine goes deep very quickly how can a surface treatment correct this problem ?

Regards

Ken Hume

I can not speak for Ray but it seems the issue is the graying of the timber. Not the blue stain. If there was a cure for blue stain, something that made it go away after the fact, I would nominate them for a Nobel award. The closest I have come is soaking the pine logs in the river for a few months. My guess is the sap gets dissolved.

As for my first post, if I had the info in Rays second post, frame up, I would of said: Leave it, natural stain. Sanding or worse planing a standing frame is torture, and there for the aversion. I have no issues with a grayed frame I like the contrast it brings.

Tim

Wood Renew under restoration in p's link sounds like it might work.

Tim

here is a photo of some test blasting we did this year
soda-left
corn-center
glass-right

The client liked glass the best, here is a closer look at glass blasting: