Blue moss on pine beams

I have a post and beam frame all closed in from the weather that has been sititng for two years, I am now finishing the beams and there is quite a bit of blue moss that has blead through.
Has anyone had good luck with a product to remove / kill this before I stain the beams.

I am told that a bleach will make that area diffrent form other areas when finished and TSP leaves a greasy film that really needs to be hosed off which I cannot do.

I am also looking for some ideas on what to use for a finish,looking to keep the natural look of the wood without adding a color, I tried linseed oil but turned very yellow quickly and water base does not give a very natural look unless somebody had a diffrent experience.

I presume it is not really blue moss. More likely you are talking about the blueing of the sap wood present in the pine? If it is the blued sap wood you will most likely not be able to remove it. Sanding it will get rid of the surface crud, but the true blue is throughout the sap wood.

If it has been under cover for two years it should now be dry enough that all the blueing has occurred and will not continue, you have what you see. Bleach is very harsh and I don't feel it will do much good at this point.

It appears you have a conflicting problem in your query about what stain to use, but want to keep the natural look of the wood? I believe the vast reasoning on using oils and or stains will come down to personal choice. I don't see a lot of reasoning behind oils and even more stain. One place I can see oil use is in a high traffic area where it may get handled a lot. The oil will keep it to a consistent shade. Where if left naked it will pick up hand oils and grime, leaving behind a more and truer natural patina. It is these human traces I find interesting, you get to see our reactions within the building, this is the true natural state.

Perhaps others with more oil experience will chime in.

I'm not sure if God can remove blue stain -- I've certainly had no luck despite much effort and many, many different products and methods tried. The problem is that it is actually inside the cell walls and it goes deep into or all the way through the wood, so you can't sand it off.


That being said, I really like landark wood finishes (www.landarknw.com) specifically the original finish for an all purpose finish. It doesn't add a color, but it does deepen the color already there (including the blue of the blue stain.)

Good luck and if you do find the silver bullet of blue stain removal, I'd love to know it.

I've become a Landark addict as well.
As for the blue stain, call it a 'denim pine' frame and enjoy.

Hello,

Sunlight will do the trick over time. I've never known of an ugly piece of intact wood given time. This may change through as many of the works with coated surfaces get on in age. Of all of these transparent or semi-transparent finishes oil will be the least damaging. If you experienced to much yellowing this would come from the particular oil used and not oil in general. Perhaps it was boiled linseed oil for example which will yellow excessively and should not be used as a transparent finish on wood other than darker colored ones. Just be content in the knowledge that in twenty years, hopefully a short span in the live of this structure, the untreated wood will have mellowed in color, everything blending together nicely and only getting better with more time whereas in the case of any transparent finish, the opposite is the case. It starts out looking fine often but it's all down hill after that.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

I had a steep learning curve with stain in pine last year. From it I learned to sticker pine (mostly ponderosa in my case) with lots of air flow (4x4), and not cover with tarps. I used roof metal or plywood. I tried a low voc product that was supposedly for the purpose of mildewed or blue stain, and bleach, but with very limited success. Coupled with sanding, it lightened on pieces that were only lightly stained, but I still discarded one freakishly stained piece. I've landark and its great, but I am personally beginning think oils can give the wood a bit of a plastic look.

Brandon

I was told that light colored wood darken with age, and dark colored woods lighten with age.

I don't know if that helps you, but as mentioned blue stain is there and there is nothing that will remove it.

Jim Rogers

It's Nature's own staining process. I've seen some man made "blue pine" products out there and they never look the same as the real stuff. Don't fight it, embrace the beauty and enjoy. As for finish, we used 50/50 mix of raw linseed and turp mix, no plastic look and brings out the grain.

Diluted bleach will stop it in it's tracks, but it won't get any lighter.

Thank you for the info.
Have you ever used the Land Ark natural wood finishes?

I would say it may slow it down. Dead in its tracks, not so much in my experience. Depends on when you catch it and other factors, like moisture content and temperature. Fresh cut timber in June, it grew 1/4" hair, pressure washed and bleached and it came back in a week. It turned out fine after it dried out.

Hello,



Maybe if it had been cut in January, sawn right away and stickered good, this would have stopped it dead in its tracks. Not necessarily because of lower moisture content of winter-cut trees which is apparently a myth but there are other pertinent factors. I butcher a pig in December because it's cold enough to keep bacteria at bay while the meat cures and the moisture content drops some so that when warmer temperature comes the meat is less susceptible to bacteria invading. Doing it in June would be impossible. It's just the point that maybe we ignore the traditional wisdom at a certain cost.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

Yes, that is for sure Don. These trees were cut in the end of May or first of June I don't recall exactly the day but it was what I had to do, not ideal at all. As for white pine, just about all of it will blue up around here, regardless of when it was cut. Maybe if it was cut November and was cared for properly. There are two way of avoiding it for sure, one is to cut all the sap wood off for it is just the sap wood that blues. And I have had great success with logs soaked in the river, no pitch left to feed the microbes. Well, except for the wood exposed while floating in the water. Oh, I just thought of a third, use hemlock.

Hello,

Yes. River soaking. Ideal!
With the but ends facing up stream to boot.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

But temperature is no entirely enough. A year ago I had pines in 3 different senerios simultaneuosly. I stored some timbers in my 3 walled shop, that got no sun, with 1" stickers We were having single digit to 20's degrees temps. I thought this would be ok. Forgot about them for 2 weeks. holy moly. Fir no problem. Heartwood on pine no so bad, sap yes. One box-heart pine sap all around even had crazy red streaks in it. Once moved stickered with good air flow the problem stopped.
Brandon

These timbers were cut late November, sawn within week or two. That day was the first sticking snow of the year. Freezing temps through it all. No real stain well stacked timbers. prefer 4x4 cedar stickers

Hi Heavydraft,

How old were your pines when cut and typically what number of heart and sap wood growth rings and the heart/sap radial dimension from the pith plus the outer (under bark) sap dimension.

Regards

Ken Hume

Hello,

Very correct Brandon, temperature being only one of three main things, atmospheric moisture and air circulation the other two.

I would most like to stack wood standing vertically outside, with spaces in-between for lowering moisture content, keeping it out of direct sunlight and under cover for protection from rain. It's all an ideal, not so practical in my circumstances so I revert to the less than ideal. After sawing I stack in a place outdoors, substantially up off the ground, covered to shed rain but not inhibit air flow, in a shadowy place, where it will catch the good wind. Truly important is the material used in stickering. If not absolutely dry staining will occur. The stickers should be of a softer wood and not plywood or something similar and these stickers should be in line throughout the stack. Good if you have the space to use 4x4 stickers. Sometimes I go as thin as half an inch just to save the needed room.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff