Re my latest lockdown DIY job. Im currently decorating my son's bedroom. Frtunately we have wooden roof beams.
They were really dark stained before and I wanted natural wood as light as possible so I firstly sanded them down with a mouse sander with 120 grit
I then put 2 coats of oxalic acid (wood bleach) on and they're still to dark. The photos a were taken a minute ago
I now don't know what to do. My plan was that the oxalic acid would lighten them loads and then I'd put on 2 coats of diluted Danish oil to seal them. However this would darken them further.
Now I'm thinking just paint them but I'm a natural wood guy and it's one of them period features that I don't want to slap paint on.
I've ruled out sandblasting and any more sanding as i need to crack on with this job before I finish painting.
Also I don't want to spend anymore money. The emulsion and velux blackout blinds will cost £100 ish and carpet a couple of hundred.
What would STW do? I just want to enhance the natural wood, lighten it if possible and then seal it.
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I think they look good like that. Old beams would look odd all perfect imo.
Please leave them. They look fantastic!
It goes against what you wanted to achieve but I would go with 2 coats of undiluted teak oil.
I would wax them with something like briwax. You won't make them lighter with oxalic acid. That's more for water stains and ink stains in my opinion.
Get a cloth. Dig it into the wax and get a good handful. Work the cloth around in your hand for a while until it becomes really soft; almost like liquid. Wipe over the timber thoroughly. Scrub off excess with a scrubbing brush, buff with a soft cloth if you think it's necessary.
You could get them cleaner by belt sanding but be careful not to sand too far.
Do not paint them.
They look class and exude history and mystery.
As above, I think they look quite good.
I was asked to paint over some lovely wooden beams by a customer and although it definitely lightened the room up, it also ripped the heart out of it.
Just leave them be.
Done the same to a few lintels in our dining room over nooks and the fire place, some came up nice, others just looked drab and knackered. A lot of work and we will end up painting the less good ones. I'd have go over them with some 80 grit, pock a bad bit and see if it's going to come up decent, worth rethinking your timescale to get them nice, then either briwax or osmo clear high solids oil.
Leave alone, they look good as they are and will most likely lighten more if left, you could sand them once year when you have some spare time to aid the process. If you paint then they will look good for a bit then look awful after a couple of years. you won’t have time to sand back and repaint so will just repaint and then 15 yers down the line they will be a lumpy flaking mess.
Thanks for replies
I won't paint them. I'll have another go at sanding with a coarser grit. Unfortunately Screwfix are all out of cheap dust masks for some reason 🙂
Sanding them further will spoil them you'll loose all the saw marks and it'll just look boring.
They look great as they are
