What's best white oak decking treatment ... boards are over 20 years dried.. unbelievably hard. Tung oil ? I even was thinking hurculiner coating on them so there not slippery. But read herculiner wouldn't expand and contract enough for wood. But I don't think a twenty-year-old dried oak board is going to expand and contract much. Any ideas ? They need to be sealed there super dry. Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
How do they look after 20 years? If they look like they’d stand up for another 20, I might leave them be. Equal parts linseed oil, turpentine, and oil base paint offer excellent protection.
Ive heard a mix of 50/50 linseed oil and used motor oil was common on wood ladders although ive never tried it. Probably slippery.
Nothing in this world preserves wood like Pine Tar. This is an excellent pre-made product made from top quality Pine Tar & Linseed oil. Genuine Pine Tar: 100% Organic authentic Stockholm pine tar. - It will penetrate into the wood where it can't wear through, feed/rehydrate the fibers and it easily reapplied or spot repaired at any time. Smells awesome too. I would recommend the "Dark" colored version if you go with the pre-mix as it will have the highest concentration of tar. After applied and allowed to soak in, use a heat gun or other method to melt it into the wood. I wouldn't use Rhino liner or anything that can seal moisture inside and accelerate rotting.
White oak doesn't really need any extra treatment to resist decay (above ground). It's in the same grouping as other woods known for their durability.
I used tung oil on my flat bed/stake bed sides I built. It seems to be holding up great, (3 months now or so?) looks good but.. I don't know if I would use it on a trailer decking. I think it would make it slippery. Now my sides are a bit tacky still with that said but I think that is a bit user error (laid it on heavy and maybe too many coats) and supposedly you're supposed to keep it out of sunlight for up to 30 days and I didn't.. It seems to be a really great alternative though and I am glad I used it. I suppose you could always lay some grit down on it to help with traction?
I've been using Tung Oil & Linseed Oil for decades to finish hand made furniture and my wood carving. Can't imagine a reason to keep it out of the sun. I put it out in the direct sun immediately while still wet. Helps the penetration and polymerization. The most key thing to working with it is to wipe off ALL of the excess after letting it soak in for ten minutes or so and wipe it again after a short while if anything weeps out. Anything left on the surface will turn to goo. I wouldn't use straight Tung Oil on the trailer deck either, definitely would be slippery. Mixed with Pine Tar, that will not be a problem. Same mix I use on my axe handles.
That was probably where I went wrong, I didn't wipe off excess, I wanted it all to soak in. I did a 50/50 citrus oil/tung oil mix for first few coats to help it absorb into the wood, which didn't need wiped off, but when I moved to straight tung oil coats I left it lay. I thought the same thing about putting it right out into the sun, I read the keep out of sun online so that is always a grain of salt.. I didn't have space or time for that anyway, which was why I thought the tackiness was from exposure to sun right away. Good to know it was just because I didn't bother with wiping off excess. Since it was something to be abused it wasn't a big deal either way.
You can make the same mix using oil based poly or spar varnish (just poly with more solids) instead of paint if you want to see the wood. I use it on the floors in my house.
