Oregon Restoration advice for Overseas

Hi everyone!
I am a newbie in your forum, living in Greece. Our house was built in 1968 and the balcony rail still exists today; it is a metal structure decorated with wood (see pics). My father told me it was made from imported OREGON, or at least this is what this wood was called back then.
As you can see from the pictures, it is very much neglected, the top rail has deep ‘grooves’ on the surface and the side panels have peeled away to show black surface. Back in ’68 and for some years, it used to be treated with VARNISH, that we had to sand and reapply over and over, until many years ago I started treating it instead of varnish with ‘Absorbing Oil Treatments’ (sorry I don't know the terminology) that needed reapplying only where the sun and rain required it. The brand of ‘Absorbing oil’ was SADOLIN, made in northern Europe back then, it is no more made, but I've been using similar local stuff lately.
I thought the wood was totally destroyed and was about to replace all of it, but the I tried an electric planer and to my great surprise and delight, I discovered underneath the wood in almost perfect condition, and that is after 50 years!!! WHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is what I plan to do next:,

1. Use the electric planer and sander to bring out good wood with smooth finish
2. Apply a coat of ‘Fungisidal’ treatment
3. Apply one or two coats of EITHER ‘Absorbing Oil Treatment’ or TEAK OIL. Which one is correct? I’ve read that TEAK wood and the similar IROKO should only be treated with pure Teak Oil. Is that the case for Oregon as well?

Your comments and advice will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks ahead,
Aris

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Hi again, seems I got no replies to my questions, am I doing something wrong?
Aris

Hi Arislgr, and welcome to the forum.
Oregon pine is a softwood and will happily absorb all oils; I really can’t comment on what your “absorbing oil treatment” is but I suspect it’s a generic oil based preservative.

To be frank I don’t think it matters too much which one you pick as you will need to be reapplying it every year anyway. Teak oil is very runny and oregon will suck it up quickly, maybe a thicker oil like boiled linseed oil will be more economical over time if that is available to you.

Be gentle with that electric plane! They can remove a lot of material very quickly, personally I’d only be using a sander. Oxalic acid will also remove the old grey weathered wood and leave clean fresh orange timber behind with the advantage of not really affecting the texture.

Should say that most of Australia is distracted this week by what is commonly known as the 'footy finals'. One minor code plays tomorrow, the major code played today.

Normal service will resume momentarily...




Russ

Hi,

I support Chief Tiff's response. Often only gentle sanding will be required because Oregon (also known as Douglas Fir) is so soft.

EBay can be a good supplier of Oxalic Acid in powdered form but many companies also sell (much more expensive) ready-made solutions. I don't know what the supplier names will be in Greece but the paint sections of any good hardware store should have a timber restorer product - check the ingredients list for Oxalic Acid.

An oil finish is a good idea if you want to keep it looking like timber. There are some excellent oil finishes used for boats and marine environments. I use one called Deks Olje and it lasts better than others that I have tried. The big advantage of the oils is that you can re-coat without sanding if you do it before the timber goes dark.

No clear finish will last a long-time on timber outdoors. Traditionally all outdoors timber was painted with an opaque paint. I have seem outdoors timber painted brown so that it looks like wood, but the finish lasts much longer.

Hope this helps.

David

Thanks so much you all ! I'll try to sand most of the surfaces like you wrote but some others like the top rails have deep grooves, so I'll use the planer as carefully as I can. Then oil finish it will be and not Teak oil as you suggest.
Again THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aris

I live where it grows. Be careful sanding it. Use a sanding block. The light layers are much softer than the dark layers of the rings and will sand away faster, leaving ridges if you're not careful. Most of our old growth is either gone or protected these days. It can be difficult and expensive to find boards of that quality now.
As far as finish goes, the other guys have already pretty well covered it. I would lean toward finishes intended for boats as well.

Thanks as well!
Aris