Sanding and Oiling

Firstly I would not call myself a great craftsman or even all that good or confident with doing things with wood but am willing to give it a try.

So I decided to build the deck at my house. I think I have done a pretty good job. It is about 6.5m by 4m and was finished on Sep 17th 2006 (approx 4 months ago)

I am now deciding if I need to sand the deck before oiling the deck with a natural oil. The deck is made of Merbu. I have punched all the nails and have been washing it on a semi regular basis to let the tanins bleed out. THe deck is covered by a pergola.

I am concerned that if I use a belt sander to sand back the top of the deck I will not get an even finish on the edge of the boards as they are ever so slightly rounded. If I sand the tops of the boards once I oil it will the edges look a darker color or will the oiling make it all come up the same.

I hope this makes sense and hopefully I can have some advise. If you need more info let me know and I will post some pics of what I have done.

Thanking you all in advance.

Sanding will lighten it up quite a bit and you are right in thinking it will look different to the edges. However, it will darken again over time.

I didn't sand mine (merbu) at all but used good oil (Feast & Watson). It looks a treat.

Although i did have to sand a few rough bits which turned lighter. Now, after 6 months, you couldn't tell where i sanded and where i didn't.


make sure it gets about 3 or 4 coats and don't put it on too thick. Otherwise it stays sticky for ages.