Can anyone share pictures and stories of sealers, stains, and oils for their raised beds, pergolas, and arbors? I am looking for something safe, effective, and cost effective too. Thank you!
I am building a pergola for growing grapes using pressure treated wood, and I’d like it to look nice, so I plan to stain the wood with something safe and effective that gives it a red cedar look. I understand I’ll need to let the wood dry out for a few months before staining.
My current plan is to apply linseed or tung oil every year or so, but I haven’t yet found a stain I’m happy with. I’m open to making my own using iron oxide if people have experience!
I don’t have any real answers for you, but am curious in the discussion. I have a bunch of arbors to make in my future, and they need to look nice.
In my experience, everything goes gray after a year or two in the sun. I coated my pressure treated mailbox frame with Danish oil (whatever that is haha) and it looked nice for about a year.
I dont have experience with outdoor stains. Would the coats of tung or linseed oil close up the wood pores, such that it may be difficult to get penetration of the stain, should you need to reapply it?
Have you considered a burned look, like Japanese style yakisugi? That seems to last. Unsure if there is any safety concern with charring pressure treated wood, though.
I used their oil based version years ago, and it was really good - good penetration, color retention, no visible film. Looks like they changed their formula to water based one, can’t comment on it.
next to using cedar or other rot resistant wood, i recommend eco wood treatment. its a powder you mix with water. its non toxic. i just replaced a 6 yr. old raised bed made with 1 x 12’’ fir boards, just sprayed it on the outside. i never thought it would last even a few years considering how wet it is here and type of wood i used, yet this wood treatment did. it comes in a gray box. can get it dyed but the undyed dries to a gray patina. its made in canada.
It sounds really amazing- do you happen to know what is in it? I’ll look more into this. It almost seems too good to be true: lasts forever in one application and non toxic and cheap? Usually I can only pick just one option (let alone two or three)
Per Google: boron salts, disodium octoborate tetrahydrate, and boric acid
yep. thats it. i didnt believe it either until i saw it for myself. a friend of mine recommended it to me. not sure what its made of. some kind of minerals if i had to guess .it has no smell. ive since used it on all six of my raised beds. just to let you know, it doesnt waterproof. actually every time it rains it leaches the minerals deeper into the wood. be careful around concrete as it will stain it permanently.
That’s good to know! I wonder if there’s anything wrong with combining this option with the iron oxide if I want to control the color. This is an extremely promising option! Boron/boric acid is a little worrying, but I think I’ll be able to stomach it after some more research. Thank you!
its been around for a few decades now so if it didnt work we would have heard about it. id be a little leary about mixing it with other chem / minerals. might effect color or interact together.
I’ll call more local lumber yards for black locust, cypress, etc. instead of going to HD for ACQ PT.
I’ll eco treat whatever wood I get
I’ll apply the stain and oil on it at first and whenever the urge hits me in future years if I don’t like the color. Though I’ll make sure there’s no interaction between iron oxide and tung oil and the eco treatment. I’ll need to look into this.
When this is built expect pictures
I’m open to more suggestions too if anyone has them!
the reason i used fir in my 1st. test of this was to see how well it really works. normally raw fir would be my last choice as raised bed wood. now i use plain spruce with this treatment instead of spending big bucks on cedar or ground contact p.t. id imagine treating cedar or b. locust with this would keep that raised bed around for you grandkids to appreciate for many years.
I’ve used iron oxide/red oxide mixed into linseed oil, I’ve also used burnt umber oil paint mixed in sparsely to give a brown sheen to the wood. it lasts at least 5 years I’ve seen. I am an oil painter though and stain frames too so I’ve got the stuff on hand.
linseed might not preserve color but it does help the wood structurally. slap more on every autumn.
that silvery aged wood is a nice color I think. you could always paint the stuff if you worry about looks. (paint in a color- outdoor paint)
That’s awesome! Do you have any pictures or suggestions on the ratios you’ve used? I was considering buying a few pounds of red and yellow iron oxide to mix into the oil.
I keep it thin- I just mix by “feel”, if it is still very very liquid but the color is visible in the mix, that’s what I aim for. like a glaze more than a stain honestly
not the greatest example but was close by to my rocking chair
left is linseed only. that gate I replaced it last spring. post is 3 year old, linseed oil and oxide red oil paint pigment powder. needs another coat of oil next year I bet. right is treated with the stuff you buy to “treat” and “protect” wood against weathering and sun, it’s 5 years old. grey, really dry. I’m slowly replacing sections of this fence with stuff I’ve painted and oiled and using the old wood as edges for the “beds” (piles I plant into)
This is an awesome example! It looks natural and a really nice color. I’m afraid my stuff would look like the right (if not just falling a part) after a few years, but the red tint in the center is pretty close to what I’m imagining.
yep a medium tube of the oil paint, you want oxide red- you don’t need the transparent, you’ll make it transparent by mixing it into your linseed oil
then just mix until it’s still very fluid, but you can see the color well in the oil. you can always add more pigment too. technically you could use almost any oil paint as a "stain ’ this way, some are fugitive though and the light exposure will damage them.
oxide red, soot black, titanium white, viridian, any of the cadmium yellows will be lightfast if they’re organic pigment. if you’re using it as a tint in your oil, it’ll be absorbed by the wood, it should not affect your soil or plants at all.
Golden is a pretty decent price point- they also use testing for lightfastness and openly report on it with their pigments. try a tube of it, see what you think, for me a single medium sized tube has been enough to do a large section of fencing.
Can you post a picture of what it looks like? I really need to stain/seal some pressure treated new and old stuff later this year. Was going to use leftover fence stain, but this lasting so long has quite the allure.
i dont have any ive done in the last 4 years. they are mostly blackish now. newly treated they look like naturally weathered untreated wood in about a week after application. i think theres a few pics on amazon under the reviews of what it looks like. makes nice light gray patina on a lighter wood.
By the way, I found it does come in several colors including red: Amazon.com: ECO Wood - Red : Health & Household but it seems their red has mixed results. Maybe I should learn to love the grey
