If you completely sealed a plank of dry wood, say in oil paint or smothered it in rubber cement (I'm assuming oil paint dries to a gas-prof finish), would the wood actually be preserved, or would it eventually rot anyway?
Thanks in advance.
Even "dry" wood isn't all that dry.
Many paints have pinhole defects. Some of the oil based aluminium primers come close to the ideal waterproof and gas tight seal.
Indoors wood lasts almost forever if you keep it dry. Outdoors and/or in contact with soil something will rot it away no matter how much CCA you dose it with. Impervious finishes have a nasty habit of falling off.
Usually wood rots from the end grain and knots so pay particular attention to those if you are putting something in to last.
Thanks, Martin. Do you have any experience with Accoya?
Wood changes shape with temperature (and humidity). Many paint finishes aren't flexible enough to accommodate the changes. If the coating was able to exclude all oxygen then it wouldn't rot (eg ship timbers found in seabed mud) but many paints aren't sufficiently flexible and would crack, letting humidity and oxygen in.
Theo
None. If I want a nearly indestructible hardwood for outdoors then I would probably go for opepe used for dyestuffs filters and waterways.
You pretty much have to use metalworking practices on it drill and screw. Very hard brittle as hell and shatters if you try to nail it.
The fresh wood is a rather wonderful orange not done justice by the online database. It weathers to a silvery grey. There is almost nothing in the UK that can touch it.
There is always a price to be paid for near indestructibility. In this instance it is that you have to be very careful how you use it.
Depending on where you are in the UK there are a few decent timber dealers about who still know their stuff and have unusual hardwoods.
If appearance isn't too much of an issue, old sleepers could be considered, such as at
Also see "Untreated reclaimed Jarrah A Grade sleeper" at
Note, however, that jarrah is extremely hard and is said to blunt saws very quickly. TCT blades are recommended. It is a very nice wood, so if you've got a spare half-hour you could make something like this:
If it were fully dry and totally encapsulated it would not rot, but either is difficult to ensure.
It should in theory be preserved.
best answer yet +1
The (iron) hull of the SS Great Britain started to disintegrate when it was brought back from the Falklands to Bristol so now it is in a dry dock with a glass roof to simulate the water level and underneath it is permanently heated and dried, courtesy of RTZ, or Rio, now that the 'Zinc' seems to have been dropped.
God knows what the annual energy bill is for that.
Hasn't the Cutty Sark been given the same arrangement ?
Rot is a fungal decay that requires both damp and air.
So wooden objects are preserved in the dry desert since ancient egyptian time, they can also be preserved underwater, especially in certain types of mud which prevent oxidation, or pickled in acid bogs which prevent fungal decay. People often observe that boats left afloat rot above the waterline (rainwater and air) quicker than below the waterline (not much air).
So yes, if you could seal a piece of wood well enough (which would be hard) you would keep out the air and the damp and it would never rot.
TW
Oh yeah, I didn't think about that, or peat bogs, etc. Thanks!
Thanks Martin, that's really interesting. Do you recall is it was a particularly oily wood when you got hold of it?
Thanks!
Ah yeah, did one of those this mornng.
It is a bit nasty to work with. Hard brittle and splinters easily but not actually oily. Fresh cut it is a wonderful shade of orange.
My recollection is that it would take oil based varnish OK but would happily survive outdoors almost indefinitely without any treatment. No experience og it with modern water borne formulations.
Being in direct contact with wet soil will do for it eventually but we are talking several decades. A decent wood merchant will have samples.
Do check that you can work with it before bulk buying. It is closer to metal working than woodwork because it is so brittle. Nailing is out.
Such a vulgar activity anyway... ;)
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