burning cladding as a finish

[jimbob01]

hi all im just wandering as a finish has anyone opinions and advice on burning cladding as a finish? I've tried it on a door and brought the grain out well.... was thinking it probably would stop micro organisms eating the timber over time?
I have some Douglas fir to clad a hut with and am weighing it up!
any opinions appreciated . jim

 

[baldkev]

Hi,
Ive done it on a project in the past. I didnt want to burn it black, so i burnt it to give it a contrast ( see piks )

However.....

About 6 months later i noticed it no longer looked burnt unbelievably, it must have been sun bleached and has since gone grey.... my take-away from that was that you probably need to actually catch it on fire and let it burn a bit.... after you start torching it, you singe the wood fibres and a resinous layer seemed to come out ( douglas fir ) and I stopped at that rather than going for full shou sugi ban

 

[Jameshow]

My dad used to do it to bee hives each year to kill the baddie bugs. Must has preserved them too I expect.

 

[Orraloon]

It is an old Japanese method of preserving wood. This guy uses it a bit in some of his utube stuff.
mr chickadee youtube - Video Search Results

Regards
John

 

[Adam W.]

You need to torch it good and proper to give it some sort of decay resistance. Just a light toasting does nothing, as the burnt surface wears away with the weather.

 

[jimbob01]

ok so from what I can gather so far the wood needs to be pretty heavily burnt in order to halt the decomposition to a large degree.... looks nicer partly burnt as in baldkevs pics... thanks for the pics btw.....;-)

 

[Jameshow]

You need to torch it good and proper to give it some sort of decay resistance. Just a light toasting does nothing, as the burnt surface wears away with the weather.

Dosent taste too good though....!

 

[jimbob01]

Thanks for the replys .. much appreciated

 

[baldkev]

You need to torch it good and proper to give it some sort of decay resistance. Just a light toasting does nothing, as the burnt surface wears away with the weather.

Yep, unfortunately a black burnt look probably wouldnt help sell the unit i made, i think most people would opt for the toasted look instead of cremated it was an interesting experiment though

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Burning for durability is an old fence builder's trick used for the posts that go into the ground. As others have said the burning undertaken is pretty severe to confer additional longevity in ground contacting wood. Slainte.