Dry brittle pine

[joshvegas]

I have an old set of drawers, basic very old kinda rough set. they started off in a steamer cabin as a full cabinet that was ripped oit and used by my mums family. One day her brother decided to climb it to get my grandads service revolver (different times). Apparently it ( and my grandad i imagine) exploded and the drawers are whats left.

Anyway, the drawers are pretty rough but they are about to get a new lease of life under my enlarger in the darkroom. In trimming some of the backboard i noticed the old growth pine is incredibly dry and brittle, with glass like splinters going everywhere when i cut it. The family connection means i want to do something if i can to atleast prolong their use.

My admittedly brief googling seems to throw up lots of "give them a polish" which isn't whats needed, i want i think to penetrate them with some to inject a bit of life back into the cells.

So what should i do? Just leave? BLO? I might have some real turps somewhere aswell.

 

[kinverkid]

This is just my theory and I'm prepared to be shot down for it. If you wipe over the area with turps, Isopropanol or meths immediately before applying BLO then my theory is that the temporary breakdown of the finished surface should allow the BLO to be absorbed more readily. This is based on glueing two oily wood surfaces like Teak together. Giving the surfaces a wipe with a spirit breaks down the oils in the top fraction of a millimetre long enough for PVA glue to soak in and become part of the wood.

 

[Cabinetman]

Just for a split second I imagined you giving them a new lease of life by enlarging them using your enlarger lol.

The glasslike splinters are not something I’ve encountered, are you sure they’re not the original finish?

 

[joshvegas]

There is no finish on the inards. Glass like in that they are dry and sharp rather thats the sort of fluffy sawdust i would expect with pine.

 

[Jacob]

I've used lots of "old growth" pine at various times and often the amazing thing is how little it differs from newer stuff. I suppose it depends on where it's been for the last 50 or 100 years etc.
Post a photo of your stuff perhaps?
Splashing linseed oil on is good for almost everything, wood and metal alike.

 

[joshvegas]

See i would agree with you Jacob. Apart from being a noce colour and denser growth rings any old pint i have dealt with has just been "pine". This os almost like its just about to char. When i snap the eng pieces the inside have the reflective look, the brittle feel and the very light weight i associate with charred wood. Its just medium brown rather than black.

 

[Jacob]

See i would agree with you Jacob. Apart from being a noce colour and denser growth rings any old pint i have dealt with has just been "pine". This os almost like its just about to char. When i snap the eng pieces the inside have the reflective look, the brittle feel and the very light weight i associate with charred wood. Its just medium brown rather than black.

Sounds like a pine variety or something else. There are hundreds, with scots pine (a.k.a. redwood) just being the most common in Europe

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I have an old set of drawers, basic very old kinda rough set. they started off in a steamer cabin ... .....old growth pine is incredibly dry and brittle, with glass like splinters going everywhere when i cut it .... brief googling seems to throw up lots of "give them a polish" which isn't whats needed, i want i think to penetrate them with some to inject a bit of life back into the cells.
So what should i do? Just leave? BLO? I might have some real turps somewhere aswell.

I understand what you mean by wanting to put a bit of life back into the cells. Obviously you can't bring the cells back to life because they're dead, but you are hoping to soften the wood and make it less splintery which you're interpreting as 'life'.

No kind of oil, wax or finish is going to really penetrate into the wood. The best you might hope for is a two or three millimetre penetration, and even that's unlikely. I strongly suspect the wood is within the normal range of moisture content that might be found in internal furniture, i.e., between about 7% MC at the low end up to perhaps 13-14% MC at the wetter end, so not incredibly dry at all.

If it's truly brittle, and this depends on your understanding of what brittle means in timber technology terms, it is slightly possible the wood has what's known as brittle heart or is brashy caused by the way a tree grows and the stresses it experiences in life. Exceptionally slow grown wood with very close together growth rings can be another cause of brashiness, but this is mostly to be found in ring porous species such as ash and oak. Another cause of brittleness can be when wood experience high heat: this occurs during high heat treatments undertaken in wood processing to confer durability in service (don't rot easily) or wooden items in service in high heat areas become brittle, e.g., wooden ladders in boiler rooms, etc. I mention this last cause of brittleness because you mentioned a steamer cabin, but is that a boat, or perhaps more like a sauna, ha, ha. I suspect the boat. Slainte.