Outdoor Oak Finishing, or not...

[paulrbarnard]

I'm making a mason bee hotel for my wife for Christmas. I had ordered some cedar for it but it was not going to arive in time. Consequently I have used some oak reclaimd from an old table. This will be living outside fixed to a wall. I am putting a pitched roof on it and it will not have any end grain facing up. Reading through the forum the suggestion for something like this is to leave it unfinished. I'm happy for it to fade to grey and look a bit rustic over time. I'm struggling with not putting a finish on it though, probably my OCD wanting to get the wax out at least. I don't want to put anything on it that will cause a long term need to keep refinishing or feed fungal or algal growths. So can I wax it so it looks 'nice' when I gift it, or should I fight the urge and just leave it bare wood?

 

[RichardG]

I would leave it unfinished, I’ve never managed to treat oak regularly enough to stop it going black under the finish although that may say more about me. I would put a covering on the roof though, bit of slate, off cut of EDM, zinc sheet?

On some bird boxes I collected some aluminium beer cans, opened them out and then used the sheet to cover the roof, worked a treat.

 

[paulrbarnard]

I would leave it unfinished, I’ve never managed to treat oak regularly enough to stop it going black under the finish although that may say more about me. I would put a covering on the roof though, bit of slate, off cut of EDM, zinc sheet?

On some bird boxes I collected some aluminium beer cans, opened them out and then used the sheet to cover the roof, worked a treat.

Thank you, I was thinking about a tin roof covering. I have pitched the roof at 45 degrees so it is pretty steep. I also made a ridge to hide the roof join.

The drawers at the bottom have transparent tubes in them so you can see if there is a bee lavae in there. The big opening is getting two blocks of oak with the normal paper tubes (stops fungus and paracites as you replace them each year. The roof space is for 'natural tubes, reeds, grass stems etc for other types of bees. It's a bit rustic but thats what she wants

 

[--Tom--]

Unfinished though maybe coat the roof would be my vote

 

[RichardG]

Thank you, I was thinking about a tin roof covering. I have pitched the roof at 45 degrees so it is pretty steep. I also made a ridge to hide the roof join.
View attachment 98576
The drawers at the bottom have transparent tubes in them so you can see if there is a bee lavae in there. The big opening is getting two blocks of oak with the normal paper tubes (stops fungus and paracites as you replace them each year. The roof space is for 'natural tubes, reeds, grass stems etc for other types of bees. It's a bit rustic but thats what she wants

Wow, that’s more like a 5 star bee resort than a hotel, she will be delighted with that.