white oak finishing question for outdoor use

[zapdafish]

I am building a grill cart out of white oak that will most likely live outside under a cover. At first I wasn't planning on doing much more than throwing on General Finishes Exterior 450 but have decided to use this as a learning experience since I haven't done much staining/finishing.

So far, the stuff I liked the best  is fruitwood watco danish oil. The only thing is the instructions say it is for indoor use only. If I let it cure/set  long enough, can I then cover it with the General Finishes Exterior 450? It's a water based finish. At first I wasn't sure I liked the look of QS WO, but after that danish oil hit it, I did a 180. I will def be using QS WO it alot more

It has also been recommended that I use a marine/spar varnish so I was thinking about waterlox but I already bought some General Finishes for testing. Waterlox is pretty pricy for a test patch.

thnx....Steve

 

[chris mann]

Any film based finish (varnish, etc) will need periodic maintenance.  This usually requires scuff sanding the piece and applying more finish, but if you let it go too long it can require a stripping and refinish.  If the cart is truly under full cover, you'll probably get a few years before you have to freshen it up, but if it's exposed to the weather and/or sun much, who knows.

I find with most outdoor projects either no finish or a simple tung oil finish is much easier to maintain, you just have to accept that the wood will eventually go a grayish black.

-chris

 

[tjbnwi]

If someone in the house hold has a nut allergy avoid the tung oil. Other than that I agree with Chris on the finish.

Tom

 

[allen r austin]

i have used the 450 and love it!!
last about 2 years if you are careful and keep it out of the sun 
Allen

 

[awdriven]

Is this for a Big Green Egg perhaps? (My other green obsession)

White oak weathers nicely. I have an Ipe top on my egg table and used Cabot's Australian Timber Oil and it worked well for a piece with moderate exposure to the elements.

 

[awdriven]

I built a grill cart about 4 years ago and used Ipe 4 inch decking planks for the tops, and painted red cedar for the legs and frame. I used an exterior house paint on the cedar and its held up very well.

The Ipe, I finished with Cabot's Australian Timber oil. I kept it covered most of the time when I wasn't using it. After 4 years, the top had weathered and grayed noticeably - but with the covering, I'd say it lasted at least 3 times as long as that same finish would have lasted on a deck.

Being a grill table, the ipe also got occasional splotches of fat and oil. This was pretty hard to bear at first, but whatcha gonna do.

With the RO90 recently added to my collection, it seemed like a perfect time to give it a real test. I sanded down  the top of the table and the lower shelf in record time with virtually no dust. I used 120 grit Granat; first making a pass in Rotex mode to scrub off the top layer of weathered wood and then a second pass in random orbit mode for a nicer finish.

It worked great! In addition to removing the weathering, 90% of the food stains were removed as well. The Ipe is so impermeable that just the process of scrubbing off the top layer of wood also removed the stains - they had barely absorbed into the wood at all.

When I first built the table I thought it was a shame to see the nice wood get marked up with cooking stains, but now it actually seems very practical because I can renew that surface nicely with some easy sanding with the RO90 and a new coating of wood finish every couple of years.