walnut for exterior use

[siliconbauhaus]

I make "modern" birdhouses and feeders as a bit of a sideline gig.

The first feeder I made was a combination of pine and birch ply. I used a dark stain on it from sherwin and it turned out ok but a distinct lack of grain.

I'm going to make the future ones out of walnut and walnut ply. I'm looking for suggestions for finishing the wood. I'm not sure whether to use oil or a wipe on poly or anything else. The main thing is I want the wood to be as dark as possible while still showing the grain. The other thing is that these obviously are outside and exposed to the weather. I need a solution that wont require maintenance every 3 months or so by the buyer.

Any suggestions, tips and ideas would be most appreciated.

Here's a couple of photos of the ones I already built

[JimD]

I'm not sure that walnut is a good outdoor wood. It may standup OK but it fades from sunlight. A UV blocking finish may slow this enough for it to work, I don't know. Cherry darkens with sunlight - might be a better choice.

Oil finishes do not hold up without maintenance. I think a wipe on poly would hold up better and be as easy to apply.

Jim

[linear]

Penofin has performed exceptionally well on my western cedar back porch. I'd think it would do as well for a bird house.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I can't see any purpose in using walnut for this application. Walnut has very little grain to speak of. Walnut is not a great outdoor application.

Here is what I would suggest :

White oak. Great outdoor material, nice wood grain. White oak ply should be much less expensive than Walnut ply. I know you are not using a lot but Walnut ply is not cheap.

Use lightfast dye to dye wood. This allows grain to show but you can dye the piece completely black if you want to.

Use marine poly with UV protection to prevent dye from fading.

[Hellrazor]

Walnut is not a good outdoor wood.

Nice work btw....

[Uncle Cracker]

Ditto on staying away from the walnut. I'd probably try one with cypress, and finish with spar urethane. A stain could be used pre-urethane if darker color is desired.

[siliconbauhaus]

Thanks for all the replies. My main reason why I was looking at walnut was the colour. I was be a bit lazy and hoping I could avoid staining.The white oak idea sounds good so I'll look into that. The cherry might work as well.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Thanks for all the replies. My main reason why I was looking at walnut was the colour. I was be a bit lazy and hoping I could avoid staining.The white oak idea sounds good so I'll look into that. The cherry might work as well.

Two problems I see with cherry. First, more expensive than white oak. Second, cherrys natural color is not dark like you are looking for. It wouldnt take but a couple months in the sun to get very dark, but it sounds like you want instant bang for the buck as you are selling retail and don't want to be explaining to people that it will get darker over time. 99% of people could care less about that and just want what they want and the want what they want right now! LOL! If you stain the cherry real dark, again like walnut, you have hardly anyfigure in the wood. Third, cherry is not going to hold up in weather anywhere close to white oak.

Note as far as lazy factor, dying a wood real dark is much easier than staining. No worry about lap lines, etc as they all blend beautifully. You could probably mix up a couple gallon bucket of dye and acutally dip the parts in the dye then assemble the item.

[siliconbauhaus]

Ah ok mate...the dye sounds like a plan. Do you have any recommendations for dye and where to get it ?

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Ah ok mate...the dye sounds like a plan. Do you have any recommendations for dye and where to get it ?

Of course I do! LOL! TransTint is awesome. It is sold by Jeff Jewitt (renowned for finishing knowledge). www.homesteadfinishing.com If you desire small portions, Woodcraft carries the smaller quantities of these items, though the mark up is rough.

Remember, you will need to use a UV protectant finish to prevent the dye and/or stain from fading.

[siliconbauhaus]

Looking at that site now. Is it possible to spray spar with a hvlp ?

[Tom Slick]

what about using Ipe/ironwood? it has a dark color and requires no stain or sealer for exterior use. they use it for upper end decks.

[siliconbauhaus]

That might work as well. The problem is trying to find a supplier reasonably near where I live.

The platform of the feeder is ply with a lip. I'm not sure if you can get ipe ply so I guess I could edge glue several pieces.

[Tom Slick]

you could try flooring supplliers and decking material suppliers. it does look better with some type of finish on it.

[siliconbauhaus]

I just found this place....the prices don't seem to bad

http://www.ipedepot.com/picelist01.htm