Thursday 24 June 2010

Can't see the wood for the filler

I spend ever increasing amounts of time nowadays looking for decent quality soft wood mouldings and even more time rectifying the faults in the wood I do take delivery of. I try to refurbish as much original wood as possible but time and rot sometimes mean we have to use large quantities of modern replacement douglas fir etc. Doors and some trim are made up from Oak,Meranti and Sapele but economics makes the use of such woods in large quantities a non starter. I have always had to do some remedial work on skirtings and architrave but recently I seem to be using more filler than wood....I am not happy. I can see why the once derided MDF is for some flat panels and sills etc becoming the material of choice, for now I will just plane down and reuse the beautiful smelling and dense pine that I so carefully store away in the hope of better pickings ahead.

12 comments:

NotClauswitz said...

I figure that if you're going to kick it and bash it and smack it with the vacuum, it might as well be MDF... And with the curvse in some of our hallways, stiff 2-inch tall oak shows off the gaps while the MDF can curve and sweep with the best of 'em. :-)

Thud said...

DC...it is winning me over for some applications.

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Good point Thudders, and I had to do the same recently.

The window cills actually look quite good as well...

I haven't forgotten that I said I'd do a post on the fireplace surround we recycled from some old Oak yet, but it's still in the waiting room as to whether I got the three elements inproportion.

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Actually Thudders, while you're on, have you ever had to deal with cleaning ivy 'anchors' from white painted window surrounds or weatherboarding?

We're currently using a hardwood 'chisel' plus washing up liquid and elbow grease, but I reckon there's a better and quicker way.

Thud said...

Scrobs...the stability of MDF in cill usage is a major point in their favour. Ivy...the bane of my life, other than a careful application of heat(blowtorch)after some time for them to pre dry then your chosen method is it worse luck. I await the fireplace pics....God is in the details hey?

Weekend Yachtsman said...

Meranti? My last front door (the first on this house when we built it) was made of that, and I've never known anything rot like it.

Replaced after a fairly short life with a new one made of fine Scottish oak, which hopefully will see me out; it had better, given what it cost.

Trubes said...

All this stuff is much too technical, for a simple girl like me, however I do enjoy reading of the progress being made on your project Thud.

Di.xx

P.S. i've left you a message on your post of the 17th June. D.x

Thud said...

WY...Meranti on internals only as it takes detailing and paints up well. I like to use oak but obviously don't like to paint it and shakes can be a problem.

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Thanks Thudders, I feared as much, and it really takes ages to shift, although Mrs S has more patience than me and does a better job of it.

Brian said...

Scrobs: have you tried using a steam cleaner on those ivy anchors?

Weekend Yachtsman said...

Thud - this oak door had to be stained black due to Planning requirements; I used Hickson Decor, seems to be OK but it's early days yet. Do you think it will last?

Thud said...

WY....I'm sure stained oak will out last both you and me if oak was dried and prepared properly. The shakes whilst looking good in beams etc are not so attractive in doors and mouldings so here is hoping.