Hi – I have some doug fir beams that have been weathering outside for a while (dry climate – they’re sound, no insects, etc.) that I’d like to refinish for some “character” posts indoors. I’ve found that wirebrushing works really well with a cup-style brush – so no “grooving” of the soft part of the grain – mounted in a heavy-duty drill, but man, is it slow, and I have many faces and lineal feet to go.
Question: what tool/wirebrush combo could I use to speed this up? Edge, rather than cup-style across the grain, grinder, hole hawg, ???
TIA,
rattus
Replies
You could try a mini grinder instead of a drill.
Or, dress the beam down with a thickness planer or hand-held planer, then go over it quickly with the grinder/brush combo.
rattus
What final look do you want these to end up as?
You mention "character" posts, is that to appear clean yet rustic or perhaps stained/oiled up nice, but finished smooth?
thanks.
I'm aiming for something close to the original roughsawn look that the rest of the beams in the house have. I've tried a cup-style wire brush in the drill - it works well but is really time consuming....
Did you happen to try a belt sander?
with what I call rocky road belts> might be 30 grit, more coarse if you can find it. Seems to fuzz up the finish pretty good.
http://www.timberwolftools.com/tools/makita/M-9741.html
Now if I only had about 1k lineal feet to do this would be the perfect tool! ;-)
I'm trying a grinder with a wire brush wheel, but have to be *very* careful not to over-brush the beam.
Thanks for the replies!
Mike
Wirebrushing Accomplished
OK - so I wirebrushed the beams with a 4" cup brush on a grinder (rated for 4k RPM, used at 11k <yikes!>). Looks much better, but it's pretty obvious that some areas are lighter than others, and I'd like to even out the finish despite differential absorption.
Hey, it's roughsawn, and some areas are rougher than others. Any ideas on evening out a light stain - the beams I'm trying to match have "indoor weathered" for 15 years to a tan/very slighty pinkish heart DF color. Would a conditioner help with wildly varying absorption?
Thanks for the advice!
Mike
Several things might bring it close, but..............
What you do to finish needs to be done to all and even then, touched up to match wood now, might fade out differently over time.
What happens when you apply some thinner to the different areas? Does that bring it close? The thinner should evaporate away, but still try on scrap or where it won't show.
Conditioner evens out spoltches but not necessarily will it blend stain on diff. texture.