finishing suggestion

[unimog]

Last summer my dad passed away, and I am working now on a cross to put on the family's tomb. The tomb is made with marble exposed to the outside, but the cross will have an overhang above it. I finished today with the wood work, and I am a little lost on the finishing type to use. The wood is cypress and I was originally thinking on keeping it natural and let the wood age.
Here are my questions:
-if I don't apply any finishing what color will the wood turn?
-how long will it take to change color?
-what finishing you may suggest?
Thanks for all the help.
CHO

 

[Trent Mason]

I finished a cross with marine spar varnish. Not sure which brand it was, but I got it at West Marine. It is pretty expensive, but it should hold up for a LONG time. HTH :icon_thum

Trent

 

[DaveO]

Cypress like most woods will turn a sliver gray sooner if not protected from the UV light. The rate at which it starts to gray-out depends on a lot of things. Primarily exposure angle to the suns UV light. Horizontal surfaces will gray faster than vertical surfaces. I have seen it happen in a few months during the summer.
If you decide to apply a finish, the decision depends on what you would like the cross to look like and for how long.
An outdoor penetrating oil finish will break down quickly, and the graying will start, but it is easily renewed.
A Polyurethane finish or even an outdoor Spar urethane finish will give better protection from the UV, but will be more difficult to repair down the road.
High end marine finishes and epoxies will last you much longer, but are also difficult to repair.
Clear paint, that is a paint base without tint, is supposed to be the longest lasting outdoor protective finish around.
But I think that might be difficult to come by, unless you know of a smartly staffed paint store (not the BORGs)

Dave

 

[unimog]

Cypress like most woods will turn a sliver gray sooner if not protected from the UV light. The rate at which it starts to gray-out depends on a lot of things. Primarily exposure angle to the suns UV light. Horizontal surfaces will gray faster than vertical surfaces. I have seen it happen in a few months during the summer.
If you decide to apply a finish, the decision depends on what you would like the cross to look like and for how long.
An outdoor penetrating oil finish will break down quickly, and the graying will start, but it is easily renewed.
A Polyurethane finish or even an outdoor Spar urethane finish will give better protection from the UV, but will be more difficult to repair down the road.
High end marine finishes and epoxies will last you much longer, but are also difficult to repair.
Clear paint, that is a paint base without tint, is supposed to be the longest lasting outdoor protective finish around.
But I think that might be difficult to come by, unless you know of a smartly staffed paint store (not the BORGs)

Dave

Thank you Dave for the suggestions.
I will try at the local paint store.
Is there any way to induce change in the oxidation color to a dark grey?
I am trying to avoid maintenance on the wood. I don't know if I will be able to keep refinishing the wood.
Here is the picture.

[/IMG]

 

[Gofor]

To "gray" the wood, there are two methods that may work, altho I have never tried either on cypress.

One is bagging the wood with a rag full of ammonia. Also called "fuming".

The other is washing it with iron-rich water (filings from a filed nail, or the stuff that accumulates under your grinding wheel will work. Let the iron stay in the water for a couple days first). This works well with woods that have a high tannic acid content like oak.

Try a test scrap to see if it gets the color you want. The test piece needs to be "finished" (i,e, planed or sanded) to the same degree as the finished product to give you best comparison).

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