Linseed oil is considered one of the best oil to apply on wood. Whether you use it raw or boiled it will do a very good job at protecting the wood and emphasizing the natural colors of the wood without staining it too much.
We haven’t yet found a source of pure Linseed oil in Costa Rica (all commercial Linseed oil is mixed with chemical solvents) but we brought some from the US. Used on porous wood (such as Ceder in the picture below) it will take very well. The secret is to apply 2 or 3 layers 24 hours apart and to make sure to use very little oil in each layer. Of course the wood should be well sanded before anything.
Nathalie carefully oiling a wooden deck with Linseed oil.
We recently finished building our tool shed! As far as I know we’ve built the first roof in modern day Costa Rica that’s entirely made of wood and uses a traditional natural building method with ceder shingles. Here’s what it looks like today:
Not a drop of cement, no metal rods, no plastic… Just local ceder wood (mainly salvaged), 5 small guachipelin posts for the bases, and fairly simple tools. Good geometry, some simple math, and a whole lot of craftsmanship in between. Here’s how it came about:
There are many projects going on in parallel at the RDS farm. In particular natural building projects. But we make sure to take the time for side projects as well! The building of our double wooden swing was a very quick and rewarding project.
We used Ceder wood which is a native tropical wood and does very well outdoors, especially if well maintained. One thing that’s very important for maintaining wood is to allow it to breathe naturally. Wood expands when it gets wet and shrinks when it dries. This flow of moisture is normal and Ceder wood can last a very long time outdoors while “breathing”. But if you use conventional commercial products to seal the wood what happens is that the added rigid layer eventually cracks and lets in some moisture – which is then trapped inside the wood, speeding up the degradation and rotting process. Conventional sealers are also toxic. Using natural products like pure oil (tong or linseed are common examples) can help protect the wood from sun and rain exposure. The flexible oil will “breathe” with the wood.
After a few design sketches, we put the swing together, chose a nice branch on which to hang it and set everything up tightly. We used a post of Melina wood to reinforce the branch and burnt the part that goes in the ground to increase its longevity. Here’s what it all looked like:
Burning the bottom part of a wood post will increase its life span when put in the ground. You want to hold the post over the fire so that the outer layer of the wood burns slightly and evenly (until it’s black).
