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Cleaning Oak Trusses


Triassic

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One way I've seen is to very gently sand blast the oak.  Needs doing with care, and tends to be messy, but the results can be very good.  I've a feeling the blasting media used isn't actually sand, but something less abrasive.  A search on "blast cleaning oak" should find someone close to you that does this, or you can hire the kit and have a go yourself.

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According to the article Oxalic Acid is the stuff I need to clean the black marks. Apparently these are caused by contact with ferrous metal, fork truck forks, tools, metal banding etc.

 

Now where to buy Oxalic Acid?

 

 

 

Edited by Triassic
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3 minutes ago, Triassic said:

According to the article Oxalic Acid is the stuff I need to clean the black marks. Apparently these are caused by contact with ferrous metal, fork truck forks, tools, metal banding etc.

 

Now where to buy Oxalic Acid?

 

 

 

 

Thornes sell small amounts. I’ve bought from them before. 

 

https://www.thorne.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=7434&gclid=CjwKCAiAhp_jBRAxEiwAXbniXc3zm9-UWhJQDzVfbd61UnUI_AyyV6EydWI_IQ2Rq4fEWKnVhRAGKBoCOV0QAvD_BwE

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I'll also add that I've tried using oxalic acid to get rid of black marks on iroko decking (much like oak as far as staining goes).  It was a bit hit and miss, and definitely lightened the wood a fair bit, and not all the black marks came out.  I ended up sanding the deck back and painting it with Deks Olje, which wasn't really the look I wanted.

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  • 5 months later...
  • 7 months later...

Is we’re in lock down, just started our 5th week I finally found time to start cleaning the oak beams. Wow! Oxalic acid works wonders, if been sceptical given how many black marks and stains we had. The Oxalic acid cleaned up the lot. All I need to do now is treat the cleaned up oak and then over it all up ready for plastering. Mind you the plasterboard supplier is shut and the plastering team in lockdown.

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It was suggested to me to clean the oak after plastering to help get rid of any plaster dust etc. 

 

If already clean I'd mask them well, wet plaster seems to leave a chemical burn onto oak which is very hard to get out.

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5 hours ago, JFDIY said:

It was suggested to me to clean the oak after plastering to help get rid of any plaster dust etc. 

 

If already clean I'd mask them well, wet plaster seems to leave a chemical burn onto oak which is very hard to get out.


We’re going to treat them with Danish oil or similar, then wrap them in bubble wrap, we have loads of the stuff, everything comes in bubble wrap!

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