Which preservative?

[John Hughes]

Is wykabor the most cost effective way of stopping mold and staining occuring on freshly milled Corsican pine.

Where is the best source.

I am not keen on using it as some of the timber will be planed when dry. We are really struggling to stop it going moldy.

Thanks

John

[Macpherson]

Hi, I mix my own and have been successful at preventing blue stain / mould on milled timber even though it can be particularly damp up here in the west highlands, at the moment I've got douglas, pine and larch boards which have been stacked stickered for more than a year and is showing no sign of staining even though they gets damp when rain blows in sideways

 

I use this which dissolves into 5 gallons and is very cost effective.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Borax-Sodium-Tetraborate-Decahydrate-99-9-Pure-Best-Grade-Available-1-Kilo-/112073697552?epid=600913216&hash=item1a181ce910:g:ONkAAOSwARZXmTcy

 

 I don't have too much worries about planing the milled timber but I always wear a mask anyway, although I did have someone reply to previous post warning of the risks associated with borax. but everything has risks if handled incorrectly, hope this helps, cheers.

[John Hughes]

Thanks for the link, I have ordered some. Do you spray it on?
Down here in the sunny south I have no problems with any timber except the Corsican pine.
The only way I can get it to dry without mold is to stand it up in the full sun.

[Macpherson]

Never had any Corsican pine and probably never will so I hope it works for you.

 

I just brush it on as I mostly only have small quantities of milled timber for personal use, the last load I treated was about 60 x 8" boards so I made a plastic lined wooden trough to contain the stuff and also stood the treated planks in it to let the excess run back in, so it ended up more like a sheep dip which worked really well and I used far less solution,  it was only through reading on this forum that I discovered borax for wood preservation.

 

I always wear waterproofs, gloves and a full face shield just to be on the safe side, I did consider spraying and I suppose in controlled conditions there would be no reason why you couldn't spray....I just didn't fancy the risk of aerosol particles getting in my eyes or being breathed by me or anyone else. Having said that on a recent job some dry rot specialists were happily spraying a borax based product about everywhere with next to no ppe....I got well out the way....

 

Here's a link to some tech and safety info, cheers.

 

http://www.chemicalbook.com/ChemicalProductProperty_EN_CB6233954.htm