Shou Sugi Ban

[lux]

Not the video I went looking for but a low input way of charring a few boards, worth looking up yakisugi too.

That looks a terrible method for controlling depth of burn….
Seen it done with flat roofing torch which offers better control. I think it was on an old grand designs episode.

[lux]

I have looked at that but.. its expensive and when I have a load of wood sitting there and the space to do it it seems daft to buy it. It looks labour intensive, but then I'd have the satisfaction of having done it myself, I'm going to do some timber cladding for inside too..

I can always dig out the link for the company we used. They sent a big selection of burn samples to help choose what we wanted.
We actually got a surprisingly good deal on our timber at the time.
Don’t forget you’ll be getting 20% back too as it’s a new build.

For small projects like a small barn / office garden type thing i would 100% say doing yourself is worthy and achievable

On house / larger project I would go down the bought in route. I do appreciate budget is a big factor. As is time.
Variations in charring will show up dramatically and could give a patchy look.
The depth of burn and consistency of colour is very good on our boards tbf.

I would say the sugi is on about 60% of our walls.

The tyvec and battening was done by the builder. ( which the carpenters had to adjust [emoji57])

Just to fit the boards took a team of 4 to 5 guys about 8 days.

2 /3 guys on the deck cutting boards and 2 guys up on the scaffold fitting.
They worked at a decent pace too.

If you are having a shadow gap we found a great tyvec style product in black with no writing which was a fair bit cheaper than tyvec
Exactly the same thing but essential not to have print on it if shadow gapping.

Lost head screws. I bought the screws from the cladding supplier, got screwed on that. Paid £950 for the screws.
Carpenter said we could of got them for £400 ish.
Classic of being given the spiel from the supplier about specific screws blah blah.

Anyway. The gist of all that Tom is if you want any advice from our experiences or general questions how we did the cladding etc feel free to drop me a message.
If any of it saves you time money or both then great [emoji106]

[lux]

Does water running off it stain surfaces below out of interest? 

No.
It had a coat of oil when it went up as well. 0 bleed.

[lux]

I’m guessing you burn at least 3 ‘faces’ of the boards to allow for shrinkage/movement, so there isn’t a disparity in colour?

Yes. Ours came with one face and edges done. Obviously everything you cut / trim then has to be burned as best it can to match in and hide cut surfaces. Just a simple plumbers torch up on the scaffolding was used for this.

[Tom D]

Was it tongue and groove?

[Stubby]

5 minutes ago, Tom D said:

Was it tongue and groove?

I think it is something found in porno films .

[Haironyourchest]

They're banning everything nowadays...

[gobbypunk]

Yeah get a roofers torch and a few boards and just have a go a stiff brush then oil ,did quite a lot of burning on chainsaw carvings and a summer house I like it but brushing is an important part of the process just like fractle burning now cladding done like that would be super cool

[Tom D]

6 hours ago, lux said:

That looks a terrible method for controlling depth of burn….
Seen it done with flat roofing torch which offers better control. I think it was on an old grand designs episode.

I guess a skilled hand could make it work. probably a fair bit of trial and error with that method until you get the knack.

 

Still at well over £100 per sqm to buy ready made I am looking at around £20k for cladding at a very rough estimate. so I can afford to experiment a little.

[Exec Trustee]

It is amazingly simple to make your own charred planks. Check out :-

 

http://oxfordshirewoodlandgroup.co.uk/forum/?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=380

 

Professor Fugimori is the expert in this field of traditional Japanese wood treatment practice.