Should i wax my mantle?

[Mettlemickey]

Hi,

I have a really old oak beam above my fireplace. Its warped and cracked as you'd expect something like that of that age would be. Most of the ageing was done in its previous home, however we've had it up less than a year and its cracks seem to be expanding. I expect this, but is it happening a bit quick?

Would waxing it help keep it moist and stop it splitting too quickly?

I have some wax, but when I tested it on an off cut it didn't seem to soak I very well and left a white residue on the wood. Is there something else I could treat it with? Or should I just leave it?

Thanks

 

[Mettlemickey]

PS, here is a pic of it being installed approx 10 months ago.

 

[DougA]

My guess is that it is getting too warm. I can't see wax helping.

I would try mineral oil which has no smell and is cheap. It will penetrate the wood gradually and should restore the moisture. I doubt the cracks will shrink but they should stop expanding. You may want to re coat it every week or so until it has penetrated enough. It will darken the wood but IMHO, probably look much better.

I have never done this on a large piece, so you might want to find a chunk of dry wood and try it first. It probably will not work very well in the areas that you have waxed. You could take a hair dryer and try to coax the wax out by heating a small area, then pressing a cloth on it to wick the wax off. Wax is an oil product but hard to remove from something like wood and I would not use anything that will dissolve the wax, such as paint thinner, anywhere near a stove.

Any oil product you put on will be potentially dangerous if it gets overheated but my guess is that mineral oil is the least dangerous as it's flash point is 385. It's in food or drug stores in the stomach ailments area and can be taken internally. About $5 for 16 oz.

You could use olive oil or something similar but anything like that may smell eventually. Mineral oil has no smell. The other thought is linseed oil which has a higher flash point but you may not like the smell. I love it but the room will smell of it forever.

 

[jigger47]

Mineral oil or linseed oil should work. I have a Acacia cutting board and it says to use linseed oil to keep it from drying out it seems to work.