Untreated oak

[sustad]

Silver seems to be the new black. Are people using clear wood preservative on untreated oak garden furniture? Just thinking it would slow the endgrain from soaking up water. Thanks.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Silver seems to be the new black. Are people using clear wood preservative on untreated oak garden furniture? Just thinking it would slow the endgrain from soaking up water. Thanks.

I think it would slow the egress of water very bit as much as the ingress. If you're leaving a piece of oak outside for more than a few days at a time, my opinion is that painting it with anything is a waste of resources. Oak is naturally durable because of its tannin content - especially when not in contact with (bare) earth.