Old Wagon Wheels

[Train]

Picked an old wagon wheel up from the inlaws farm. How would you go about stopping it from any further deteroration? The thing is weathered like you'd expect, the rings on the hub are slightly off kilter but it's quite sturdy and the spokes aren't loose. I'd heard many years ago that brushing with lindsead oil several times is a good idea. I really don't want to paint it.

 

[Jogeephus]

Linseed oil or tung oil should do the trick. I'd be patient with it since it has had many years to dry. Several coats should do the trick. Are the spokes made out of blue beech by chance?

 

[tytower]

Learnt my lesson with Linseed oil the hard way . Western red cedar boards on a house as siding and coated with boiled linseed oil , a laborious job. When the sun shone on it it turned black with a fungus that I could not remove bar sandblasting . Gave up and sold the place.

Tung oil might be better as it has driers added , linseed does not.
Koppens make a range of products for such jobs .
Epoxy based products will chalk up in no time exposed to the sun.

The clear coats with UV screens in them would be my choice. Intergrain makes a good one ,water based too so I would make a copper sulphate solution and paint it on first ,let it soak in then use an Intergrain clear coat or 2 which will dry over .

Another option is a strong solution of concentrated radiator additive (the green one) and boric acid(borax) mixed and heated, then painted on when cool. I´ll see if I can find my old formulas . We can´t buy rot preserving chemicals here so must make up with what is available and test to prove. Then a protective clear coat

 

[dun]

I've soaked wood that would be outside all the time with Thompsons waterseal. I keep spraying it on until it won;te soak in anymore and then just ignore it from then on.