The epoxy sounds like an interesting idea. My only
doubt with that is that those products are fairly
new, so it's hard to know whether it will turn out
to provide good protection years later. The products
I've seen say you can paint them, but the surface
is not porous, so paint on top of that is not going
to serve anything other than a cosmetic role. Thus
you'd be depending entirely on the epoxy sealer., and
on no moisture getting in behind it.

I would at least prime them with linseed oil primer.
(Don't use water-base primer. It doesn't soak in.)
Personally I'd be tempted to add some extra linseed
oil to the primer. Current paints are not what they
used to be, and exposed ends was never a good idea
in the first place.

Fir is fairly tough but it will rot if exposed. There's
no reason for it to "breathe". (If you look at hardwood
stock in lumber yards you'll see that much of it is
sealed on the ends with wax, to prevent excessive
moisture uptake, which could cause warping.)

--
-
"Peabody" wrote in message
...
|I have four 16x4 fir beams sticking out of the side of my house. I'm in
the
| process of "renewing" them, which includes cutting them back a bit. So I
end
| up with a new end, and I wondered what if anything I should do to seal the
| end-grain other than just prime and paint. These beams are out in the sun
| and rain, with nothing above them.
|
| I'm using Abatron Liquid Wood and WoodEpox to consolidate and fill in on
the
| top and sides where there's some rot, so I could use Liquid Wood on the
end
| grain. That would put a layer of hard epoxy on the end that has soaked
into
| the grain a bit, and I believe make it impervious to water. And then of
| course primer and paint on top of that. That might make for a very long-
| lasting surface.
|
| But I'm not sure that's the best thing to do. Maybe wood is supposed to
| breathe.
|
| Does anyone here have any experience dealing with this issue? What do you
| think?
|
|