Making Wood Last Forever (Almost) - The Shou Sugi Ban Technique #Shorts

Shou Sugi Ban is an ancient Japanese technique to preserve wood.

It's done by first charring the surface of the wood. This makes the wood fire retardant and resistant to rot, insects and decay!

The oldest wood building in the world (now about 1311 years old) employs this wood preservation technique. That's practically forever!

[michaeldavid]

Very nice! Used motor oil works fine too!

[todd]

This is how my grandfather treated the sill plates on his house in 1938. I own the house now and I’m in the process of renovating it. I don’t know if this process make wood last “forever “, but after 87 years the sills are still rock-solid. Even in spots where a leaky hose bib penetrates through the wall, everything needs to be replaced except the sill.

[bsimpson]

I sprayed a new wood fence with a 50/50 mix of old engine oil and parafin. That fence is still good after over 20 years with no other treatment

[EduardoGutierrez-rrts]

If you don’t have access to the product shown here, but have trees that produce fat wood growing nearby, you can make pine tar/pitch and if you capture the steam and condense it that becomes turpentine.

[arthurneddysmith]

This treatment is very common on wooden buildings in Japan. Thank you for finally allowing me to understand what the process is.

[marcomisterio]

It is a combination of both Yakisugi and Creosote, in 18th Century Japan as a way to treat Cedar cladding and make it weatherproof. The use of Creosote to treat wood prod- ucts first occurred in 1717 in England. Dr. William Crook's patented process used creo- sote to protect ships' wood planking from decay and worms.

[archangel]

I already knew about lightly charring the outside of the wood but I didn’t know about applying a few coats of tar/oil mixed with denatured alcohol. I can totally see how this added process not only protects it from water damage and rot but it also keeps the insects away especially termites. Thank you so much for the info! Take care!

[gotkittys]

Charring a fence post, then standing it in a bucket of oil overnight, will repel underground termites for years. (They will eat a post in 6 moths here.)

[harryasstruman]

🪣🪥
I brush my teeth with that stuff and I've never had a cavity

[jasonhastings]

My grand dad did his fence this way!! I know some of those boards are 40+ years old!!!

[What_do_say_think]

This is how they use to build underground, root cellars and basements. It has a strong Oder for a while but it protects against water and insects, some of these root cellars are still in use today after 150 years or more

[haeuptlingaberja]

I do a variation of this on the canes that I make. After I've carved and medium sanded the wood, I char it lightly, fine sand it, and then seal it with Danish rubbing oils or Teak/Tung oils. It makes the wood much, much harder and almost impervious to moisture and temperature extremes.

[debunkthejunk]

It's called creosote. Been used for hundreds of years.

[PhunkyChikin]

In addition to the surface treatment, the angled cut on top of the post helps to shed water vs letting it sit on top and soak in.

[Steel-Pinnings]

Isn't this what they used to do to telephone polls to keep them from rotting?

[ArmchairDivaAnnie]

I never once thought to use this to protect wood, I used to mix tar and paint thinner to make a faux finish for the walls. It was always so gorgeous especially if you put it over a gold paint

[taitsmith]

Agricultural lime also works very well for preservation and insect protection. It depends on use and climate. For water proofing and wet climates use tar. In dry climates, or with wood that doesn't need waterproofing, lime is sometimes preferable.

[alexvassiliou]

Also extremely flammable in the event of a fire careful with its application

[wolfen]

Actually learned this from my grandpa. I can approve this is extremely effective!

[mikevickers]

From what I know, even in ground as fence posts, heavy charing alone will keep bugs from eating it. But if you want, boiled linseed oil/turpentine, 2/3 to 1/3, works very well. Lin/terp is beautiful on unchared oak, even indoors after the terp evaps. I've been using it on homemade furniture for 30+yrs