Paint Church Pew

[silly billy]

I am after some advice.We own an old church pew which is oak.I believe its had some varnish or bees wax on it in its life time.I would now like to paint it white but don't know what I am supposed to put on the wood before painting.Do I use undercoat 1st or primer or just paint straight on top? Any help will be gratefully recieved.

[silly billy]

[greyhound]

You have an old oak church pew and you want to paint it white?  
That sounds like a terrible idea to me.  Sorry.

[Grandma]

You have an old oak church pew and you want to paint it white?  
That sounds like a terrible idea to me.  Sorry.

[scotch-mist]

Why do you want to paint it ?  ???

[ACE]

If it is indoors use a flat undercoat first, but I would use primer, then undercoat then the final two topcoats if it was outside.

One day you might want it back to wood, so just take it to one of those people who dip painted doors.

There are millions of old oak pews, so one painted white will not make a lot of difference. I would paint it pink.

[Larkshall]

If you are using it outside, the paint will eventually peel off. This is because of the natural oil in the oak. The usual treatment for oak outside is linseed oil, but for a seat it would need regular treatment and wiping off afterwards. Better not to use an oak seat outside.

I am a retired decorator and we always had this problem with oak, that's why teak is more popular outside.

[powerspade]

To paint oak ???? Linseed oil is best

[Ceratonia]

Apologies to silly billy for jumping in on this thread....

We have an old oak church pew the vicar sold to my wife (cash only!) It's been clogging up the garage for a couple of years. If I wanted to use it as a seat for the garden, how should I treat it? From larkshall's answer, coat regularly with linseed oil & accept it won't last forever?

[ACE]

international yacht varnish, well if it works on boats!

[SMP1704]

But need redoing every other year......OH has just finished ours - boat not church pew ::) Oh and several thinned out coats before 3 top coats, finely sanded in between...........and you wonder why I decided to grow veg instead ;D ;D

[saddad]

OH rubs down ours and uses Teak oil...
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/Plot52/davidonarbouraug2005.jpg
;D

[silly billy]

Oh hell!!!!! Its taken me about a year to decide to paint it after feeling guilty about painting a pew thats over 100 years old and survived the blitz although the original church it was in was destroyed but after reading your replies and kind advice I don't know whether to do it or not now  :o :o :o. Its in my kitchen and just seems abit too dark. It was originally 20ft and I brought 2 one I reduced to 3ft and the others about 10ft. All brought for a tenner each  :o :o :o.

[ACE]

Oh hell!!!!!

Not really the right thing to say when you are sitting on a pew ;)

[Robert_Brenchley]

when we had new doors put in in Cornwall, we used yacht varnish; I'd recommend it, but if you don't want the wood turning grey, use linseed oil first. At least, that was what we were told after the wood turned a sort of mottled colour!

What's the stuff they well for treating decking like?

[scotch-mist]

sillybilly,
            I didn't mean to be critical, I only meant "why?"
If it doesn't match the kitchen, go for it  ;)

If you can't paint it, and it clashes, what about putting something else made from oak in the kitchen too, so that it looks like those two things match each other but are supposed to clash with everthing else.
(does that make sense ?) ???

[mackem]

Teak oil is the way to go.  ;)