Oak Silvering, Oiling, Cleaning & Long Term Memorial Bench Maintenance.

SILVERING OAK.
If you’d like your memorial bench to be completely natural you can leave it untreated and let it silver naturally over time. The most important thing would be to clean it a couple of times a year. Sugar soap and a scrubbing brush work well. Focus on the top surfaces mainly.

OILING OAK.
Tung oil is traditional for oak although these days a modern oil can be more effective, Textrol penetrating oil for example. One issue is that the oak is rock hard and not very porous when it’s brand new. This means that you may have to do a recoat more often in the early years. Unlike a window frame for example, a memorial bench is subject to mechanical wear and tear as well as weathering, again top surfaces mainly, the seat slats in particular. Apply oil liberally, wait half an hour and then wipe of any excess with a soft cloth. This can be a labour of love although oil treatments “build” over time, so as the oak matures it would need doing less often. The bench would ideally be bone dry before oiling.

SILVERING FIRST, OIL LATER.
Some people do both and this would be my favoured regime which is to let your memorial bench silver naturally for a couple of years, cleaning regularly. Then, on a nice sunny summers weekend, wash the bench again but this time using an oxalic acid solution…

DE-SILVERING OAK.
Derived from rhubarb leaves, oxalic acid is superb for de-silvering oak, removing tannin stains and bringing the oak back to it’s original colour. Products like “Barkeepers Friend” contain oxalic acid or you can buy it neat and make your own solution. Apply it liberally, wait half an hour, wash it off with a scrubbing brush and clean water.

The next evening when the bench has dried out, the oak will be thirsty and provide a wonderful foundation for the oil. Yes there’ll be one or two small cracks and dark flex across the wood, these are natural but you’ll discover a deep, rich, 24 karat golden brown colour to this slow grown European Oak.

POWER WASHER.
Tip: A, inexpensive (£60.00?) electric power washer can really help cleaning off the oxalic acid from your memorial bench. This is because they’re quite low powered and tend not to damage the oak. You can also do a light sand afterwards if required.

Here’s a video of an 9 year old bench being power washed

We hope this article has provided some good advice for maintaining your Classic Memorial Bench. As you can see, with this hard, durable oak you can be very flexible with how you treat it but the most important is to keep it clean.