Thread: Non toxic weatherproofing

Linseed oil springs to mind. Non-toxic, cheap and readily available.

OK, yeah, raw linseed looks like a better option all round, and bunnings has it. It says to mix 50/50 with turps, I'm guessing the turps will evaporate so it is still non toxic?

edit: here is a photo if anyone is interested: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8e...lac3h3T3Z2azQ/

Why do they need weatherproofing? I can't recall seeing any bird or animal out their with a little brush and pot of something to keep their digs weatherproof?

Yeah, it has a huge hole in the side of it too. The weatherproofing is for the wood not the birds, to increase the lifespan and maybe prevent mould.

Looks good, definitely worth preserving it as much as possible.

Yes the turps will just evaporate. It's just to make it easier to apply. It will stay tacky for quite a long time. Boiled Linseed Oil will dry faster but it has chemical additives which are/can be harmful or toxic, to humans anyway. So best to avoid that.

FWIW linseed oil is great for popping grain. If you have curly grain in the timber, it will really make it stand out.

Blowtorch. I've heard (but not tried) that charred wood become rather weather resistant. Although I don't know how well that would withstand chewing by parrots. But it likely won't take much chewing to get through the minimal protection of anything you apply.

ron

I know it's a bit late now, But....why didn't you make it out of a more durable type of wood? Something like western red cedar, or even good old Aussie hardwood or many others. Woods like this need no coatings.
Radiata pine on the other hand is not a durable outside timber. Having said that I do have a radiata breadboard/cutting board that gets washed up nearly daily and is well over 20 years old- go figure!. Perhaps if you have used waterproof glue in your parrot palace and you fix it somewhere out of the prevailing weather it'll last years anyway.
How do you propose to entice the parrots into using the nesting box? I have in the past made a nesting box or two out of scraps for the sizeable squadron of blue wrens around here. You think the wrens gave a hoot? might as well have put a stuffed cat there.

Depending on the product use, whilst you may not smell it, it may smell to other creatures.
Mould spoors are everywhere, they just need the right conditions to grow. If you coat it with a non vapour permeable product and the timber is moist, the mould will grow underneath the coating and will deteriorate the timber faster....plus it will deter the birds from using it.
All timbers will deteriorate with time unless treated...it just depends on the species and where it is being used.
Whatever product you decide on using, use something that you know the ingredients of. Many water based products have auxiliary chemicals that one does not know about. E.g. why does an oil based product wash out in water?

I suspect the greatest challenge to pine's durability will be the parrots using the edges for beak exercise.

Hardwood fence pailings perhaps?

Originally Posted by artful bodger

...How do you propose to entice the parrots into using the nesting box? I have in the past made a nesting box or two out of scraps for the sizeable squadron of blue wrens around here. You think the wrens gave a hoot? might as well have put a stuffed cat there...

Artful - p'raps you should have consulted a birdy person or two before building your nest boxes. Blue wrens aren't "hole-nesters", they doggedly (or should that be 'birdily'? ) stick to their owner-built straw thatch style, & spurn man-made apartments, whatever the quality of the build! Parrots are almost universally 'hole-nesters', be it a hollow in a tree, fencepost, or 'artificial' hollows. There are a couple that dig their own hollows (in termite mounds, of all places) but most prefer 'found' quarters to building their own.

As to enticing birds into the salubrious digs you wish to provide: if you build the box to the right dimensions for your target species, with the right-sized entry hole, at the right height above the floor, & fix it to the right tree at the right height, and you have a population of birds desperate for local real-estate, and they just happen to decide that the nest box you've provided has the right aspect & the right 'feel'; well, you might get a tenant or two....

Cheers,