Treatment for wooden beams?

seashore22

We've got structural solid wooden beams all over our house, lots of them. The ones downstairs are oak and look lovely in their current state. I suspect that the upstairs ones aren't oak and are stained dark brown. Obviously we can't lighten them without major work which we won't be doing, but they need a bit of a spruce up. We've used Johnstones satin woodstain in 2 of the rooms and it looks ok, but a bit "plasticy" for my taste.

Can anyone recommend something that we can use to revive the beams without it being too shiny looking? I've no idea what was previously used on them and that may have an impact on what we can do with them now. Some of the beams are quite smooth and would be easy to use anything on, but others are quite rough hewn and would be tricky to use a cloth on.

Edit - not that it matters, but on closer inspection I think most of the beams upstairs are also oak. They appear to have been stained to match the few beams that are pine? or maybe the previous owner liked the darker beams. Such a shame.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

A transparent matt hard wax oil enhances the gain and oak looks very nice with this stuff applied:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/liberon-hard-wax-oil-for-wooden-furniture-floors-matt-2-5ltr/5182f

Just brush it on, drys quickly and doesn't leave brush strokes either, a second coat will make the timber a little darker. As with all these oils, waxes and stains do a small test run in an inconspicuous area first to make sure you'd be happy with the finish.

seashore22

I've looked at those but I think it's only good for new wood or previously oiled wood and I think our beams have been stained and treated in some way. You can't remove the old layers by washing alone and I don't think the oil will penetrate the surface of the beams.

I have now found a Ronseal matt varnish which seems very similar to the woodstain we used, but is matt instead of satin.