[Small Potatoes]

Hi, I've knocked up a homemade cold frame from some left over battons, etc. from a DIY job and need to treat the wood so to speak.
Which preservatives are fine? I'm not too hot on the idea of any nasties leaching into my soil. In the garden I tend to use creocote, but I'm not sure if this is suitable for the job.
Cheers

[Gwiz]

I've always used cuprinol. but not the water based stuff.

[compostqueen]

Creosote is banned and anyway I don't think you need it round your food crops. The water based Cuprinol is fine. I got some oil based stuff recently and the * has flaked off  :roll:  Expensive it was too  

[shaun]

Creosote is banned  

all the good things get taken off us  :evil:
depends on how much you want to spend on treating your wood,cuprinol do a clear liquid its about £25 a gallon and you pour it into a bucket and stand the ends of the timber in for 24hours,the timber soaks it up like a sponge and do the other ends the next day,
you can paint it on 1st then give it a coat of whatever you like but like gwiz says the water based stuff is dodo its more of a stain than a preserver

[muntjac]

gallon of white spirit and some old engine oil mixed together

[compostqueen]

yeah creosote and now Armilllatox  :roll:

[jack russell]

Maxwells DIY shops sell a product called creoseal which must be the same with nasties removed i would think.  I have used this and is brilliant on raw wood but takes forever to dry if applied to already treated wood.

[Small Potatoes]

 Thanks everyone, seems that cuprinol is the way to go... will just have to toss a coin to decide whether i get water- or oil-based.
Does that white spirit and engine oil concoction do the trick!?
There's a few creosote replacements out there (that aren't banned) and creocote is the one I use in the garden. It's cheap and definitely worth a look in but everything I've used it on seems to leave an oily residue on the ground around it even some time after applying it and even if it was applied elsewhere. Might just me being a bit generous with the stuff but don't really fancy it around my fruit 'n' veg.
Oh, for anyone interested, Armillatox got rebranded and recategorised as a cleaner rather than a pesticide so you can still get hold of it.

[compostqueen]

Armillatox is based near me. They make the Link a Bord stuff.

I still have a bottle with the old labelling on it.  I'd use it on my roses as a winter wash if they succumbed to blackspot, which they do more these days since the local chemical works closed.

They used to use it as a winter wash for fruit too and I think I'd still use it. I thought it used to be classed as organic (being based on coal tar) Not sure though

[muntjac]

"werrks for me "