Renovate and expose old/cracked wood posts, rafters and ties

[selectstar]

I am planning on exposing three wood posts/rafters in our living room. At the moment, these have been covered by wood panels and plasterboard. I have started looking behind and realised that the posts present various cracks and look very coarse.

Wood: I am not expecting to have a perfectly smooth result, but I would like to smooth out the splinters, smooth the cracks and apply a stain, oil or varnish. See pictures attached.

Ties: Between one of the beams and rafters, there are two metal tension rods that have been bolted on to tie them: one towards the top and one towards the bottom (see red lines in attached pic). Right now, they are covered by plasterboard which I would remove, but I can see that these rods are not suitable for being exposed as the metal has sharp edges and they have been installed at a clumsy angle. They would have to be replaced.

Questions

1. What type of cleaning techniques for the wood would you suggest? E.g. wire brush, orbital sanding
2. What type of filler could be used to fill the cracks and finishing layer? E.g. Epoxy?
3. As an alternative to the metal rods (wife does not like metal to be visible), could wood be used for the ties? Though, there would be an aesthetical issue of wood colours would not match

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[dewaltdisney]

The timber appears to be rough sawn timber and to get it looking right, once unsheathed, is a bit of a mission. Firstly, you need to reassure yourself that there is no rot going on as that open area looks as though it might be a problem and it might need some treatment. Filling is best with a resin filler and although it will fill the voids and add strength it will be difficult to bring the whole to a uniform colour with stains or oils. I would not mess with the tie rods they are structural and you need to know what you are doing.

If you are just looking at the cosmetics, the existing sheathing of the wooden beams will be much easier to get a finish on. I would paint them white to minimise the impact and brighten the room. But then I find dark wood depressing.

DWD