Danish Oil On Table

[trb08150]

Morning guys,

Looking for some advice regarding finishing a dining room table. The table is solid cherry wood and is about 20 years old, during which it has been oiled a few times. I scraped it back using a cabinet scraper until the bare wood was exposed. I put a coat of Danish oil on it yesterday and let it dry but now this has happened the wood has lost its smoothness and has appeared patchy - is this normal?

I'm not too familiar with Danish oil but I applied it as per the instructions and worked it into the wood well. Would it normally take a few coats with a rub down in between with something like steel wool?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

[OchAye]

I will be more than happy to be corrected as my knowledge on this is patchy.

Danish oil has hardeners which allow for it to be buffed and become shiny. Danish and most/all other oils for furniture you would not put on thick and allow them to dry. You would wipe off with a lint free cloth after a short period of time before they start drying.

PS. oils would lift the grain so it would need light rubbing down. If you use steel wool make sure you use the wood working variety as the plain one would leave black oil behind (and the wood version screwed up some wood for me too).

[trb08150]

Thanks for the help OchAye.

I did put the oil on thin and removed excess with a cloth as I always find a little oil goes a long way and if you apply too much in one hit you're going to end up in a mess.

I just didn't expect the grain to rise that much with one application of oil as it has been treated previously.

What would you suggest rubbing it down with and would you do a second coat of oil afterwards?

[OchAye]

Try 000 or 0000 grade steel wool. Sorry but I had read you original post as if you had put the oil on thick. Is it possible that you had left the wood a bit too rough before oiling?

[trb08150]

I rubbed the surface lightly with an old piece of P180 to remove the rougher parts and then applied a second layer of oil. This seemed to do the trick, table now feels much smoother and had a more uniform finish.

Maybe it just needed 2 coats!

[4bs]

Tung oil.


On my Birch table top..... 5 coats, cover, wipe off, allow to dry 24hrs, 0000 wire wool. repeat.
Leave for 48 hours after final coat before use... perfect.