I have recently discovered the beauty of a Danish oil finish, and used it for the finish on a maple and cherry blanket chest for my wife. She is concerned that the oil is going to leech out of the wood and ruin the carpet. I couldn’t find anything from Watco pointing one way or another on this, but it seems that oil finished have been used for quite a long time and if they ruined everyone’s carpet someone would have said something by now. Does anyone have any information they can share on this? I didn’t like my wife’s suggestion of taking up all the carpet for hardwood floors.
Thanks,
Scott
Replies
Ahhh, so she wants hardwood floors, eh? Just kidding. Once Watco has fully cured, it's not going to leak out (unless maybe you have a fire?). Watco does "seep" out of pores during the finishing process, often enough anyway, and there are ways of minimizing that. Doesn't sound like you had significant problems with it. Perhaps if you explain to her that is an oil/varnish mixture, she'll not worry as much. Or, if you wanted to be extra cautious, put a finish coat of varnish over the Watco, again as long as it's fully cured.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Scott
Not a finish guru, but ditto FG. You need to let Watco cure before you apply the varnish if you do that. If you don't use varnish, let it cure anyway the same as poly or any other finish before use.
I will always wait at least a week and most often a month. Most probably don't wait that long, but the longer it cures the easier it is to rub out. I am a hobbyist so I don't get in a hurry. Deadline is a word that isn't in my vocabulary.
Best of luck and enjoy the new hard-wood floors. Hey, she's already made up her mind. ha..ha..
Regards...
sarge..jt
Proud member of the : "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
As FG points out, Watco is an oil/varnish product. Once the varnish component dries and cures, the oil will not seep out. Just give it at least 5-7 days to fully dry.
Scott,
Because Danish Oil is has a drying oil base (tung, linseed, etc. depending on brand), as the oil cures it goes through the polymerization process. Essentially it hardens into a protective film. That is why it is always better to use several light coats than few heavy coats. This allows each coat to cure. Once oil has fully cured, even mineral spirits couldn't solve it.
Wes
Scott,
Sounds like you wife has been reading this forum and getting ideas about the "scam logic" used by lots of us to score new toys! Very resourceful! What the heck-go for the hardwood floors. That should get you just about any new toy you can think of to "need". Enjoy!
Mack
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