I am building a dining room table from pine planks that I recovered from an old barn build in 1870s. The boards are 2 inch thick, 8 feet long, and 16 inches wide. I want the table to keep the nostalgic look of the wood. So I am looking for a natural finish while still offering protection to the wood as it will be used heavily.
While researching it looks like using Danish oil would be a good choice. What is your experience with using this? Should I apply a natural oil and then apply a thinned out polyurethane? Or do you think this would give a “plasic” appearance with using poly?
Replies
You can definitely use Danish oil, Teak oil or Tung oil for a natural finish. Avoid using poluutherane or any wax based finish as it will make the wood lose its subtle look.
Danish Oil is just another name for a Oil/varnish mix. Same thing for Teak OIl--a product having no special attributes that make it more suited for finishing Teak. Tung Oil is an inferior oil that takes a long time to dry --several days between coats--, requires 5-6 coats to achieve and even satin sheen. It has only marginally more protection from moisture than BLO. Note also that many "Tung Oil" products are really "Tung Oil FINISH" and consequently may be almost anything, such as Varnish as for the Formby's products, or an oil/varnish mix- such as the Minwax Tung Oil Finish.
I realize that I'm pretty late to this discussion, but I recently finished a hickory plank top for a kitchen island I built for my wife. After playing around with several options, I finally settled on spraying two coats of 2# cut dewaxed shellac (Zinsser SealCoat) followed by three coats of Waterlox. I know the Waterlox people say you don't need to apply the shellac first, but my wife really liked the depth of the grain in the shellacked/Waterloxed version more than the sample I did with just Waterlox. The top ended up looking beautiful without the plastic appearance that comes with poly.
Scott
Generally, any finish, even the "Natural" Oil that adds color tends to make the pine's color look eneven. It can also tend to blotch a little.
I recommend you avoid anything called Danish Oil. Danish Oil is nothing more than a mixuture of varnish and linseed oil. It will not provide much in the way of protection or durability. It is not very water resistant. For a piece of furniture that will get rough and heavy use it is not a good choice.
I recommend using a wipe-on varnish like Waterlox Original Sealer/Finish.
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