Replies

1. 
   lat_axe | Oct 06, 2020 12:42pm | #1

   The simplest coating to emphasise the grain and colour without it looking artificial would be wax. But few waxes will offer any protection from staining or wet marking.

   You can go the next step in finishing that remains in the the realm of "simple" by using an oil finish. These days there are wax & oil finishes that do offer some real protection - although a naysayer or two will now pop up to say .... nay. :-)

   I speak from experience of Osmo Top Oil, which I used to finish two kitchen worktops - one of iroko (already tough agin' the stains and liquids all by itself, mind) but also a European oak worktop. Oak is not the best timber to resist the spills and splodges from the intense cookery antics of the ladywife, yet ......

   ..... despite oak being open-grained and anxious to react it's tannins with all sorts, particularly iron-based things like many kitchen utensils, the Osmo Top Oil has kept the worktop blemish-free.

   The original varnish finish we inherited on this oak kitchen top when we moved into the house had degraded in various ways - flaking off, going sticky and getting rubbed away from some of those soft spots. Marks, stains and rings all over it. It was scraped free of the old goo, sanded back (up to 180 grit) then given 5 coats of the Top Oil with 24 hours and a light keying-sand with fine grit Garnet paper between each coat. It builds to a tough finish that is daily wet with all sorts of liquids, including hot gravy, red wine and many other things that stain. It also gets lots of steel implements, wet mugs and other such items left on it, often when they're also gooey with summick.

   So far no stains, ring-marks or any other of the usual sorts of damage often seen with many finishes - in 21 months now. But if there ever is a bit of damage, the patch can be sanded back and recoated, which will show as a pale patch for the week or three it takes the oak to once more darken to match the surrounding wood.

   Best of all, the oak still looks like oak. The Top Oil doesn't stain, only gives that slightly darker look that any finish gives on newly-sanded or scraped wood. It also allows the wood to darken naturally with UV light as it seems to have little or no UV-filters in it.

   The Osmo recommendation is to apply a top up coat now and then - but not frequently. We haven't bothered, though, as the 5-coat build seems more than tough enough. The same build of the same oil-wax has been on another (iroko) kitchen worktop elsewhere for nearly eleven years now, with no marks other than a ding or three where someone dropped a heavy edged thing on it. Even there, it remains waterproof.

   Lataxe

2. 
   john_c2 | Oct 06, 2020 05:12pm | #2

   Whatever you decide to try, turn it over and practice on part of the underside. On a piece like this, you'll never be able to strip the finish if you aren't happy, not without ruining the texture and look.

   Finishing this type of piece is a lot more finicky than a sanded smooth piece of wood.

3. 
   Deleted | Oct 06, 2020 06:06pm | #3

   “[Deleted]”

4. 
   user-7771389 | Oct 06, 2020 06:21pm | #4

   Lataxe, thanks for your thoughtful input, that is very helpful. I was planning to experiment with some pure tung as well. I actually did contact Osmo, and they are sending a sample of Osmo polyX in neutral. Maybe I should have asked for the oil. I do have some scrap from the project to play with and try out various products.

   John thank-you. I have a few scraps of wood that I plan to experiment with first. I was afraid it would be more difficult given the texture. I had orginally planned to stain, then lightly paint white so the grain would show through, but we just really love this natural look.

5. 
   mark_0h | Oct 06, 2020 08:39pm | #5

   If you want to protect it but leave it looking like raw wood, I would try a water based polyurethane. It will provide good protection but adds almost no colour to the wood. I used it on a table I build for my daughter when she was a toddler and it stood up to everything she has throw at it including food, paint, crayons, pen, marker, etc.

6. 
   lat_axe | Oct 07, 2020 04:23am | #6

   There is another tradition with rough-raw wood items made of pieces straight from the saw or froe - let the stains and marks of everyday use add their own "patina". One meaning of "patina" is precisely that - a visual history of use on the item, evident in its surface. These days we tend to use the word "patina" to mean a pretty gloss that comes with lots of polishes over the years. But the wider meaning is as above.

   In modern times, in Western culture, we've come to regard various sorts of "perfection" as the most desirable aspect of made-things. We've come to want things to look factory-made. But as your table shows, there are other tastes in the "look" of things that are also appealing to the human eye.

   In Blighty there are lots of very old houses, halls, castles and all sorts of other places open to the public, containing the styles of furniture used in their heyday - often the very furniture of, say, the C14th used by Lord Percy and his hierarchy of folk. Only a few of these pieces show pretty surfaces. Many are full-on "hand of the maker" right over to "rough hewn with an axe". They also show spillage and even eatin'-knife marks. They have a great appeal because of that.

   But so do the glossy Chippendales in some later-built posh houses.

   In some ways, a rough-raw item such as your table would look "wrong" without the spillages, stains and marks of use. Such marks would go quite well with the original saw marks, it could be said..... Add a regular scrub with a cleaning stone and some sort of natural disinfectant such as lemon juice and there's a traditional kitchen table probably once found in any number of C19th American houses.

   Lataxe

7. 
   ericmeyermaker | Oct 07, 2020 10:08am | #7

   TL;DR - Do not apply a finish and give it a regular cleaning.

   To quote Alan Peters,

   "Ten years ago on moving to Devon I needed to make a pine kitchen/dining table table quickly for our own use. Today, it is a beautiful golden colour similar to old stripped pine with no a bruise and hardly a scratch to be seen. We do not use a table cloth, only place mats and we have never treated it at all gently. Yet all that it has received in treatment or finish is a regular wipe over with a damp cloth after use and, once a month perhaps, it is thoroughly washed and scrubbed with hot water and household detergent. The hot water raises any bruises ans scratches and the table looks like new, or rather, even better than new, for it has acquired a lovely patina now. There is no comparison with the treacly, bruised scratched polyurethaned surfaces so often encountered with modern manufactured pine tables.

   A scrubbed finish is not restricted to pine, and I have used it for dining and kitchen tables and sideboards in oak, chestnut, pine, cedar and also sycamore. In the case of the latter, if an occasional wash with household bleach is substituted for the detergent, a beautifully white spotless surface will result.

   My only regret is that I cannot persuade more of my customers to have this finish. Sometimes they look on it as hard work, which in fact it is not, and sometimes they feel it is only applicable to the kitchen. It seems to me that we must be honest and tell our prospective clients that any lacquered, french polished or sealed surface finish, however well we do it, must by its very nature deteriorate if subject to heavy and continuous use."

   Pages 153-154. Cabinet Making the professional approach 2nd edition.