oiled wood

[catalac08]

hi

just finishing wooded stern rails for cockpit safety and at the sanding/bolting stage. can't face a beautifully varnished rail getting stood on, scratched by dog claws and otherwise getting normal scatching and wear and tear and having to revovate.

thinking of oiled surface but have no experience of wood oil apart from use of linsead oil on a bowsprit that became a bit trawler like and very black.

want something to show the grain texture of wood, preserve it and able to be renovated easily by cloth/brush application and not greasy or sticky.

any suggestions - also i have been using a hardwood I have been given by a fellow boaty. How do you identify a wood - this is reddish when fresh sanded and very grey where sun bleached/weathered. Is the type of wood relevant to the choice of wood oil?

 

[gandy]

If you post a close-up picture of the wood, preferably a planed bit so that the grain patterns show, that might help identify it.

 

[doug748]

Sounds like it could be Teak (if you are lucky). I have been through a phase of using Teak Oil and Danish Oil, which are just refinements on the theme of cricket bat oil. As you say, they tend to blacken given hard use. At the moment I am giving Sikkens Cetol a try. This is a water based stain, looks varnish like, but you are advised to use only two coats (plus a special top coat which for reasons of economy I have left out). The gloss soon fades but it should be easy to overcoat, has a very pleasing look and it as easy and clean to apply as water. Only problem is you have to buy a big £15 tin. have a look on the Classic Boat site for more details; those boys are not keen because it does not involve the degree of hardship they are used to. Brian.

 

[catalac08]

on reflection I did once use Burgess Woodsealer(?) and although it sounds good in theory & went on easily I got some really bad stain marks from the sealer coming out when wet and made a mess of the cockpit sides on that boat. Probably my fault getting it wet before it had fully dried but not totally convinced about the water based ones

 

[srp]

Deks Olje No 1 is a good penetrating oil finish. If you want a glossy finish, use Deks Olje No 2 on top. You might need to freshen it up halfway through the season - a quick clean up with a green Scotchbrite pad is all you need.
It will discolour over the winter if left exposed, but is much quicker to renovate than a proper varnish finish.
Its the best oil finish I've ever used, far better than teak, Danish, linseed oils. Sikkens and Sadolin aren't oils, but pigmented preservatives. Repeated applications will give a horrible muddy finish, obscuring the grain and your stern rail will end up looking like its been made from bits of 1980's housing estate window frames.