Timber care question

Twister_Ken

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Not on a boat but at home - but I'm sure there's good advice to be had here.

We have a kitchen drainer made of iroko. Previously it has been oiled (using Danish Oil) which has given a pretty good finish cosmetically, but has needed re-oiling once every 6 months or so. Given that it is often wet and/or splashed with plain and soapy water, once the oil barrier is broken the timber absorbs a bit of moisture and needs drying out before re-oiling.

I've now stripped off all the old oil, scrubbed and sanded the timber back to a good, uniformly coloured surface.

Environment - indoors, almost no direct sunlight, central heating, surface often wet for longish periods.

Where do I go from here:

Do I re-oil? If so with what?

Or do I varnish? And if so with what?

Priorities:
1. Durability
2. Being able to re-coat in the future without going back to bare.
3. Smashing finish

Any advice warmly welcomed.
 

michael_w

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I've used Epifanes gloss varnish on my beech block work top. 4 coats, 4 years ago. 2 years with tenants. Admittedly, now it could do with a rub down and a couple more coats of varnish.

Lot less hassle than all that malarky with snake oil.
 

pyrojames

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Alternative would be a floor wax. I hesitantly used Ronstans Diamond Hard Wax on a new oak floor and it (after a year) looks like new, despite water, blood (birth of son), dead rabbits and mice (cat) and chairs being dragged across it. Very impressed with the performance. Expensive though.
 

Stemar

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Ronseal diamond hard floor varnish. It's very tough - though not up to being used as a chopping board, which seems to be the fate of any more or less horizontal surface in my kitchen /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif - and, being acrylic, it only needs a couple of hours between coats. It doesn't darken the wood like a spirit based varnish, which may or may not be a disadvantage.
 

Blue5

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I have beech worktops at home and they are a full shine finish using Danish Oil, the secret is to build it up, I put on 5 or six coats denibbing between coats with 320 grade silicon carbide paper and making sure all the dust is removed.
After that a wipe over once a year with a polishers rubber charged with Danish Oil and it looks like new again
 

mortehoe

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On Iroko I'd use Tung Oil rather than Danish Oil as Danish Oil is a type of soft varnish. Tung oil is a penetrating oil that dries slowly and complements the natural oil in Iroko. The natural oil in Iroko exudes slowly and one of the reasons why Danish Oil is not really suitable on oily tropical hardwood is that it penetrates the wood just a little and then forms a surface skin. As the natural oil moves to the surface the Danish Oil skin gets blown off resulting in you having to re-varnish every couple of years.

Tung oil (2 coats @ 24 hour interval.) retains its oil characteristic as it dries to a satin finish, also it doesn't change colour and darken a Danish Oil does. It's also a better performer in wet areas than Dainish Oil.

http://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/products/wood-oils/tung-oil.htm?gclid=CLDF_6qL6IwCFRWOEgod00oe7w
 
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Best product I've used for this application is Osmo Top Oil, whihc is specifically engineered for worktop and furniture protection. Easily applied, great finish, easy maintenance. Like all Osmo products it's solid German performance and gives a first class result.
 

cliff

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[ QUOTE ]
And as you're being rude, I shan't tell you my secret formula for getting Danish Oil off of Iroko. which involves rugger ball work at all.

[/ QUOTE ]Depends to a great extent on who put the oil on in the first place /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
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