Reply by Lifesaver2000

I am far from a finishing expert, but here is what I have been doing with Danish oil on walnut.

I have been applying the oil as directed, but after the second application I have been taking 320 wet/dry sandpaper and sanding across the grain. After that, I let it sit for the recommended time, then when I wipe the excess oil off also working across the grain.

The theory behind this (I read it somewhere else, didn’t come up with it myself) is that the fine sanding produces a sawdust/oil mixture that, with only working across the grain, fills a lot of the pores without making any change in the color.

I have only done this on table tops, but it does seem to produce a noticeable smoothing of the surface.