Finishing an outdoor harvest table

Your question is good but there need to be some realistic expectations.

Film finishes will not hold up, period, and once they start to fail—flake and peel—you’re in for agonizing work.
They’re not suited to this kind of outdoor application.

The virtue of an oil finish here is its flexibility through temp and humidity swings, and hooray for that. But you simply will not get the protection from spilled pickle juice and smudged devilled eggs that you would expect from a film finish.

That said, oil finishes are pretty easy to repair.

So you’re looking at an exterior oil of some kind—Watco makes a dandy, and there are others—that you’ll have to refresh from time to time, perhaps with some sanding, perhaps not. But that’s a pretty simple, splattery process that incurs a day of mess and you’re done.

Stepping beyond your question, I’m asking other LJs if they’ve had experience with white oak outdoors. I’m a little skeptical that it’s a good choice for this, but I’m open to new information. It’s an open grain wood, which translates to, “hello, moisture, come on in!” (Moisture being both the weather kind and the pickle kind.)

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

Look at the Sikkens products Cetol. It is a film forming oil that holds up well yet is breathable and flexible. When is starts to wear off, you put a new coat on over the old. There is no perfectly clear option. It comes in a variety of colors. It excels at UV and water protection. I have a cedar picnic table that is going on 10 years old. It sits in my gazebo year round in NY so it is exposed yet protected by the roof over it. It still looks great and still only has its original 3 coats on it. My Adirondak chairs also have Sikkens Cetol on them but they are more exposed to snow and sun and rain and they look good, but do require a new coat every 3-yrs.

-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com

Thanks Lee, I hadn’t thought of grain as an issue from a moisture / accidental stain perspective. Something I’ll keep in mind as I choose my materials. Ipe sounds like a good option too but somewhat harder to work with.

Swift, thanks for the cetol suggestion. Looks like ‘cetol 1’ is what i should try out. I’ll be trying it out on some
test pieces of white oak and redwood someday soon. Perhaps I’ll try it out on some Ipe while I’m at it.

White oak is a great choice for outdoor furniture. Has a structure called tiloses (sp?) in it that closes the pores and prevents rot. Holds up very well. Will gray with age if unfinished but holds up much better than standard pressure treated decking.

-- Scott

Thanks for this correction, Scott. 99% of my oak experience has been red, a much more porous critter. You’re a great example of why LJ is so valuable on so many levels.

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"