# Need help, having an issue with Danish oil



## Woodienoobie (Apr 17, 2017)

Hello, so I built a rustic farmhouse styletable and decided to try danish oil for the first time….not working out…no matter how many coats I apply the wood soaks it up and has lots of dull or grey colored patches. Wood is building grade 2×10 spruce and #1 4×4 cedar for the legs. Whatco dark walnut is the oil im using.

2nd question….can I seal the danish oil surface with furniture wax? The table is soft wood and will get dented/banged up easy so I figured the wax would hold up better then a poly finish. Can wax be applied over a matte poly finish too?

Thanks for answering my rookie questions - Dominic


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## mrbob (Nov 3, 2016)

It is the nature of the wood, around all those knots it will take a lot to fill that grain.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

Welcome to Lumber Jocks and the learning curve.

Always practice on scraps first and use Blotch Control from Charles Neil's, a fellow Lumber Jock as well:


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## CharlesNeil (Oct 21, 2007)

danish oil is extremely slow to dry, and it has to dry in order to build enough finish to fill the soft grains, successive coats can soften the previous ones. Just let it dry , several days or even 4 , a week wouldnt hurt if you have 3 or 4 coats on. Switch to a better drying oil, like Minwax wipe on poly or Arm R Seal, they dry faster and harder and are a much more durable finish .


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## Woodienoobie (Apr 17, 2017)

> It is the nature of the wood, around all those knots it will take a lot to fill that grain.
> 
> - mrbob


The wood has 4 coats of danish oil and then lost count of how many touchups on those areas…then left it for 5 days to cure and went at it again…will keep trying….zi did test on a large section and had none of that issue


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## RobS888 (May 7, 2013)

I had a similar problem with some spalted white oak. I ended up using seal a cell and then sanding down. The thinned shellac stopped the absorption. My guess is it gets sucked up into the problem areas, so sanding removes from most of the wood, but not the high absorption areas, so it can't suck up the Danish Oil.

I think CharlesNeil called it a wash coat (I know nothing compared to Charles). I only use Danish oil and Arm-R-Seal Satin, I struggled with a few other finishes and found this worked best for me.


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## Woodienoobie (Apr 17, 2017)

Thanks for all the help and replies…well the Danish oil has become my Danish nightmare…. Being stubborn and not heeding advice given ive continued trying to keep applying the oil to the problem areas… its getting better but im at about 17 touchups now to those problem areas and still have over 1/3rd of the spots in original pictures…have used up two full cans of the oil and on a third can at $18 a pop….youch

Starting to become my nightly ritual..flood table with oil, come back and wipe off… wetsand table to get lint and dust buildup off from too many applications of the oil


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## DirtyMike (Dec 6, 2015)

Construction grade lumber table huh?


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

So let me get this straight: You came here for finishing advice, got some from someone who is regarded as an expert in the field (Charles Neil), have pressed on while totally ignoring that advice and then come back complaining about the results while acknowledging that you are not following the advice given? That's the very definition of insanity-doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Danish oil is a good finish, but you are fighting the properties of the finish instead of letting them work for you. 
Knock off the nightly ritual, follow the advice you've been given and let the finish fully cure. You'll get better results.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Most people who use construction grade lumber for a table and going for the old industrial machine floor look. 
I'd sand that baby down and start again. I'd use three colored acetone stains, Puritain pine, dark walnut, and a rich mahogany brown. start with the dark walnut or even a really dark tobbaco stain and hit those knots, rub it in good and circle outward till it wont spread anymore. Then I'd hit the lighter hard spots with puritain pine, then use the mahogany to bring it all together, wipe the whole table down with mahogany, even over the other stains while they're wet. It will look somthing like this, (will I was going to post a pic, but I see somethings never change around here. Not able to show you). If you go to my FB page at Furniture by Russell and look at my mudroom lockers, the seat is how your table will look. 
Just poly over when it's dry. 
Remember, danish oil works best on really soft wood like cedar or pine. even then it's not to strong. It's a total wast of time on woods like walnut. It does a great job on birch plywood, but be sure to use blotch control first. Remember blotch control will lighten anything that goes on afterward. 
Hope this helps.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

Neat looking mud room lockers Russell


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## Woodienoobie (Apr 17, 2017)

> So let me get this straight: You came here for finishing advice, got some from someone who is regarded as an expert in the field (Charles Neil), have pressed on while totally ignoring that advice and then come back complaining about the results while acknowledging that you are not following the advice given? That s the very definition of insanity-doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
> 
> Danish oil is a good finish, but you are fighting the properties of the finish instead of letting them work for you.
> Knock off the nightly ritual, follow the advice you ve been given and let the finish fully cure. You ll get better results.
> ...


Hey, not ignoring the advice… while I try and find the products recommended, I had been making some progress touching up the areas….I have let the wood cure for a few days and then continued only on the problem areas mind you.



> Construction grade lumber table huh?
> 
> - DirtyMike


So I was looking for low moisture, 7% or less kiln dried interior quality 2×10 or 2×12 douglas fir or other not really super expensive wood and they wanted 12 to 15 dollars per linear foot….Its my first table and I have seen rustic tables from construction grade woid that looked ok….the legs are #1 grade cedar 4×4 and I lucked out….they had 4 of them 75% off so I paid $20 for 4 8' beams instead of 80can at lowes… also lowes had decent 2×10 boards… straight, smooth and no damage to them.


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

> Hey, not ignoring the advice… while I try and find the products recommended, I had been making some progress touching up the areas….I have let the wood cure for a few days and then continued only on the problem areas mind you.
> 
> - Woodienoobie


If you are still applying nightly, then you are either ignoring the advice or not understanding it. For those areas of the wood, you need to let the oil cure after *each coat or two* in order for it to build up enough in those areas. Read Charles Neil's advice again.



> danish oil is extremely slow to dry, and it has to dry in order to build enough finish to fill the soft grains, successive coats can soften the previous ones. Just let it dry , several days or even 4 , a week wouldnt hurt if you have 3 or 4 coats on. Switch to a better drying oil, like Minwax wipe on poly or Arm R Seal, they dry faster and harder and are a much more durable finish .
> 
> - CharlesNeil


All your nightly ritual is doing is softening the coat you put on the night before and driving it deeper into the wood instead of allowing to build to the surface. You need it to build, which requires allowing the previous coat to cure. At this point, with "17 touchups", that wood is getting so saturated, it's going to take a lot longer than a few days to get a good cure.

And Minwax wipe on poly is available at pretty much any hardware or big box store, so isn't hard to find.


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## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

Correct me if wrong most Danish oil products nothing more than oil varnish blend (resin + oil + thinner) they are not film forming and do not get a build up of finish on the surface no matter how many coats you apply. Yes, have to observe product recommended drying times before applying additional coats. Watco Danish Oil is an oil varnish blend.

If want a build up finish choose a wiping varnish (resin + thinner) two coats normally equal one coat of film forming finish. Lot has to do with amount of thinner in the product, don't want more than 60% thinner in any product you buy. More thinner added more coats required to achieve one coat of film finish.

Thanks to chemistry never really know what oil is actually used in either oil varnish blend or wiping varnish but both have a place in finishing. Sometimes not as easy to use as manufacturers claim!

JMHO, would use a Zinsser Shellac product, only because faster and simpler to work with.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Thanks waho6o9, 
That is the look I was trying to post but I can't get the site to post any pictures. Been away for a while and must have forgotten how.

Really, I don't see the point of oiling this piece. With construction grade materials, the best you can hope for is an industrial look.

I'd like to do a table just like the one Woodienoobie is doing using the Shou sugi ban method.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

I know Charles is probably cringing at the seat in that locker, but folks love it. Sold 5 of those this year alone.


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## SignWave (Feb 2, 2010)

> Correct me if wrong most Danish oil products nothing more than oil varnish blend (resin + oil + thinner) they are not film forming and do not get a build up of finish on the surface no matter how many coats you apply. Yes, have to observe product recommended drying times before applying additional coats. Watco Danish Oil is an oil varnish blend.
> 
> If want a build up finish choose a wiping varnish (resin + thinner) two coats normally equal one coat of film forming finish. Lot has to do with amount of thinner in the product, don't want more than 60% thinner in any product you buy. More thinner added more coats required to achieve one coat of film finish.
> 
> Thanks to chemistry never really know what oil is actually used in either oil varnish blend or wiping varnish but both have a place in finishing. Sometimes not as easy to use as manufacturers claim!


This is my understanding as well. I like the look of "danish oil", but once I get the color and grain that I'm going for, I switch to a wiping varnish for building up the finish. I usually dilute MinWax poly with mineral spirits in small batches.


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

Danish oil will build to a film with enough coats and time to cure between. It just takes a LOT of coats and time to polymerize between coats, so isn't the best choice if needing to build. As you guys mention, the wiping varnish/wipe-on poly will build faster.


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## Woodienoobie (Apr 17, 2017)

I will definitely try using the wipe on poly on the problem spots


> Danish oil will build to a film with enough coats and time to cure between. It just takes a LOT of coats and time to polymerize between coats, so isn t the best choice if needing to build. As you guys mention, the wiping varnish/wipe-on poly will build faster.
> 
> - JayT


It is building up a shiny, poly-like gleam to it..almost got all the dull spots gone… should I wet sand it with 220 grit to get the small dust and particles off, final coat of oil..thenthe wipe on poly and wax?


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

As others said, or indicated, Danish is just a wipe on finish. As such, it's the equivalent of highly thinned regular poly. It will build, if the previous coats are allowed to harden, which will seal the wood.

Applying more thinned poly before the previous coat hardens just dumps more finish into the wood by way of wicking. I do that on purpose, so failures of the surface coat do not result in a total loss of protection.


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