# Coconut Oil on Wood



## Pieter_hb (Mar 16, 2016)

I am a big fan of coconut oil and use it for many things, besides health issues.

The other day I read an article about using coconut oil on wood for protection and to enhance the colour and grain of any wood furniture, etc.

I know that coconut oil contains extremely small molecules and thus it should penetrate deep into even the hardest of wood.

Attached is a coffee table made out of Teak wood, that I got as a birthday present. I decided to give coconut oil a go and then took pictures afterwards.

I must say it looks like it really goes deep into the wood and brings out the absolute max beauty of the wood… even better than the oils I normally use for my wooden furniture, artifacts, etc.

What do you think? Would love to hear your feedback.

And by the way, who knew that Teak wood that is actually a dull sort of "one" colour wood…, could be so beautiful as well at times.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

That's a new one on me. Never heard of that use.
The wood is beautiful.
Bill


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## conifur (Apr 1, 2015)

I hope it does not turn rancid on you like other vegetable oils do. Other wise it looks great. Nephew is a food chemist, and wood worker, I will check with him.


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## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

Most any oil can be used on wood. The only issue I can see it that the oil may turn rancid over time. Since it's not being used on food surfaces it shouldn't be an issue. Tell whomever buys the table *not* to use linseed oil.

M


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## Pieter_hb (Mar 16, 2016)

Thanks Bill

Give it a go on your furniture and see what you think?

Coconut oil is of course also highly anti-oxidant thus it can last for years before it gets rancid.

Must say, I am convinced without a doubt.

Will now just wait and see how long it keeps the beauty of the wood versus other oils…


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## Pieter_hb (Mar 16, 2016)

Thanks Conifur

Please give feedback once your nephew has an answer.

MadMark, from what I have read, it does not appear that the author experienced any problems like rancidness with the oil.

Furthermore the amount one use is also very little needed because coconut oil is so fine/thin.

But the final jury may still be out there…

Yip, agree with Linseed oil, will never ever touch it again…


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## curthibbs (Feb 25, 2016)

Why would it be bad to subsequently use linseed oil? Would there be some kind of adverse reaction??


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## Pieter_hb (Mar 16, 2016)

Curthibbs

From my experience although Linseed oil do protect wood quite good, it does not bring out the true colours and beauty of wood like the thinner newer types of oils and furthermore fine dust sometimes settles on the oil and get trapped and so also spoil the beauty of the wood.

MadMark, what is your opinion about Linseed oil?


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## conifur (Apr 1, 2015)

Pieter,
just got this from my nephew.
Saturated fat does not go rancid near as easily as unsaturated. Coconut oil is saturated fat (that's why it's solid). It should be good for something like a cutting board. If it did start to get a little rancid, a quick wash with some soap water would remove the old oil on the surface.
There are some oils that slowly polymerize and those are the best for a natural oil finish. I believe sunflower and walnut are ones that will slowly polymerize.


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## Pieter_hb (Mar 16, 2016)

Thanks for the quick reply Conifur, appreciate.

I will monitor my furniture and see what happens.

Luckily coconut oil can easily be removed as your nephew has indicated, if it needs to be.


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## Unknowncraftsman (Jun 23, 2013)

I've always believed Teak to be the top of the heap when it comes to rot, bugs and moisture.The good stuff from Burma is horrible to machine it just take to edge off of every machine it touches.
I don't think there's anything we can add to it to make better.
The coconut oil sure does make it look alive there's no denying that.


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## Pieter_hb (Mar 16, 2016)

Hi Aj2

Yip, Teak is a very solid, hard wood and nice to work with, with the minimum of problems that it will give you.

Very popular indoors and outdoors as floors, patios', balcony's, furniture, etc.

Yes, like you said, hardly any bug wants to touch it and very durable, therefore it will last for a loooong time anywhere.


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## DonnaSophia (Jul 13, 2020)

This is an old post so hoping you are still out there and would recommend putting coconut oil on my screened porch 10 year old teak floor. Half of it is very light from sun bleaching. It's the 12 inch snap together square tiles with 6 strips of wood per tile. Supposed to be warp proof but about 6 - 8 random stirps of wood have curled up.


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

Donna - you would probably get better results if you started a new thread
with photos of your issues and concerns which would give the gallery
a visual understanding of what you are dealing with.
I don't think that coconut oil will straighten any kind of warped wood.
you may need other methods to address your issues - only photos can tell.

.


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## Pieter_hb (Mar 16, 2016)

Hi DonnaSophia

I am still here. Just doing print on demand at the moment and temporarily away from my woodwork…

Anyhow, to answer your question.

Coconut oil is so thin that when applied on your skin, it goes right through all the layers of your your skin and into your bloodstream, in minutes. Thus for one, a huge favorite with a masseuse, as it kills 99.9% of all bacteria, viruses and other germs, etc. A true miracle oil. Done a lot of research into it and can talk hours on end about it.

I do not know about research of it on wood for preservation, etc. but judging what it does for one's skin, I just decided one day to try it on wood and I was blown away, to say the least. It penetrates the wood quite deeply because it is so "thin", brings out the true colors of the wood and lasts longer than your ordinary wood oils you buy at hardware stores.

The final verdict is however still out there and most woodworkers would probably think I am mad or something. It is just something I tried or experimented with (I am a researcher) got good to excellent results and voila, there you have it. The bonus side of it is of course that it disinfects any place on the wood where you apply it and does not destroy or stain clothes if you by accident sit on a chair, for example, that still has a layer of oil on it…

Maybe start off with the regular woods oils and then finish off with a layer of coconut oil…

Try for yourself. You might like it or not. You be the judge.

Hope it helps.

Regards
Pieter Haasbroek


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## Pieter_hb (Mar 16, 2016)

Hi DonnaSophia

John Smith is correct. The bend or warp wood, you need steam or other kinds of techniques that is either expensive and/or takes a lot of time.

By simply applying an oil on wood and expect the wood to "behave" and go back to normal or straighten out is maybe a too far fetched dream.

Regards
Pieter


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## DonnaSophia (Jul 13, 2020)

> Hi DonnaSophia
> 
> John Smith is correct. The bend or warp wood, you need steam or other kinds of techniques that is either expensive and/or takes a lot of time.
> 
> ...


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## DonnaSophia (Jul 13, 2020)

I wasn't trying to undo the warp, I just wanted to give some color to the sun bleached teak tiles.


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## shampeon (Jun 3, 2012)

Any oil will bring back the color. Mineral, walnut, Danish, tung, linseed, etc. Coconut oil isn't a polymerizing oil, so the finish won't really offer much protection (though teak is pretty hard). I'd probably look into a marine oil finish that has some UV protection so it doesn't just bleach out again.


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

Coconut oil does go rancid. Of course, so does flax oil, before it's processed to use it as linseed oil.

I think using it would be a bit like using olive oil on a cutting board - not a good long range idea, compared to using a petroleum based non-hardening oil.


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

A note, or two:


So called teak oil is just boiled linseed oil with resins and hardeners added. So too it goes with [long oil finishes] we call marine oil finishes, though they may contain tung oil, instead of linseed oil.


Spray thinned motor oil (obviously, non-hardening oil) on an old gray cedar fence and it will turn to a beautiful gold-ish color. The oil does not evaporate. Instead, it wicks deeper into the wood (the drier areas), replacing lost moisture. As such, it is cumulative. That is, it saturates the wood from more applications and will even swell it, hiding small cracks and splits. It will even stop cracking and splitting for the reason it replaces lost moisture.


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