# Watco Danish oil



## BigKen44 (Dec 22, 2014)

I use about ninety quarts of Watco Danish Oil per year in my shop and recently I purchased a half dozen cans at my local wood workers store. I found this new batch of Watco to be a lot different than what I have been used to using, it was as thick as 30 weight motor oil and difficult to work with. I put out an inquiry to see what was going on with this stuff. Today I received an answer….. Rust-Oleum Tech support contacted me and said judging by the product number I had provided them they determined that my store had sold me some Very low VOC Watco that is manufacture of only 4 counties in CA. which has some of the strictest VOC requirement in the country. (NOTE) I am in NH; Mystery solved….My thanks to Rick at RO product support for the answer and also on how to thin the product.


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## KayBee (Jul 6, 2009)

Nice you got a speedy reply and solved the problem. Always nice to hear about good customer service. Any idea how it ended up on the opposite side of the country?


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## Adamal (Dec 3, 2012)

I'm glad I live in Pennsylvania. It seems everything causes cancer in California!!!


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## wapakfred (Jul 29, 2011)

Those cans were really lost! Glad you got t worked out (PS that is one hell of a lot of Watco to use, WOW!)


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## distrbd (Sep 14, 2011)

Bigken,do you buy you Danish oil clear? and tint it yourself ?I recently bought their Cherry color danish oil and could not use it on white Maple ,it made the maple look too reddish .


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

How do ya thin it?
Thanks for the post, and thanks to Watco for helpin' you.
Bill


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## BigKen44 (Dec 22, 2014)

I generally use Natural, Golden Oak and Dark walnut. I also found the Cherry to be much too red. Tech service at Rust-Oleum told me I could thin the thick stuff using paint thinner or mineral spirits 5-10%.


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## JerryLH (Oct 23, 2014)

> I generally use Natural, Golden Oak and Dark walnut. I also found the Cherry to be much too red. Tech service at Rust-Oleum told me I could thin the thick stuff using paint thinner or mineral spirits 5-10%.
> 
> - BigKen44


BigKen44 - 90 quarts of Danish Oil a year - without question you have gained a potload of knowledge when it comes to WDO, (I know, pretty obvious). I like WDO also but I don't know that I'm using it to its fullest potential. Would you consider a run through of how to get the best out of Watco Danish Oil. I'm making a large, heavy (about 325 lbs), hickory workbench for my son. I plan on using WDO on it, but I would like to warm up the white color of hickory to a warm, golden, aged color. I planned on adding a few drops of trans tint to the WDO. One of my past bosses told me-I didn't have to know everything, I just had to know where to find about everything. Any info you'd like to share - I 'would' appreciate it.


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## BigKen44 (Dec 22, 2014)

> I generally use Natural, Golden Oak and Dark walnut. I also found the Cherry to be much too red. Tech service at Rust-Oleum told me I could thin the thick stuff using paint thinner or mineral spirits 5-10%.
> 
> - BigKen44
> 
> ...


Hi Jerry: The tint should help or you could use the golden oak Watco. I take a lot of care to prepare the wood before I apply the Watco, sanding up to 800 grit and making sure to remove all the dust. I soak the wood with the the produce and let it stand about 20 to 30 minutes than I soak it again and let it set another 20 minutes. I make sure to gently wipe the item down after the last soaking has had a chance to sit. I make sure there is no pooling or areas that have an excess of the oil. Now I let it dry for a couple of days up to 4 days if I am going to top coat it with anything. I like to go all over the item with 1200 grit to remove any texture to the wood that the oil may have produced. Some items I use a paste wax, some items I use a citrus oil and Bee's wax polish and some items I top coat with water based poly-acrylic, when I use the poly-acrylic Buff the item out with 800 frit them use 1200 between coats. I have found the Watco makes a great sealer for other more durable top coats. Another oil I enjoy is Birch Wood Casey's True OIl, Out standing stuff. I make a lot of small meditation altars, shrines and meditation stools and find the Watco is ideal for those items because they do not get hard use. Be well. Ken


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## JerryLH (Oct 23, 2014)

Thank you very much for the info Ken. If I choose to use oil followed by paste wax what should my son do in the way of maintenance in the future. I appreciate your feedback.


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## JerryLH (Oct 23, 2014)

Actually Ken I have a couple of other questions (surprised). My projects are faaaar farther apart than many, but, the truth is I'm cheap so I buy WDO by the gallon and I notice that with age, quite naturally, the viscosity gets heavier. 1. does WDO get to a point is no longer worthy of use, 2. if thinning the WDO, a. what do you thin with, b. it seems thinning by percent or ratio would be different based on the age (viscosity) of the WDO at the moment, or do you simply thin by viscosity? 
Again - Thanks


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## BigKen44 (Dec 22, 2014)

> Thank you very much for the info Ken. If I choose to use oil followed by paste wax what should my son do in the way of maintenance in the future. I appreciate your feedback.
> 
> - JerryLH


HI Jerry, Periodic waxing will help however I am not sure if I would want a working surface that has wax on it, Wax is not very durable and I feel there is a chance for a transfer of wax to what I may be working on. I have a poly-acrylic finish on my work bench and then I put a carpet remnant on it to use as a work surface.


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## BigKen44 (Dec 22, 2014)

> Actually Ken I have a couple of other questions (surprised). My projects are faaaar farther apart than many, but, the truth is I m cheap so I buy WDO by the gallon and I notice that with age, quite naturally, the viscosity gets heavier. 1. does WDO get to a point is no longer worthy of use, 2. if thinning the WDO, a. what do you thin with, b. it seems thinning by percent or ratio would be different based on the age (viscosity) of the WDO at the moment, or do you simply thin by viscosity?
> Again - Thanks
> 
> I have not attempted to try and thin my Watco yet. The mineral spirits I have on hand is low VOC, I need to find some good old fashion mineral spirits. I use up my Watco befor it has a chance to get any age on it. Tech support at Rust-Oleum told me I could thin with mineral spirits/paint thinner up to 10%. If I decide to thin I will go by volume. Ken
> ...


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## JerryLH (Oct 23, 2014)

Thank You Ken.


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