Thread: I need advice

I used tung oil on blue gum. Only slight cracking after 18 years and it's probably my fault for spilling hot water when i make the coffee. It can always be rubbed back and new tung oil put on.

Carry Pine

Another question:
The benchtop is L shaped with the corner at 45 degree angle to the sides.
Do I coat the underside of the benchtop?
Can I coat it before the 3 pieces are joined?
Once joined I doubt either of us would have the strength to turn it over but, on the other hand, if the coating gets on the adjoining edges, will that stop them from being clamped tightly together?
TYIA
Wolffie

I would use Kunos oil because I think it is food safe.

I would also oil the underside of the benchtop. If your using mechanical fasteners (bolts) like the kitchen manufactures, then you can oil the whole thing the bolt it together. If you use any kind of oil, you can slide the bench-top to one side after gluing it all together and oiling the underside from below with a rag. After you have put the sufficient amount of coats, you can slide it back into position and screw onto the cabinets.

My son has a laminated Ironbark kitchen bench top that he tung oiled. Used 3 coats over time and is more than happy with the result.
I would finish underneath and on the end grain but only after you have it all assembled.
Beg your neighbours to help you lift and turn it!

Originally Posted by artme

My son has a laminated Ironbark kitchen bench top that he tung oiled. Used 3 coats over time and is more than happy with the result.
I would finish underneath and on the end grain but only after you have it all assembled.
Beg your neighbours to help you lift and turn it!

You have no idea how hysterically funny the vision I conjured up was.
The Benchtop is 4 x 3 metres and 30 mm thick, solid timber.
The floor to ceiling height is 7 feet.
The neighbours are older than us, in their 70s.
Wolffie

Bummer!!

I ended up using Country Oil from DGI and it looks a million dollars

Coat it 360° before assembling, then use bench joiner/zip bolts to pull it together after a smearing of silicon in the joins.

You dont want any liquid ingress at the joins.

Hint, make the joins so they can be accessed from underneath... dont do as I did and make the top of the cabinets solid 1 piece, to get too the bolts I had to put stalls in too access the bolts. It took 9 of us to lift the bench top down!(U shaped top 3x3 by 2 at 650mm wide and 40mm thick jarrah... very heavy!)

There's a great product called Waterlox -- no idea if it's available in Australia, but I can't imagine it isn't.

Slow drying (its one drawback), but a few coats will resist water and heat like nothing else. Also, while it dries nice and hard, remains flexible on microcellular level, so less likely to crack with sun exposure, temperature changes, etc.

I guarantee all my work, and Waterlox is what I use on anything like dining tables, pieces that sit in high sun, coffee tables, and the like.

Comes in sander/sealer (which is a final finish, despite its name) which dries medium gloss but softens flat nicely over about six months to a soft satin look; also satin (though you can get the same effect by rubbing out); also high gloss, though I've never worked with that as I hate the look of high gloss.

Couple of coats of sander/sealer, then satin if you want. For kitchen, over new wood, I'd definitely use three or four coats. It doesn't require any prep between coats (hurrah!), and can be repaired/recoated easily years down the line with just a sanding to even it out, and then a new coat.