Thread: Woodworking bench finish

Originally Posted by Joe Gadget

I have some Feast and Watson Scandanavian oil, and some Danish oil (and a few small tins of Hardwax oil).

Joe,
either of those will be good. I used Danish oil on my Vic Ash workbench over 30 years ago and it's still looking good. An oil finish is easy to refresh when the surface gets scrached or damaged.

Preface with that I am in the camp that thinks a workbench is a utility tool rather than a piece of fine furniture but I just use boiled linseed oil cut 50:50 with turps. Two coats.
Bruce

You can even add BLO to Danish/Scandinavian oil. It will make the BLO set quicker and gives finish that is less adhesive for errant glue to stick to. Any dried drops of glue will just pop off with a scraper. I have a "mongrel mix" I keep for such applications that is a blend of leftover polyurethane, Danish oil, BLO and turps. Roughly equal proportions, but it's not rocket science.

And hear is the bad news....You haven't finished planing it yet. In fact, you probably never will if you value a flat, straight working surface.
In the interest of keeping your refinishing to a minimum I would be inclined to avoid the quick drying "oil" finishes and stick with linseed. Penetration is critical. The further the better. When it comes to gluing up, a wipe over with a linseed oily rag serves two purposes; continues the ongoing oiling of the bench and also creates a release agent for any glue spilage.
A natural oil finish is never ending. Or so it would seem. The reason for this is that the penetrating oil eventually leaves the surface of the timber dry, if no follow-up coats are applied. The exposed surface is then subject to all the calamities that can befall a raw piece of timber. To prevent this, regular follow-up coats (just a quick, thin wipe over with the oily rag) will restore the surface and the penetration continues until an equilibrium is reached. Now your surface will retain the oil and the regular applications can become infrequent.
The old rule of thumb for oil finishing was "Once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year and then every birthday."
It still holds true. Keep the coats thin to avoid tackiness.
Warning!!!! Dispose of oily rags promptly or soak in water. Spontainious combustion is a real possibility here.
Enjoy your new bench. Year after year after year....

I found Feast and Watson Scandanavian oil too slippery on my tas oak/vic ask bench top and ended up planing it off. Gramercy holdfasts worked better afterwards. On the rest of the bench it's held up well though.

Ps - post some pics of your bench

I'm in the same camp as Rustynail. Use whatever oil you find cheapest and most convenient, but the aim is to get penetration rather than appearance. (The appearance will come anyway.) Before I start each new job I go over the whole bench with a scraper to remove any glue, check it with a straightedge to see that there are no humps or hollows, give it a light sand with the ROS and oil it.Occasionally you may need to use a plane to remove a hump. My bench is about 30 years old. I've had to flatten it twice - once by planing and once on a big drum sander, which is much easier.

For hundreds of years Linseed Oil was the finish for work benches. Dont see any need to change that. BLO works fine for me. Thin it down a little with turps for the first coat. 15 mins or so to soak in then wipe off. Repeat in a day or two. Year or so down the track you can freshen it up if you think it needs it.
An oil finish prevents glue and paint sticking to the surface and it should simply scrape off. Varnish and gloss coats may look better but a slippery top is not a great help to woodworking.
Regards
John

We all get seduced by the pictures of pristine benches, glowing under their finish coats of oil/varnish/whatever, but as most of the others have said, in the end it's just a great big clamp & something to lay workpieces on, so practicality trumps appearance imo. When I first made my bench I fussed over it, carefully cleaning up the minutest spills & regularly re-oiling. Fast forward 40 years and it's a far more tragic sight. Despite a couple of re-surfacings over the years, it bears the scars of a busy life, is covered in stains and even errant saw-cuts & could probably do with another re-surfacing, but my enthusiasm for planing large areas of hardwood has dimished. I've decided there is a new chic in having a well-used bench...

BTW, oil finishes will minmise glue & finish adhesion, but are no barrier to liquid stains. The first few dings in your luverly new bench top are the most painful, after that, each one seems to hurt less.

Cheers,

I have no idea what the state of my benchtop is. There's so much crap on it I can't see the surface.

Thanks everyone.
Some really good advice.
I think buying the blackbutt broke the bank, so I'm going to have to go with what I'v e got. I have diggers timber oil (which i think is BLO), Danish oil and scandanavian oil.
I was thinking of mixing everything together and cutting it with turps...., but now I'm convinced I should prob leave any of the poly that's in the danish and scandanavian oil out of it.

So I'll just use the BLO thinned out...

but more importantly I'll finish off the bloody bench first. Just had to move the bandsaw out of the garage becaue I need to move the existing dining table so I can walk around it when gluing up the benchtop.... The joys of a small workspace....

Originally Posted by Joe Gadget

I have diggers timber oil (which i think is BLO)...

According to the SDS it's 100% raw linseed oil. Much slower drying than BLO.

I'm so confused.

Is that a good thing or bad?

I also don't know how to apply the linseed oil? Do i let it soak in and buff off the excess once it stops absorbing it? and do I need to sand in between coats? Also - how do I know if it's dry / ready for another coat??

Sorry for all the questions, I've never finished a project this big before and haven't used linseed oil....

It comes in a plastic bottle and is very easy to use. Pour a little into another container and thin the first coat with a splash of turps. Apply liberally with a brush or rag. If there is any excess on the surface after 30 min wipe it off - never needed in my experience. Dry rags outside. There is a very small but real risk of rags natural wet with natural oils self combusting and you don’t want that among the shavings!
Apply a second coat when the first is dry - coats merge together so timing between coats is not critical. I don’t bother sanding between coats.
Handy stuff the have around and a great finish for all sorts of tool handles including brooms and garden tools. An annual rub over keeps them good.

Originally Posted by bruceward51

It comes in a plastic bottle and is very easy to use. Pour a little into another container and thin the first coat with a splash of turps. Apply liberally with a brush or rag. If there is any excess on the surface after 30 min wipe it off - never needed in my experience. Dry rags outside. There is a very small but real risk of rags natural wet with natural oils self combusting and you don’t want that among the shavings!
Apply a second coat when the first is dry - coats merge together so timing between coats is not critical. I don’t bother sanding between coats.
Handy stuff the have around and a great finish for all sorts of tool handles including brooms and garden tools. An annual rub over keeps them good.

Thanks... I'm so used to using poly and wax based finishes that it can get a bit confusing. But I definitely think the linseed oil is the best option..

THanks again...

I'll post some photos of the finished product...