Butcher Block Finish from Lowes

Mike Turner

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361
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Laurinburg NC
I had some of this from a project a while back,....maybe a yr ago..I decided to try it on a bowl I used a small piece of tee shirt.I have put several light coats on it but cant get a good smooth finish finish.Each time I have sanded the bowl back nice and smooth but still no luck.I tried applying more finish..had same results..If I put a small amount it streaks and with more still not smooth I dont know what to do !! ??
http://www.lowes.com/pd/WATCO-Butcher-Block-16-fl-oz-Butcher-Block-Oil/3153369
 
So according to the MSDS its ~50-75% mineral spirits (aka stoddard solvent), and 1-2% xylene (another solvent) and .. something else.
http://www.rustoleum.com/MSDS/ENGLISH/241758.pdf
So lets see if we can figure out what the "something else" is because that's the important bit.

The older MSDS gives the rest as an alkyd "long oil" (aka an alkyd resin varnish)
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/msds/193144-Watco-Butcherblock-oil.pdf

the msds from home depot agrees
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/bd/bdb5d88a-80cf-419d-bf44-6f279a11fe3c.pdf

So basically you have an alkyd resin varnish in a lot of mineral spirits and a bit of xylene to thin it out. I'd treat it as a wiping varnish.

I mostly use this technique: http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/article/how-to-apply-wiping-varnish.aspx
although I skip the steel wool most of the time and just sand back with 400 before the final coat (or two) and the rub the nubs off with some crumpled brown paper bag.

If its going on too thick, thin it back out a little with some mineral spirits first (not mineral oil - spirits).
 
I use that stuff as a base coat on my end grain cutting boards. It's so thin that if I slather a heavy coat on one side it will penetrate the entire block in a day. I usually do two coats, one per day, saturated on both sides then let it dry, after which I rub in a few coats of a paste made with five parts Mahoney's utility walnut oil finish and one part beeswax gently melted together. My unproven theory is that the thinned varnish fills up the end grain pores in the wood and along with the walnut oil/wax surface coating will mitigate against water penetration. I have not tried it on bowls as I felt it too thin for a film forming finish.
 
It did say it was a long oil resin as well which means it would be pretty slow to cure and build. So I guess give it plenty of time if you want any surface build.
 
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