Varnish or no varnish?

[Rennie Heuer]

On my mid century coffee table in cherry I had planned on using only Danish oil for finish on the sides, drawer fronts, and leg assembly. I was only going to varnish the top to offer some additional protection. I like the look and feel of the danish oil, five applications, but I am a little concerned about how well it will protect the wood. I know that Danish oil can be used as a finish coat and was wondering if anyone here had more experience with this than I.

What do you think? Five applications of danish oil? Sufficient?

 

[Dan Noren]

i would say varnish, to make sure that the whole item appears with the same finish.

 

[Leo Voisine]

I do NOT make any claims of experience.

I have used all sorts of finishes and I agree, that Danish oil is a really nice finish, BUT, protection is yet another issue.

I have read a bunch from Flexnor, and the others but I don't remember the names. They are popular, my my old tired head don't remember.

I know this hurts but Poly is about the best "protection" out there for interior protective finishes. From there all the rest are less protection.

A coffee table - I would EXPECT to have spills from many things, and bumps and bangs from dishes and cups and the sort.

Personally - I don't think of Danish oil or any of the drying oils to be good protection in that sort of environment.

Just my opinion.

 

[Don Baer]

contrary to what many say I remember Sam Maloof saying that he NEVER put finish on table tops oil and wax only. His reasoning was the tops need to be easily refreshed and if there is a hard finish you have to strip them before refinishing. He used the poly finish on all his pieces except the tops where it was a combination of oil and Wax.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

contrary to what many say I remember Sam Maloof saying that he NEVER put finish on table tops oil and wax only. His reasoning was the tops need to be easily refreshed and if there is a hard finish you have to strip them before refinishing. He used the poly finish on all his pieces except the tops where it was a combination of oil and Wax.

Agree - sort of... A poly-urinestain finish looks great - until it's chipped or scratched. When that happens, a complete removal, or at least a deep sanding of the damage becomes necessary. With a Danish oil finish, you can just sand the damaged area and recoat. Same with shellac or lacquer.

That said, about 7~8 years ago I made a toy chest for my nieces. Walnut, finished in Dark Walnut Watco Danish Oil. The kids (4 of them) have beat the hell out of that toy chest, but it still looks good.

 

[larry merlau]

i would use a high grade varnish not just oil

 

[Dave Hawksford]

Oil the a few good coats of wax. If you use thin coats of wax and build them you'll get good protection.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

i would use a high grade varnish not just oil

I seem to recall someone (Flexner?) saying that the Watco isn't a true oil, but rather an oil-based varnish with some polymerization effect. I do know it 'builds,' albeit somewhat slowly.

 

[glenn bradley]

I have done pieces with just shellac BUT, used a varnish for the top and around the pulls where finger-dirt and oils will need to be cleaned off. I do not know that you could get a long-term match with a varnish only around the pulls of a drawer front with the rest being an oil. If your varnish film takes away from the oil-only look, try a blend with 1 to 1.5 to .5 ratios of solvent to BLO to varnish. This would be similar to the first coats I apply when using a wiped finish.



I shift to a heavier ratio of varnish for the last coats.

 

[fred hargis]

Jim is correct, Flexner at one point indicated Watco (is that what you used?) is simply a wiping varnish, this article by him explains how to test. Somewhere I picked up they (Watco) use a very good quality alkyd resin varnish in their product. The old MSDS indicated it had over 80% thinner (IIRC) so it will build, but also as Jim indicated, very slowly.