Danish Oil Not Curing?

Vaughn McMillan

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I have a natural-edged bowl that was finished with a couple coats of Watco (natural color) Danish oil. Looked great...I hand-rubbed it with white abrasive pad for a satin finish after it cured. A few weeks later, I did a small repair to the bark, and sanded a small area of the finished bowl. Two nights ago, I finally got around to touching up the Danish Oil where I had sanded. I wiped some on, let it sit a few minutes, then wiped any excess off. I left the piece in the 55º to 60º shop.

Fast forward to today, and the spots where I applied Danish Oil are still sticky to the touch. I used the same can of finish that I used previously, and it's only about 6 to 8 months old. I can't figure out why it hasn't hardened more quickly. Previous applications from the same can have been dry to the touch in 24 hours. Any ideas about what's going on? Did the finish "turn" on me? Should I just give it more time to cure? (I've brought it into the house in hopes the higher temps will help.) Should I cut my losses and just take off the sticky stuff with mineral spirits and use another finish?

Any suggestions are welcome.
 
The only thing that comes to mind is that you picked up the can, dip the rag and put it on. Never string the oil so that's all you got oil no varnish to harden.:dunno::dunno:
 
The only thing that comes to mind is that you picked up the can, dip the rag and put it on. Never string the oil so that's all you got oil no varnish to harden.:dunno::dunno:

It's a can with a screw-off top, so it wasn't really dippable. I shook it gently, and poured small amounts onto a piece of paper towel, so I think it was pretty well mixed. Good advice, though.

I think I'll do what Don suggested and give it another day or so before I take any drastic measures. Fortunately, there's no deadline for me to get this one done.
 
The only thing that comes to mind is that you picked up the can, dip the rag and put it on. Never string the oil so that's all you got oil no varnish to harden.:dunno::dunno:


Thanks for the wake up Chuck. I know its obvious to you but i think i may have been guilty of this mistake. Would this happen with wipe on poly too.

My experience with poly has been that it dries very quickly. Then for the first time tried the wipe on stuff and it seemed to take forever. Did dry in the end but i thought i would be able to apply more coats a lot faster than i did?

Oops sorry for the hijack Vaughn. :(
 
When you have a product with te finish soaked in and dried it is much harder for the finish to grab on and dry if loaded on. A good way of applying and touch up coat or any coat really is to make sure the oil is mixed good then take a drop of oil and touch your palm then with your palm rub the oil in till it your palm begins to grab the surface. You can do this about 4 times a day. When you have the touch up area back to the finish of the entire piece rub the piece down with a white 3-M pad maybe use a little comet and turps mud with it and then apply a finial coat with your palm , The finish product I think you will like. ;)

BTW, I would use 100% Hope's tong oil instead of Danish.
 
Dave's explanation reminds me of my experience wet sanding with Bush Oil over initial Bush Oil application over last summer. The piece took a long, long time to stop being tacky. So long I thought I'd screwed up and gave up on the project.

Fast forward to Rennie stopping by - I showed him the piece in question and lo and behold, it was properly dry then, so the project is back on the table.

Anyhow, maybe I used too much oil for the wet sanding.
 
Just a quick update...the Danish Oil cured after being in the house overnight. It looks like the cooler temps were the cause of the problem. Interestingly, I used Formby's Tung Oil finish on a couple other pieces that same night, and they were dry to the touch the next morning, even though they were left in the cool temps of the shop just like the Danish Oil piece.
 
MArk a few things will cause oils not to dry, Humidity, cold and a contaminate on the surface. This could be moisture, a silicone film from cleaners, Like natha if used to wipe a surface befor appling and the natha is not totaly dried it will cause flashing which is un-cured areas on the piece.

Oils will dry slower is the surface has a gloss to it so it is always best to either wet sand or rub out with an abrasive pad. Steel wool is not recomended for this because it the tinny burs left behind and can be over looked it your not anial about your finishes LOL
 
I think in this case it was the cool temps, Mark. Of the reasons Dave listed, that's the one that fits the bill most closely. The humidity was in the usual 20% 40% range. I had scuffed the old surface with a white abrasive pad before applying the new stuff, and it was just as tacky in the areas of bare wood as it was where there was earlier finish. And I didn't use anything to wipe this one down, so that wasn't the culprit either.

It just surprised me a bit that the Danish oil didn't cure overnight while the other finish did, but like Dave mentioned earlier, the other finish had driers in it. I think I'll stick with that kind of finish.
 
One was to remove the tack before appling a fresh coat is to get a rag wet with lacquer thinner and quickly wipe over the oil. It's worked in the past for me. You can also add a drop of dryers to the oil before your apply the coat. This will quicken the drying time.
 
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