Need finish suggestions for bench

[John Morrison60]

I have just finished smoothing our the top of an old bench that I have.
The top is made from 2x4s on edge pulled together with threaded rods
running from the front to the back.

I cleaned it up using a router sled and it came out rather nice.
It has never been finished, but the top looks good enough to preserve
a bit. I would like a finish that harder than the bare wood, but is not
brittle and "crackable".

I am thinking about using a danish oil finish, and then possibly waxing.

Am I on the right track?

I am pretty much a newby to this, and would like to have a good result.

Thanks
John

[Matt Woessner]

John,
I guess to me it would depend on what the bench is used for? I am assuming a workbench. I used danish oil on my workbench and I like it fine. It adds a little protection and makes it look nice. If you need protection from heat, water, etc danish oil may not be the way to go. The nice thing about the oil is you can always slap on another coat when needed. Hope this helps a little.

[Prashun Patel]

Assuming it's a workbench, I'd want something with a lot of 'give' to prevent cracking that still repells glue and prevents stuff from sticking and creating speedbumps.

For me, I'd use a long oil like Danish or even BLO. If you prefer it slicker, I really liked my last bench coated with shellac. It brushed on easy, lasted longer than I thought, and was easy enough to recoat in 2 years.

[John Morrison60]

I like the sound of the Danish Oil finish.
I will give that a try.

Thanks for the advice.

John

[Jim Becker]

For a workbench, I just use BLO.

[Joe Chritz]

Workbench top?

Wax or BLO or both.

The nice thing about that is when you scuff it up (or drop a chisel on it :eek:) it is easy to repair if you are so inclined.

Joe

[Alex Shanku]

50% Mineral Spirits 50% BLO

[John Schreiber]

Anyone use warm BLO or warm Danish oil? My shop is not going to get above 40° for a long time and I don't want to wait too long.

Not hot, I'm figuring of putting the container of finish in a bucket of water - hot from the tap.

[Prashun Patel]

I've heated BLO before. It thins it which seems to improve penetration, but not drying. Even at 60 deg, it dries well enough to work on in 2-3 days. If topcoating, though, it's another story.

That being said, according to Flexner, deeper penetration doesn't really improve the 'protection' of these finishes.

[Steve LeLaurin]

What about finish for a bench top made of MDF? I'm building a table now and expect to use MDF, and had thought about shellac. Anyone think Danish oil or BLO would be better?


steve

[Prashun Patel]

I tried BLO on MDF and didn't like the results. It 'drank' too much and I didn't like the look.

My tsaw outfeed table has an MDF top which I shellacked. I love that. It made the top a lot harder, and didn't drink as much shellac as the oil. It still drank a lot though ;)

With the shellac, though, you gotta be prepared to accept a sfc that's easily marred, or be prepared to touch it up frequently.

[Ray Schafer]

See now, if I would have done a better job monitoring this forum, I would have beat Jim to the punch and said "I am sure that Jim will recommend BLO."

[Matt Woessner]

I used danish oil on my bench top which is mdf. I applied around 5 coats and I like it pretty well.

[Howard Acheson]

A film finish (lacquer, shellac, varnish, poly varnish) is not the way to finish a workbench top. A workbench is going to get dinged and film finishes will crack or craze or be otherwise damaged. Once a film finish is penetrated, it looses its effectiveness and adjacent areas begin to fail. No treatment is going to make a soft wood benchtop harder. I much favor a "in the wood finish". Here are two that lots of folks find effective.

First, is an boiled linseed oil and wax finish. Sand the surface to 180 grit. Mix paraffin or bees wax into heated boiled linseed oil. USE A DOUBLE BOILER TO HEAT THE OIL. The ratio is not critical but about 5-6 parts of boiled linseed oil in a double boiler with one part paraffin or beeswax shaved in. Take it off the stove. Thin this mixture about 50/50 with mineral spirits to make a heavy cream like liquid. Apply this mixture to the benchtop liberally and allow to set overnight. Do it again the next day and again the following day if the top continues to absorb it. After a final overnight, lightly scrape off any excess wax and buff. This finish will minimize the absorbsion of any water and you can use a damp rag to wipe up any glue excess. Dried glue will pop right off the surface. Renewal or repair is easy. Just use a scraper to remove and hardened stuff, wipe down with mineral spirits using a 3/0 steel wool pad (a non-woven green or gray abrasive pad is better), wipe off the gunk and apply another coat of mineral oil/wax mixture.

My personal preference is for an oil/varnish mixture treatment. Either use Minwax Tung Oil Finish, Minwax Antique oil or a homebrew of equal parts of boiled linseed oil, your favorite varnish or poly varnish and mineral spirits. Sand the benchtop up to 180 grit. Apply the mixture heavily and keep it wet for 15-30 minutes. Wipe off any excess completely. Let it dry overnight and the next day, apply another coat using a gray non-woven abrasive pad. Let it set and then wipe off any excess. Let this dry 48-72 hours. To prevent glue from sticking apply a coat of furniture paste wax and you're done. This treatment is somewhat more protective than the wax and mineral oil as the varnish component adds some protection from not only water both some other chemicals also. The waxing makes the surface a little more impervious to water so you can wipe up any liquid adhesive. It also allows hardened adhesive to be scraped off. Repair and renewal is easy. Just go throught the same scraping, wiping down with mineral spirits and reapplication of the BLO/varnish/mineral spirits mixture and an application of paste wax.

Both of the above treatments are quite protective but are easy to maintain and renew. They do not fail when the surface takes a ding.

[glenn bradley]

+1 on BLO. I JPWax it about 3 times a year and glue never sticks.