copper bottomed pans staining tung oil top

[Dennis Pickerl]

I have a maple butcher block style counter top that is finished in 100% Tung Oil (from Lee Valley). If any of the copper bottomed pans are left in contact with the surface for any length of time green copper oxide rings are left behind. My question is: Is there any thing else I could use (BLO?) that would have a similar appearance but not mark up with the rings?

[Harvey Pascoe]

Oils are not good finishes for things like that and table tops in my experience. I have a restored credenza that I used tung oil on and darn near everything stains that thing. Now I have to strip it and redo it, this time in varnish. I think a counter top of wood is a tough proposition in any case.

[Jim Becker]

Dennis, my gut feeling is that changing the oil type isn't going to help you with this issue since you already have the tung in the wood. Mineral Oil is more traditional for finishing this type of counter, however. I don't have any problem with staining on our maple island top, although I have nothing that is copper to test your exact situation.

[Howard Acheson]

Are you referring to hot pots? Does it happen with non-copper bottomed pots?

[Dennis Pickerl]

Howie: This section of counter is the "working area" very near the wood stove at our cottage. So I would guess that heat (the pots may be warm but not really hot) and moisture are definitely in play here. Other pots (cast iron, or aluminum) don't leave the same marks. My fix last time was sanding down to fresh wood and starting again. I have a table done the same way with no staining.