Oily Mahoney cherry bowl

[Eric Gourieux]

I have a commissioned cherry salad bowl that I sanded to 600 and applied Mahoney's Walnut Oil. It's been about 2 weeks, and the bowl is still oily. I've wiped it off several times, but more oil seems to leach out of the bowl. It has been sitting in my air conditioned shop the entire time. Do I just keep wiping the excess oil off, wash it, nuke it, or what? Any suggestions?

[Jim Burr]

I'd give it a try in a warmer climate to open the wood fibers. A knock down with mineral spirits couldn't hurt.

[Reed Gray]

UV light will help the oil cure. I have put a 35 watt bulb under them as well. If it is kept cool and out of light, it won't set up as fast, but 2 weeks is a long time.

robo hippy

[Marty Eargle]

+1 to the mineral spirits and a day or so in the warm sun.

I had to use this method on a piece of Claro recently that refused to dry.

[Kathy Marshall]

I had the same situation with a cherry bowl turned green. It took probably close to a month to cure, but I wasn't in any hurry so just left it on an open shelf in the house. When I wiped it down, the towel wasn't noticably picking up any oil, but everywhere my fingers touched it brought oil to the surface, so I finally just left it alone and a few weeks later it was fine.

[Rick Markham]

Kathy, set it out in the sun. The sunlight helps the oil polymerize. Let us know how it works out. :)

[Dale Miner]

If the bowl will fit in your microwave, give it about 20 to 30 seconds and wipe it down while warm. Two or three iterations will usually pull the oil into the wood and bring any excess to the surface for removal.

If it is too large for the microwave, set it out in the sun and wipe down every couple of hours.

[Bernie Weishapl]

According to Mike Mahoney and as others have said it takes ambient sunlight to cure the oil. I sit mine on a shelf at a window where it is relatively warm and they cure fine.