Wood Inlay & Wet Sanding Danish Oil - Bad Idea?

[Brian Neff]

Have any of you ever tried wet sanding danish oil on a piece w/ contrasting colored woods? My current project has a walnut inlay on maple. I'm afraid that wet sanding when applying danish oil will smear dark-colored sanding dust from the walnut into the maple. Any thoughts?
(I'd try it on a scrap, but I don't have a scrap w/ inlayed walnut)

[Prashun Patel]

My advice is to skip the wetsanding. The maple does not need it for look or feel.

If that were me and I was using danish oil, I'd sand to 600 dry, then apply a couple coats of danish oil, sanding in between coats. I just don't think you'll notice the difference in look or feel by wet sanding. You'll just use up a elbow grease.

[John K Jordan]

I mostly use oil on woodturnings. I've wet sanded oil-finished things with glued-up contrasting wood but never on the first coat of oil. I apply, wipe, and dry at least three coats first which seals the wood fairly well. Then, when I run my hand over the surface and I think it would benefit I might wet sand lightly with fine sandpaper such as 600 or 800 grit. This mostly knocks off any tiny specks that have landed on a previous coat before it dried. Gentle sanding at this point won't cut through the finish and spread a darker sawdust slurry into the lighter wood. But even then, I might do the darker first, wipe off the oil, then do the lighter separately. I generally sand mostly flat surfaces with a "soft" sanding block - a rubber eraser. BTW, I don't put any oil on a surface until it is already scraped and sanded to as perfect as I can get it.

Another option is to seal the wood well with a couple of coats of sanding sealer. I usually dilute the first coat, let it dry overnight, then apply the second coat and dry, sand, then finish. But this may not "pop" the figure as well as oil on the bare wood.