Waterlox over Watco ?

[JIM PETERS II]

I am ready to finish a maple table, but I am afraid the color will be too light without applying some stain. Can I put down a coat of colored Watco Danish Oil, followed by finishing coats of Waterlox?

[David Damiano]

Yes you can, I just did the same thing to a red oak end table and it came out great. I applied two coats of Watco Golden Oak for color, let it cure for 72 hours then the Waterlox orginal/sealer and had no problems. The Waterlox really did mellow the golden tone of the danish oil so you should take that into consideration.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, you can do that if you prefer, but be sure the Watco cures before you start with the Waterlox. As an alternative, you could use BLO and something like de-waxed garnet shellac to darken and tone the piece before top coating. The BLO will do the same thing as the oil in the Watco (which is a varnish oil) which is darken and define the figure and the shellac will help to tone the piece. Alternatively, you could use a water soluble dye to color your wood, seal with shellac (with or without BLO first) and then top coat. You might consider working with some scrap to find out what works best for you. In fact, you SHOULD work with scrap first before committing to your project!

BTW, welcome to SMC!