a closer look

Pros and cons

of oil finishes
B Y C H R I S A . M I N I C K

I
n a recent poll on the Fine
Woodworking Web site, more
than half of readers chose either
pure oil or an oil/varnish mix as
their favorite finish. This is not
surprising, given that oil finishes
are easy to use, easy to renew, and above
all, hard to mess up.

The right oil for the job

But there still is a lot of confusion about oil finishes:
What are the merits of different types of oil? What can
oil finishes do and not do? What are the differences
between pure-oil finishes and oil/varnish mixtures? When applied in their pure state, three types of oil are suitable for
finishing wood. Linseed, tung, and walnut oils have characteristics
Not all oils are suitable for finishing that make them suitable for different woods and projects.
Vegetable oils form the largest family of natural
BOILED LINSEED OIL
resins used for finishing wood. These oils are divided This the cheapest and most widely
somewhat arbitrarily into three classes: drying oils, available of the pure-oil finishes. It
semidrying oils, and nondrying oils. will darken the wood as it ages, so
Only the drying oils, primarily linseed oil and tung if you want an antique look or if you
find the appearance of freshly sawn
oil, can form a cohesive, hard film when used as
cherry too pale, linseed oil is the
a wood finish. Linseed oil is derived from flaxseed, right choice.
while tung oil, also known as China wood
oil, is obtained from the nuts of the tung TUN G OIL
Pure tung oil is harder to find than
tree. Semidrying oils like soybean, safflower, or
linseed oil. It produces a slightly
sunflower are used in the manufacture of oil- more durable finish and doesn’t
based varnish. Nondrying oils such as corn, darken the wood as much. This
cottonseed, coconut, and olive are better used makes tung oil a good choice to use
as salad dressing than as wood finish. on woods that you wish to remain
pale, such as curly maple (left), or
Your doctor may have advised you to switch
on woods already sufficiently dark,
from saturated to polyunsaturated fats, and such as walnut (right).
as it turns out, what is good for your health
is good for your finishing, too. Polyunsaturated oils WALNUT OIL
This oil is expensive and dries
have a greater number of double bonds in each fatty-
slowly, but it has exceptional
acid segment, making them more chemically reactive. nonyellowing properties and in its
Not only can your body digest them more easily, pure form is completely nontoxic. To
but when applied to wood, they have better drying make sure it contains no metallic
characteristics. For instance, raw linseed oil dries driers or other harmful chemicals,
buy it in the salad-dressing aisle at
when applied to wood, but soybean oil does not.
the supermarket. Apply three coats
That’s because more than half (52%) of the fatty-acid to cutting boards, wooden utensils,
segments in linseed oil contain three double bonds, and bowls. Wait two days between
whereas only 9% of the segments in soybean oil have applications to let each coat cure.

22 FINE WOODWORKING Photos: Mark Schofield

a closer look continued

Why oily rags can combust

Heating up fast. In seven minutes, the internal temperature of this wadded-up cloth
soaked in linseed oil rose from less than 100°F to 350°F and started to smoke (above).
Less than five minutes later, the temperature rose from 350°F to almost 500°F, and
the cloth caught fire (right).

U ncontrolled combustion,
spontaneous or otherwise,
is not a good thing in any shop.
cause an oily rag to ignite.
To begin with, the liquid oil
absorbs oxygen from the atmo-
the chemical reaction proceeds.
The heat trapped inside the
rag causes the reaction rate to
I’m aware of two fires near sphere, a phase that continues increase, producing more heat,
where I live that have been for several hours. Once sufficient which increases the reaction
attributed to the spontaneous oxygen has been absorbed, a rate, which produces more heat,
combustion of oily rags. chemical reaction starts, pro- and so on. Within 15 minutes,
Wadded-up, oil-soaked rags ducing heat as a by-product. the heat can ignite the rag.
contain the three ingredients When trapped inside a Avoiding disaster is easy if
needed for spontaneous com- wadded-up oily rag, the heat you dispose of rags correctly.
bustion: an ignition source, fuel, feeds on itself. A fundamental Spread them on your shop floor
and oxygen. rule in chemistry states that the to dry, or hang them over a rack
The same process that higher the temperature of a outside. Once dry, the rags can
causes an oil finish to dry can chemical reaction, the faster be tossed into the trash safely.

three double bonds. Tung oil dries even faster because as a polymer—the dry finish we see on
80% of its molecules contain three double bonds. our masterpieces.
The main reason that boiled linseed Hung out to dry. To
How oil finishes dry oil dries so much faster than raw linseed oil is the prevent the chance
of spontaneous com-
Tung oil and linseed oil dry to a usable finish in a addition of metallic driers. The driers in boiled linseed
bustion, oil-soaked
two-step process: Oxygen is absorbed into the wet oil oil catalyze the uptake of oxygen, decreasing the cloths should be
around a molecule’s double bonds to form peroxide. wet time and initiating a rapid decomposition of the spread out and al-
This oxygen absorption takes a surprisingly long peroxides to speed up the polymerization process. lowed to dry before
time, ranging from eight hours for boiled linseed More important, metallic driers produce a greater being discarded.
oil to about five days for raw linseed oil. Next, concentration of free radicals in the oil, which leads
the peroxide decomposes to produce very reactive to a tightly bonded finish. Thus, not only does boiled
free radicals, which attack the unsaturated fatty-acid linseed oil dry faster than raw linseed oil, but it also
segments of another oil molecule. This forms a stable produces a longer-lasting, more protective finish.
chemical bond between the two molecules, at the
same time producing another free radical to carry on Tips for using oil finishes
the reaction. Eventually, all of the oil molecules are Oil finishes may be easy to apply, but they are not
linked by a network of stable chemical bonds known foolproof. Good surface preparation and thin coats

24 FINE WOODWORKING
a closer look continued

are the keys to success. When preparing the surface

of the workpiece, don’t skimp on the sanding. Oil
finishes don’t cover stray sanding scratches or other
Not all oil finishes are pure oil
defects very well because applications are much Danish oils and other wipe-on oil varnishes often are lumped in with pure-
thinner than most brushed-on finishes. oil finishes like tung oil and linseed oil because the application technique
I power-sand most wood species to P180 grit with is the same and the appearance of the finished wood is similar. However,
aluminum-oxide sanding disks and then hand-sand Danish oil is chemically quite different from pure oil: An additional pro-
with 180- and 220-grit (CAMI) garnet paper. Hand- cessing step is taken by manufacturers to convert part of the raw oil to an
sanding eliminates machine-made swirl marks and alkyd varnish. Thus, wipe-on oils such as Minwax Antique Oil and Waterlox
generally improves the appearance of the wood. share the convenient application method of traditional oil finishes and
Garnet sandpaper leaves a softer, less noticeable
have the added protection of varnish.
scratch pattern than other sandpapers. This sanding
There are two ways to tell if a finish is pure oil or an oil/varnish mix.
sequence is not written in stone; if you have a
Check the can’s label to see whether the contents include resins, mineral
cherry board that appears likely to blotch, you may
want to sand up to 400 or even 600 grit (CAMI) spirits, or hydrocarbons, none of which should be part of a pure-oil finish.
to burnish the wood and make the oil absorption Or, pour a little finish onto a nonporous surface such as glass or laminate.
more even. Because oil absorbs oxygen and expands as it dries, a pure-oil finish will
Allow the wood to absorb as much oil as it can. dry severely wrinkled. Varnish will dry very smooth, while Danish oil, being
Flood the surface by applying the oil with a brush, a combination of the two, will be somewhat wrinkled when it dries.
or simply pour it on and wipe it around with a
cotton cloth. Reapply oil to the dry spots as they
show up, keeping the wood thoroughly wet. After
30 minutes or so, wipe away any excess oil and
allow the wood to dry overnight. Buff the dry
PURE OIL WRINKLES
surface with a fine, gray nonwoven abrasive pad,
then repeat the procedure until you have applied at Pure-oil finishes will wrinkle
least four coats. on an impermeable surface
Wet-sanding (with the oil, not water) the second because they absorb oxygen
and expand as they dry.
and third coats with 400- or 600-grit (CAMI) wet-
or-dry sandpaper creates a slurry of oil and sanding
dust that fills the wood’s pores to produce a smooth
surface. It’s not a good idea to wet-sand a project if
it contains contrasting woods because the slurry from
the dark wood will discolor the lighter wood.
OIL/VARNISH MIX
When finishing open-pore woods such as oak, ash,
DRIES SMOOTH
and walnut, oil may bleed back, or ooze, out of the
pores. If this ooze dries on the surface, shiny patches An oil-based varnish does
of polymerized oil will result. To avoid this problem, not expand as it dries and
apply the oil early in the day and recheck the piece therefore does not wrinkle.
every 30 minutes to wipe away any ooze. The oozing
should stop after four or five hours.

The good and bad about oil finishes

Oil finishes excel at bringing out the figure in a piece
of wood, increasing the depth and natural beauty of DANISH OIL
the piece. But they offer minimal protection from WRINKLES SLIGHTLY
food or water stains. Nor can you expect to get
Because Danish oil
even a semigloss appearance. If you want a shiny,
contains both oil and
waterproof tabletop, use a different finish.
resin, the dry surface
Easy repairability is the biggest advantage of an texture is a combination
oil finish. If the piece is scratched sometime in the of pure oil’s wrinkles and
future, just sand out the ding and reapply another varnish’s smoothness.
coat of oil. A periodic reapplication of the same oil
keeps the piece looking new. ▫

26 FINE WOODWORKING