Danish oil finishing on cabinet

[Jimmy Rip]

Hi guys,

First post, pretty much a newbie.

I've made some bookshelf speaker cabinets out of jarrah (australian hardwood) and would like to finish in danidh oil.

Reading up I understand it is important to keep first coat wet for 20 - 30 minutes. I have already built the cabinets so I'm concerned about how to oil it.

If I stand them up and oil all over initially, the oil on the sides will slide off. Alternatively, if I try to do one side at a time obviously this will spill over the sides and I imagine that will leave an uneven finish.

Hope that makes sense. What do you advise?

Oh yeah, I live in Perth and it's blimmin' hot so oil will dry quickly, although I could go for early morning if that is an issue.

Thanks in advance.

Jim

 

[vanitycat]

As a fellow newb. Not sure how much you can rely on this advice but could you try taping the edges to prevent overspill and wiping any as it occurs. One thing I would recommend is to stain on a test piece. If you have any spare aussie hardwood make a small box and test it out.

 

[Jimmy Rip]

Yeah good idea on making a test box. Will give that a shot unless some wiser words come this way!

 

[AndyT]

I think you have been given misleading advice. Afaik there is no necessity of keeping the Danish oil wet for a minimum time. What does matter is that within an hour or so you wipe over with a clean cloth to remove any surplus oil. Probably within half an hour if it's really hot. If you don't do this you can get a surface skin over a sticky mess which won't cure properly.

But if all of the mixture has dried/cured in that time there won't be any surplus to remove.