Most dureable of the oil based finishes?

[HJC1972]

Ok, I'm a french polisher by trade and I've used most of the oil finishes over the past twenty years. One thing I've never really managed to establish is which is the most dureable. I currently use Liberon's finishing oil for doing dining table tops, but in the past I've used Danish, Teak, Tung, Lemon and of course Linseed. The liberon stuff dries very well and is non-toxic, and, if enough coats are applied (12-15) you can start to achieve something of a build to the finish, as opposed to a dead flat finish, which never looks good on dining tables so that's why I tend to use it most these days.

What's pricked my curiosity about this, though, is the fact that it's that time, once again, to oil my teak garden furniture. Last time I Danished it but I was thinking of trying the Osmo stuff. I've never used it before and was just browsing their data pages and I see that the ingredients are pretty much Sunflower and soyabean oil, with some drying agents (terebine, presumably?), white spirit and what they rather vaguely list as "additives". As I said I've never used it but unless those "additives" are rather special then I'm struggling to see how this oil can be any better than, say, a Danish oil.

I'd be interested in any thoughts on this or any previous experience with oils used long term outdoors.

 

[tekno.mage]

I'm not sure quite why hardwax oils like Osmo Oil are more durable than Danish Oil, but they really are. I started using Osmo Top Oil on various turned and flat work items a couple of years ago and inititally I was sceptical about the claims the manufacturer made for the finish - but not any more. It really does do what it says on the tin!

I used it on a small oak coffee table about 18 months ago and since then the table has suffered some abuse (hot coffe spilts on it, wet rings from the bottoms of cups/glasses etc - and after a quick wipe over with a damp cloth to remove sticky beverage residues, the finish is as good as new.

I also use it on turned wooden boxes, then buff the finish items with buffing wheels to achive a high gloss finish that does not show finger prints etc. I've also used it on my ash chopping board - not quite so successful here as obviously using the board cuts through the oiled finish which can lead to staining in the cuts - but the surface still repells liquids after a year of use. When it gets too bad, I'll probably resand it to remove the staining and re-oil it.

I also used Chestnut hardwax oil on a small ash stool my partner made - he uses this to sit on when sharpening his chainsaw in an open barn. The stool does not get well looked after and sometimes gets left out in the rain. Despite Chestnut making no claims about the suitability of their product for "external use" - I am astonished at how well the finish has performed. Except for those areas where the wood has been knocked and damaged, the finish is still performing very well after 2 years of use, repelling water and the colour of the wood has not changed.

 

[AndyT]

That's an interesting question. I've only recently learned about these and have just used some Chestnut hard wax oil for the first time, so can't speak for the durability. However, I did just look at the Osmo site and they seem to be very open about what the ingredients are. You don't say exactly which product you were looking at but I looked at the "Polyx Oil Original". The general description says

Based on natural vegetable oils and waxes (sunflower-oil, soyabean-oil, thistle-oil, carnauba-wax, candelilla-wax), paraffine, siccatives (drying agents) and additives. Disaromatised white spirit (benzene-free).

so that might be what you mean by "additives" - but they also give a full ingredient listing (here)

which says a lot more, including listing the additives as:

- zinc-zirconium-cobalt-octoates (are obtained from the respective minerals and are leadfree)
- ketoximes
- polysiloxanes (on the basis of silicic acid)

I don't know what they are, but it looks like they must make a big difference! There are also some "mineral earths" and "swelling clays" - so it seems that there is more in this stuff than there is in ordinary Danish oil.