Refinishing kitchen worktop - previously sticky.

[Chris.]

Hi,
Since we bought our house our kitchen worktop and island were always sticky. We've always meant to sort it and its gotten worse so I'm finally getting around to it now. I've started with the island. The previous finish may have been lacquer? Initially thought it was oiled. Its completely worn away in some places. White spirits and steel wool removed most of the finish and I sanded down after that.

I've done one coat of Rustins Worktop oil, but just remembered the bottom/underside! This underside of the island and the worktop was never done, looks like bare wood. If totally necessary I could take the island off again and do the bottom possibly but that's not possible with the worktops (for me anyway).

Any advice?

The worktop hasn't bowed/warped at all, is that because an oil wasn't used previously, therefore only the top needed to be done? Is it too risky to just do the top?

Any info would be great, thanks!

 

[ScaredyCat]

We have to do our kitchen worktops every couple of years to prevent this. As you say wire wool, we then re-coat with about 4 coats of Danish oil.



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[Chris.]

I have 2 coats on now. It’s starting to look good but seems to be a film. It’s not as smooth to the touch as I thought it would be and the sheen is uneven with smears from wiping.

Still not sure bout underneath..

 

[Chris.]

Still going with this! It had started to look better but I'm not sure if I'm still doing something wrong. It has quite a glossy look, its not bad but just more glossy than I expected.

I've wet sanded one coat to 320 and another to 600. I apply using a lint free cloth in the direction of the grain then wipe off after a 4-5 mins. My problem is that when I wipe off, most comes off fine but there are patches then that 'crumble', as if it dried in too much. I need to keep rubbing these areas until the flakiness stops, which it does and it seems ok. However after this, I can see steaks in the glossy/sheen finish. I usually go back and wipe any areas after an hour or so but I can never get rid of these streaks. They spread when wiped but I just cannot get a nice even finish.

Any ideas? Going a bit mad here :lol:

 

[lurker]

Not sure if this is a pile of gibberish;

Recently, I have been having problems with danish oil, you would think it would work better, quicker in the warm weather we have been having, but I have found it seems to remain "wet" longer and sitting on the surface rather than soaking in.
I intend to get some fresh danish to see where my problem lies.

 

[Chris.]

I think if its sitting on the surface and not soaking in then you may have adequate oil on that area? I'm using Rustins danish oil which has waterproof properties so the more coats I add then less I expect to see absorbed.