Finish on tight grain box - oil?

[headingwest]

Hi,

I've built a small wooden box about the size of a shoe box.

The timber is 100yo Eucalypt, very dense, very hard, very brittle. It has a lovely tight grain and a red hue. It also has quite a few holes with woodfiller.

I think oil would be the best finish to bring out the grain, for some reason I'm just not keen on a lacquer or varnish. I like the rough and ready look of the timber.

Is oil a good idea or am I making a mistake? What oils would be suitable? Where can I purchase them?

Many thanks for your help,

Jim.
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[Master Splinter]

An oil will darken the timber (but just about all finishes will anyway). As for which sort, Organoil and tung oil are both good in my opinion. Masters stock Organoil, and you might find it at Home Hardware too. Or Carba-Tech

[LGS]

Hi and welcome.

I agree with Master Splinter, while it will darken the timber, Tung oil, and more particularly, Organoil Hard Burnishing Oil will give clear, discernible and bright appearance to the grain.
If you want further information on how i use it, you can look at http://www.sanding.damnfinefurniture.com. For a review of HBO as a finish, you can look here (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=166948). If you are in Melbourne and would like a demonstration, send me a PM. If anyone in Melbourne wants a demo, send me a PM.

Regards,

Rob

[headingwest]

Thanks Rob and Master Splinter, a couple more questions:

- Yesterday I sanded to 1200 and the box is nice and shiny without a finish. Do I need to roughen it up with 400 before oil?
- Is waxing over oil a thing? Will it give it more lustre?

Also I have a can of FW Fine Buffing Oil. Is this a product that you've used or know?
http://www.feastwatson.com.au/consumer/products/interior/product-details/1526

Thanks again for your help.

[Master Splinter]

One of the options for oil is to wax on top of it if you want. But I've never used the Feast Watson stuff so I can't comment. (I tend to buy things that smell nice to use - with eucalypt solvent or citrus solvent in them)

[LGS]

Hi,

The purpose of burnishing is to allow the oil to penetrate the wood, then with heat (friction from Random Orbital sander) to polymerise the oil within the timber and giving a durable, liquid and heat resistant finish. If you want to achieve this result, then I suggest that you resand with 400g, then follow the protocol I mentioned.

If you want a fine looking finish, but with natural oils, then this will give you that. You will probably find that you don't need to wax after the burnishing process, but if you want, go ahead. Use UBeaut Natural Wax. This you can buy from Carbatec.

Regards,

Rob

[Xanthorrhoeas]

just another suggestion for you would be to use UBeaut hard shellac. I made a box out of Bluegum on the weekend and a couple of coats of hard shellac diluted 50:50 with metho gives a great clear finish that is hard wearing and water resistant after about 3 weeks curing. A photo:

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[AngelaPetruzzi]

Beautiful box Jim, oils will really highlight the naturalgrain and deepen the tones of the wood. A benefit of penetrating oils is thatfor a box like this, which I am sure will be handed down for generations, itcan be rejuvenated without the need of sanding or stripping back. It alsoallows the feel of real timber rather than a plastic feel of a coating that sitson the surface.

[headingwest]

Thank you all for your help. I ended up using tung oil and then wax. Very happy with the finish and my mother loved the box as her birthday gift.

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