Woodworking bench finish

[jpdv]

Not sure what climate you are in, but a warning with linseed oil - it is regarded as a nice food/substrate by various moulds, mildews etc. If you get a lot of damp/condensation, it is a pain. And once the spores are spread about the workshop, it's the devil's own job to really eradicate them. I've got a Japanese marking gauge that has been ruined (cosmetically) by this problem. Even a seriously concentrated bleach solution did not eradicate all the staining in the end grain of the stock. I refinished it in hardwax oil, and it's now proof against mildew, but permanently stained....

3 Years of La Nina has made me bin my Linseed oil...

[GraemeCook]

... But I definitely think the linseed oil is the best option..

THanks again...

I'll post some photos of the finished product...

Agreed, Joe; any progress?

In the above debate, it is probably worth defining the products and their inter-relationships. Danish oil and Scandinavian oil are varient names for the same product. Boiled linseed oil (BLO) is treated raw linseed oil, that dries relatively fast - overnight - whereas raw linseed oil stays tacky for a long time - a week to a year! The hierachy of products, which may be purchased or mixed yourself are:

1. Oil Finish - equal parts of BLO and turps,
2. Danish Oil traditional version - equal parts varnish, BLO and turps,
3. Danish Oil modern version - equal parts polyurethane, BLO and turps,
4. Wipe on poly - equal parts polyurethane and turps.

This listing is in order of hadness of finished surface - oil finish is softest. It is also reverse order of slipperyness and ease of repair. I wet sand WOP to do faux french polish and that is very slippery.

The "secret" is to maximise penetration - lots of thin coats. Just like Rusty's mantra.

... The old rule of thumb for oil finishing was "Once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year and then every birthday."
It still holds true.

[Joe Gadget]

Thanks Graham

I've spent the entire week gluing up the benchtop sections and cleaning them up (no matter how hard I tried they slipped and it took me a very long time to re-mill them on my small machinery). I can only lift 3 boards glued together at a time, so the finished benchtop is going to be "fun".......
Now I just need to glue them together. I was going to add dowels etc to stop them slipping but getting to the point where i couldn't be bothered and can deal with that when I flatten the top.

I'm second guessing my planned construction method for the leg mortices. I haven't glued the last 2 boards for either side of the benchtop. I was going to clamp the leg assembly to the top when it was upside down and then cut and fit the second to last board around it to make a "cheat's" mortice (add the final board on the end and unclamp the legs to leave the mortice). I did something similar for the long stretchers on the legs and it actually turned out great (see attached "the one perfect mortice" shot.... lol).

20230819_151629.jpg20230811_104836.jpg20230812_163301.jpg

Anyhow, I don't want to waste the stuff i have and I don't use either the Danish oil or the Scandanavian oil for any of my coasters / chopping boards, so I was thinking I'll use that for the legs and stretchers and use BLO / turps on the top....

I'll post pics of the finished product in a week or so.....

[Mountain Ash]

Looking good JG. Going to be a solid bench.

[GraemeCook]

Looking good Joe. Nicely oversized!

... so I was thinking I'll use (Danish oil or the Scandanavian oil) for the legs and stretchers and use BLO / turps on the top....

I think that is a good combination as well.

Remember, when you do the top that you have to apply the same finish to the underside as the top. otherwise you may allow moisture into one side and cause movement.

[Joe Gadget]

So bench has finally been done after xxxx number of months

pcs below.. I went with 20mm dog holes.

I've given it 2 solid coats of raw linseed oil on top (and bottom of top) and the legs / strechers got danish oil. The vice jaw is a piece of hardwood sleeper from bunnings.....

bench1.jpgbench2.jpgbench3.jpg

[IanW]

Lookin real good - now you can proceed to put some scratches & dings on it.....

[Joe Gadget]

Lookin real good - now you can proceed to put some scratches & dings on it.....

yeah... I might have to just put a scratch on it on purpose (like pulling off a bandaid)... but I can't bring myself to do that yet.... lol

[Tonyz]

hopefully I can ask a question on this post,
if using wipe on poly should you be doing the underside of bench as well? This would (I think) help prevent and moisture and causing buckling etc

[Damienol]

hopefully I can ask a question on this post,
if using wipe on poly should you be doing the underside of bench as well? This would (I think) help prevent and moisture and causing buckling etc

Its a great idea for all furniture Tonyz.

That said, I prefer to keep my workbench raw, that way I can give it a quick sand whenever it starts to look unhappy.

[IanW]

To be completely 'safe', one should observe the saying "whatever you do to one side of a piece of wood, do the same to the other". However, I'll admit to honouring that rule in the breach rather than the observance often enough, especially with something as heavy & inconvenient to up-end as a workbench. The underside of my own bench has remained innocent of any form of finish for the nearly 40 years since it was made. The top & sides were oiled with "Danish" when new & it's been refinished twice since iirc. There was a little bit of shrinkage when it was first made due to the wood not being quite as 'dry' as I thought, but the construction of the top allows for some movement & it has remained flat the whole time despite 2 moves, each to radically different climates.

Two things to note here, I suggest: first, coatings like BLO & 'drying oils' make very poor moisture barriers, so oiling the top & not the underside will make very little difference from raw wood in that respect. The amount of air circulation on each side would probably make a more significant difference to moisture transfer especially if the underside is partly built-in (like mine is). Second, a thick piece of wood like a bench top has to absorb moisture deferentially to a fair depth to develop enough power to distort. My theory is that the typical annual moisture cycle is usually not long enough or deep enough to reach that point for a bench top 40mm plus thick.

I think it pays to observe the 'finish both sides' rule if the wood is relatively thin & well-exposed both sides, but a lot of old furniture was only ever finished on one side & has remained stable for a century or two. Of course, such pieces were usually made from choice woods & constructed in ways that took some wood movement into account.

Just my thoughts....
Cheers,

[RPG]

Just finished building my new work bench finished it both sides 3 coats of Cabot’s floor finish. If it lasts on the timber floors of country pubs a work bench should do it easy.

[EagerBeaver71]

Nice Job, you should do a build thread.

[RPG]

It’s a woodsmith plan from an old set of books I got about 25 years ago. Traditional European design with the ability for the top to move with humidity changes. I made it out of sugar gum that I milled myself. Lots of good joinery involved, mortise and tenon legs, tounge and groove bench top to allow for movement, box joint skirt corners with hard wood dowel pins, biscuit joined boards for tool tray, router guide and template for vice guides. A really great project.IMG_0308.jpgIMG_0267.jpg

[Mountain Ash]

Looks great RPG