Kitchen benchtop reno - which finish?

[twosheds]

My other half has just departed overseas for 3 weeks so I though I'd use this opportunity to sand back and recoat our Tassie Oak kitchen benchtop. I will have some measure of peace without SWMBO's constant complaints of "you've got effing dust everywhere" and "that smell is making me sick, how much longer?" I will be working on the benchtop in-situ as it will be too much trouble to dismantle and take into the shed. Funnily enough I don't even notice the dust or the VOC smell from the finish when I'm in my shed.

I have previously used Feast Watson Floorseal on a Ironbark island kitchen benchtop and was happy with the durability of it but on the lighter Tassie Oak I think it will darken the timber too much over time. So what alternative for a non-yellowing/darkening finish that can be applied and cured in my timeframe?

Cabots have a relatively new product Benchtop Clear water based varnish that is fast recoat (2 hrs) and supposedly non-yellowing. Has anybody used or had experience with this product. Is it any good?

Then there are Cabots Cabothane Clear water based polyurethane, Cabots CFP Floor water based poly and Intergrain Ultrafloor water based poly. By now you have probably guessed these are all products from the big green shed, which is my only local hardware store. Can anyone offer comment on the suitability of these finishes for a Tassie Oak benchtop or suggest anything better?

Regards
Twosheds (Dave)

[Pete57]

Watched this on YouTube recently:
https://youtu.be/8sAu_yPm_Vg

Have no idea if good or bad.

[China]

Rustins Plastic Coating

[djeddy]

Hardwax oils are being promoted as floor and benchtop finishes. Depends if you want that plastic look (conventional flooring urethanes) or a more natural/oiled look.

[China]

Rustins Plastic coating can be a matt finish up to a glass like polish and it is very durable, I have been using it on various projects for more years than I can remember, despite all the claim I have yet
to find a product that equals it

[twosheds]

Thanks for your replies. There seems to be a trend towards hardwax oils such as Osmo PolyX, Rustins Worktop Oil and Organoil Hard Burnishing Oil, plus Derek Cohen just yesterday posted a query on the same subject. Rustins Plastic Coating appears to be a pack epoxy(?) which rules it out for me. While all of the hardwax oils appear to be suitable in terms of toughness and water resistance none of them mention heat resistance.

Has nobody any experience with Cabots Benchtop Clear?

I have started sanding back the benchtop and it appears the existing finish is a water based Poly of some sort. It wasn't in too bad a nick for 15 years use but the heavily used area between the sink and the electric hotplate was pretty degraded from scuffs, some water and probably heat damage. I may be barking up the wrong tree (not for the first time I might add) but Cabots Benchtop Clear is the only one that mentions any heat resistance in the product blurb.

I am tending towards the Benchtop Clear, mainly because it will be quick to apply several coats and most of the smell should be gone before SWMBO returns (and Bunnies is only 10 mins away). Otherwise, I might just have tried one of the hardwax oils.

Regards
Twosheds

[Alkahestic]

I'm a bit late to this thread but I have used the Cabothane Clear Satin. It's not too bad to apply but it is definitely fast drying, I would be a little concerned about getting an even coating across a benchtop - I did a cot and still had to be pretty quick about it. All of the water based polys dry fast and unlike their oil counterparts, once they start setting (within a few minutes) you don't want to be disturbing it or you'll end up with brush mark hell. Synthetic fibre brush and foam pad brushes are ok to use, rollers are a no-no, spraying would be ideal. If you can't spray, I'd suggest something like this pad. I'd hazard a guess that the Cabothane benchtop is essentially Cabothane Clear.

The majority of hardwax oils have the usual oil tint to them, so they will alter the color of light woods. Osmo PolyX Raw has titanium oxide (white) pigment in it to lessen this effect, but if you want absolute minimal change in color, I'd go with a clear water based poly.

[TMac77]

Hi I am about to do the same project snd would love to hear how you feel the Cabot’s bench top performs a few years down the track.
Many thanks

[double.d]

For a bench top i would stay well clear of water based products, for obvious reasons.

Two pack will scratch and be hard to repair and maintain.

Oil all the way, maintenance is higher but what is the problem with a wipe over every year to freshen it up.

[twosheds]

Hi TMac

I used the Cabots Benchtop Clear - water based - on the tassie oak kitchen benchtop. 3 coats applied with one of those little Uni-Pro mini microfibre rollers & an edging pad for cutting in. From memory it was pretty easy to apply. I did sand back to bare timber.

Five years on the finish is still in good nick with only a few dings and cuts and seems to have withstood the usual punishment. In a couple of years it will probably be due for a light sand and recoat while the surface is still in good condition and I will be happy to use the Benchtop Clear again.

Just as an aside... I knocked up a new kitchen island bench top from blackbutt about 3+ years ago and coated it with Evolution satin hardwax oil. It is also holding up just as well in comparison to the kitchen benchtop but isn't subject to guite the same level of punishment. I used the hardwax oil only so it matched the blackbutt dining table not because of any issues with the Benchtop Clear.

Regards
Twosheds

[havabeer69]

I used the cabbots bench top clear in a a rental kitchen that had some of those merbau project panels from bunnings as the bench.

it wasn't well maintaned and after two years the high water prone area's around the sink where peeling and there was a large black burnt spot where a hot pot was put on it.



if you have the ability to mop up your spills quick it would be good for a couple of years of service

[TMac77]

Thanks to twosheds and other responders this is helpful. The guy at the local wood working shop assured me organoil hard burnishing oil wouldn’t be too yellow. About to try both on a sample to make a final choice.

[D.W.]

Hardwax oils are being promoted as floor and benchtop finishes. Depends if you want that plastic look (conventional flooring urethanes) or a more natural/oiled look.

I think a whole lot of the reason they're being promoted as benchtop and floor finishes is because they cost an enormous amount and the revenue tokens from influencers are proportional, a percentage, of what's sold.

That creates an illusion that you need to buy something that isn't local so that the sale gets funneled through a token or affiliate link.

The hardwax oils are massively expensive for what they are - drying waxes and oils with a diisocyanate second part resulting in an easy but kind of "tweener" finish that's neither durable, nor easily refreshed like finishes that are.

For a floor, urethane is difficult to better (at least solvent type) and if thick is a problem or gloss is a problem, it can be put on thinner and with a flattener. If it gets worn, a light sanding and another coat in the future is all that's needed.

For a kitchen or bench top, I'd go one way or another - either the surface should be allowed to take wear and can be refreshed easily (raw tung oil, raw linseed, mineral and beeswax, whatever) or not (urethanes, a legitimate varnish - if you can find one, or two part finishes with a crosslinker where the first part isn't an oil and wax but rather some kind of polymer, I guess, building block.