Finish for a Dining room table

[mcrocker]

Hi all

I am about to refinish a dining room table we were given second hand when we got married a year or so ago.

It was built by an old farmer 15-20 years ago, so its got lots of marks, some pretty deep.

I think the timber is Origen

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on the best product to use to refinish it.

I used Rustins Danish oil on my tas oak enterteainment unit, but I don't think it will be tough enough for a dining table.

Thanks

Matt

[Christos]

Normally Danish oil is made up of a mixture of ingredients, best check the can to find out. Would probably contain Tung Oil and some other substance. It would be best to read the can in order to find out what this brand contains.

If it has a poly type ingredient then can it be used on the table? I am not sure, but personally I would not. Danish oil does allow the grain patten to come out as to a simple ploy type finish.

If you want to have the grain show up then I would use Shellac as the first coat and then finish off with the poly based finish.

Best to also try this on a scrap piece of wood to see how things show up.

As to getting the dings out, well sanding is one way depending on how deep the ding is. You can just leave them there, or poxy fill them.

[Tung tied]

Hi Matt,

The Danish, Tung or Scandinavian oils will provide a good level of protection but won't give you a hard coating like 2 pack epoxy. Minmax wipe on poly also gives good results. A lot of people, including myself, like oil finishes as they look "warm" and are repairable without striping back the whole table and recoating.

You can also apply wax over the top to buffer wear and tear. The possibilities are usually dictated by personal preference.

Cheers

Bryan

[TomH]

I've used Danish oil + EEE on a coffee table. It gets much abuse from my feet and two small children and while there are a few scratches, with another polish it would look like new. It has proven to be far more durable that I had thought, and I like the matt finish far better than the shiny poly finishes.

Cheers,

Tom

[old pete]

Hi Tom,

Over here in Tassie it's quite acceptable to throw your chainsaw up on the table on yesterday's newspaper to a bit of routine maintenance whilst having one's dinner but I think we would be drawing the line at having the feet up on the dining table. I guess folk do things a bit differently over there in NSW.

Cheers Old Pete