Burnishing slabs for benchtops with no idea what I am doing!

[Lizarooni]

I'm new to both this forum and woodworking in general, having avoided the addiction until late in life! So bear with me if I sound like a ditz.

We are preparing three slabs of blue gum (ranging from 2100 x 1100 to 3400 x 700) for kitchen benchtops. The plan is to use Organoil Hard Burnishing oil, and I have the info on applying etc, BUT there's a gap in the info, from my perspective anyway. It doesn't allow for total ignorance and doesn't tell me what machine I should use. It recommends "power sanding" in of the oil rather than hand sanding, for a higher lustre finish, starting with 400 grit for the initial burinishing, but going to 1200 wet and dry.

What sort of sander would I use for this? To date I have used a hand held sander/polisher to keep the natural sort of edges, a belt sander to get rid of the saw marks and then a random orbital. I have done up to 240 grit and thought I would wait until I get the oil to do the 400 grit, but again - I wouldn't think the random orbital would be good with the oil - or would it? I can't seem to find anything finer than 400 grit for it.

I am filling any imperfections (cracks, holes) with resin - anyone think that's a bad idea? Before I start?

Any hints, tips or suggestions are REALLY welcome! Thanks, Liz

[tea lady]

They random orbital would be the go I think. You can get finer grit sand paper from the "sand paper man" on here somewhere. In the forum sponsors section I think. You can also get finer grits from an auto paint shop. But I wouldn't bother going too fine. I did a little bit of bench in organ oil amd only went to 120# even. If you nake it to shiny you might feel you can't use it cos you might mark the surface, Although blue gum is pretty hard I guess.

Some people reckon that the hard burnishing oil does not protect the wood enough around the sink. So I dunno if it would be worth doing around that area in something else. Even maybe just seel the end grain around the sink. But I love the oil on the rest of it. its just so easy to wipe clean.

[Horsecroft88]

I have wooden benches in my current kitchen (galley style). The benchtop which has the sink in it, is old (1930s) recylcled oregan pine. This bench I sanded originally using an orbital sander going up to around 400 grade (from memory). I then coated the top with shellac a few coats to build up some colour and then coated 3 times using Feast Watson Tung oil based Floor Seal finish. Rubbing down by hand between each coat using 400 grade.

For the other side of the kitchen, the bench tops are Kauri pine (old recycled timbers) and in this instance, (with the stove inbetween two sections of the bench), I went through the same initial preparation but instead of using the Tung oil based finish, I used organoil. Once I was satisfied with the feel of the surface after some shellac coats, I simply rubbed using a shellac based rubber (tightly bound core wrapped in lint free cotton), the organoil into the surface. I am pretty sure I would have coated it 3-4 times but I don't recall bothering to cut it back between coats. If I did I might have used super fine steel wool.

This was all some 10 years ago. With the bench tops that have been coated in organoil, all I occasionally do is give them a coat of decent bees wax polish (wax on wax off). The benchtop with the sink in it, has worn now, especially around the sink and I do need to strip this back and re-coat. But I probably will do it exactly as I had before as basically it has stood the test of time with relatively little problems.

For a blue gum top I think organoil should similarly work well, but I agree with Tea lady I don't think you really need to be going to such grades as automotive wet and dry papers of 800-2000 grade. Doesn't make much sense to me.

[tea lady]

Don't think blue gum would really need shellac sealer either. Its a much harder wood.

[Horsecroft88]

I agree, using a shellac finish on blue gum, or any similar eucalypt (ie. what we generically call Tas oak), especially "new" timber, or even old and previously painted timbers is difficult and mostly not worth it. So would stick with the organoil process.

I was only describing how I used it previously and that it seems to have been pretty robust a finish, albeit I don't allow water to sit on it, or place hot pans etc directly onto the surface. With the bench top that I used the tung oil based product, this is pretty resiliant to water, (albeit it has worn next to the sink with time), and ditto I try to keep really hot surfaces away from direct contact with the bench top.

[LGS]

The aim of using Hard Burnishing Oil is to provide good protection for the timber by burnishing the oil into the wood. This takes friction and in my mind, friction is achieved by sanding, Therefore, you can sand merrily away with 400g fr maybe 20 minutes and end up with a reasonably sealed surface and a "good" finish. OR You can sand away with increasing grits up to as high as you want and Organoil are in agreement with me on this, and 4000 is achievable. To aim at a finish that won't show marks is, in my opinion low aim. If the oil has been properly applied and burnished, there should be no problem . If there is, a quick go over with the oil will fix it. As far as putting hot items directly on to the finished timber, if the process has been done correctly, I am here to tell you, it is not an issue. I have a work bench in my kitchen ( a moveable one) which was finished in HBO 8 years ago. It has hot pots and casserole dishes placed on it regularly. No marks at all! In addition, it gets cleaned with Spray and Wipe and occasionally with a scourer pad. It looks as good as the day it was burnished. So, by all means use the method you want, but unless you have used the method of burnishing to 4000g, then be careful of saying it's pointless.

LGS

[Lizarooni]

Thanks all - and from everything I have researched, the 'hard' burnishing finish is achieved by going up through the grits to at least1500- 2000 grit. (that particular grit is what organoil recommends). It appears to provide a much more durable finish with more of a lustre than hand sanding or a lower grit, so am happy to give it a go. Will post pics if I can manage to figure out how, if anyone wants to see?

[Lizarooni]

No idea if anyone will see this that helped me to start with, but 7 years later my hard burnished kitchen benches are going strong with minimal maintenance. This technique certainly worked well for us

[NCArcher]

We need photos

[hammerhorror]

No idea if anyone will see this that helped me to start with, but 7 years later my hard burnished kitchen benches are going strong with minimal maintenance. This technique certainly worked well for us

Hi Liz Im fairly new to this forum and just discovered your post/thread, so yes Im pleased to hear it's been a success with the HBO. I'm about to do some recycled 40mm laminated hardwood kitchen benchtops with the HBO.

Just wondering how far up the scale you went, and did you use mechanical application after all? Im using an orbital palm sander - the discs only go up to 400 grit. So I have a random orbital sander with paper up to 2000 grit. What I'm trying to work out is, what increments do I go up in?

Started with 40, then 80, now on 120 grit. Can I jump straight up to 400 and apply the oil? It's a VERY hard wood, not sure what sort, pinkish and not eucalypt.

Any tips welcome, thank you