Wood oils are an excellent choice for finishing wood, they are easy to apply and maintain and give the benefit of penetrating deep into the pores of the wood, therefore nourishing and replenishing natural oils while enhancing the natural beauty of the grain.
Wood oils are generally known as drying oils which will harden to a film to provide a highly durable surface which is water and dirt resistant. The drying process occurs through a chemical reaction rather than evaporation. This chemical reaction is brought about by the means of oxygen absorption into the oil; so good airflow and ventilation are beneficial to the drying process.
Whilst it is extremely easy to use and apply any of our wood oils; it is also easy to end up with a sticky mess if one simple instruction is not followed; wiping away the excess oil!
Wiping away the excess means to keep wiping until the wood looks dry leaving only a thin coat of the oil, this way, oxygen can get into the oil and the coat can fully dry or cure.
So you may be thinking that applying the oil sparingly is the way forward. However, wood can absorb oils at different rates depending on its density from one area to another, therefore it’s also important to ‘flood’ the wood with a liberal amount of oil so that the wood can soak up what it needs and penetrate deep into the wood rather than having a thin layer on the surface.
Here, you can see that some areas of the wood look dry compared to other areas; more oil needs to be applied so that all the wood looks wet.
Once the oil has had a chance to penetrate the wood, it’s now time to remove the excess. This process is very important, the key here is to keep on wiping away the oil from the surface so that the wood looks dry again.
If you don't wipe away all of the excess until the wood looks dry and then proceed to apply more coats, this will lead to a build-up of sticky oil which can take days or weeks to cure.
This photo shows the oil bleeding back out of the pores.
After completely wiping away the excess, sometimes oil finishes may bleed back out of the pores and form small puddles around the pore openings, continue to wipe this off regularly as the oil is drying until it stops happening; it normally only occurs on the first coat and only on certain species of wood.
After the oil has cured and the wood feels dry, you can proceed to apply further coats in the same manner.
This application advice applies to the following wood oils in our range:
For more information on our Wood Oils or if you need help deciding which is the right oil for your project, read our blog all about Wood Oil Finishes.
We use cookies to make your experience better. Using our site means you agree to the use of cookies and similar technologies.
