Danish Oil problem

[Tim Douglass]

Sorry for making an on-topic post, but I've got a bit of an odd problem with some danish oil and I'm not sure how to proceed from here.

The project is hard maple, I sanded to 220 then rubbed in a coat of Danish oil with 400 grit wet-or-dry. Let it sit for about a half hour then rubbed off the excess. Two days later I repeated the process. Two days after that I wiped on (no sanding this time) a fairly heavy coat with the idea of coming back to wipe it off in the normal half hour. Some medium disasters broke out and I didn't get back to it until about 24 hours later. The finish is sticky and rather awful. It won't wipe off, obviously, and I'm not sure what to do next.

Should I wipe on more oil (maybe with the 400 grit?), expecting it to soften the existing coat and allow me to wipe it down?

Should I let it dry for a couple more days then sand it down and try again?

Will paint thinner/laquer thinner/everclear/etc. soften the finish and allow it to be wiped off?

This is really annoying, since it is a project that has been sitting unfinished for more than 3 years. I started it just before moving to Oregon and up until last summer I didn't have a place to work on stuff. I finally decided over Christmas that I would get it finished up - and now I've boogered up the finish.

Before the last coat of oil it was looking real good, with nice depth to the (pretty plain) grain and the color I was looking for. If I can get it properly wiped down and another coat or so on it I was going to wipe on a *thin* coat of shellac to bring up the shine. I've used that combination before and it really looked good.

Tim Douglass

[dzine]

A pad of white cotton and some real turps, not to much and rub until the excess is removed.

[Dave Hinz]

We'll get over it.

Right, ...

This isn't how I use Danish oil. Two days seems long that early on. I try to wipe it on once an hour or so for most of a workday, then hit it every evening for a week or so. 2 days seems to me to be too long.

Yes, it's done soaking in by now and has nowhere to go.

I think that'll just make a gummy situation worse. ?

I think I might go with that approach. But, will it harden enough? How do you feel about cabinet scrapers?

I guess that's why I'd be reluctant to hit it with thinner at this point - the finish that has penetrated the wood, you want to leave there. A mechanical removal from the surface seems like what you need now. Scraping or sanding may be the answer. I don't think dissolving is.

For what it's worth, I had the same problem with maple and Watco Danish Oil, for similar reasons. Never penetrated very far and dried sticky. Scraper was the answer in my case.

Dave Hinz

[Steven and Gail Peterson]

Try wiping with a cloth soaked in mineral spirits. The oil should soak into the wood, but in this case you left it on the surface to dry, which, as you discovered, it doesn't do well. You want to wash the coating off the surface while doing as little damage as possible to the wood itself. Good luck.

Steve

[mp]

That's what I'd do. Use more oil with either a light sanding or ultra fine steel wool.

[bridger]

and if that doesn't get it all, switch to steel wool and turps. clean up well afterward.

[Tim Douglass]

I experimented with the turps a bit. It seems like it will make more of a mess than I already have, so I think I'm going to let it dry a few days and then try sanding it back.

Total pain on something that was going very nicely up to this point. I just have too many interruptions to get good work done some times.

Tim Douglass

[Tim Douglass]

Tried this a bit too and it seems to make it more gummy, but not removable, so let it cure and sand it sound like the best option right now. It is actually drying out quite nicely this evening, but, since I tried to wipe it down after it had gotten gummy the surface is all munged. The part I just left alone looks good except for some streaks where it was laid down thicker.

Tim Douglass

[Patriarch]

Tim Douglass wrote in news: [e-mail]:

It's really a pain when life gets in the way of our art, isn't it?

I screwed up a project in just such a manner. Now, I go to the shellac for maple a lot earlier. Sometimes as early as without oil at all, other times, with a thinned wipe of boiled linseed oil. But the shellac really gives the color and the build. And the wax and white 3M pad cuts the gloss.

I think the scraper is going to be your friend, unfortunately. Can you bring the project in where it's warm for five or six days?

Patriarch

[George]

Scrape, if possible. If you must sand, 320/wet/dry with mineral spirits lube will cut the fastest. I wouldn't put steel wool on anything sticky.