First off let me say I'm a huge fan of Danish and Tung oil. Just about every indoor project I've built has been finished with either one or the other. Now I'm about to begin a cherry kitchen table. I realize there's little to no protection with Tung or Danish but I LOVE the look and feel of any wood finished in oil. So, that being said, is there any finishing product I could use on this table top which will afford me the look of an oil finish along with a decent amount of protection??
R!
To my knowledge, not for a table that will be used by a family, one that will have hot things set on it, cold things set on it, wet things spilled, things that stain, and above all, one that would take a scrubbing up to my SO's standards.
She LITERALLY scrubbed the factory baked pre-cat finish off the table top we eat on. And good sir, that table always, always has a table cloth on it, coasters for drinks, trivets for hot things, and when we have company, placemats.
You could put one of the group favorites like Watco. That would enable you to refinish as much as you felt like you had to pretty easily.
However, if you want to show your work off and keep it uncovered, you will need some true abrasion resistance to constant use combined with washability, so you will only have a few good choices. None I can think of will give you much of that soft oil finish feel.
So I guess it depends on exactly how >durable< you think a dining room table finish should be.
Robert
RE: Subject
As I read this post, my thoughts drifted back to my parents' kitchen table when I was a kid.
A simple drop leaf table and chairs, painted with white enamel and the top covered with linoleum that was glued down with linoleum cement.
Took my mother about 5-7 years to wear out the linoleum using her specialized cleaning techniques, then the table and chairs got a new paint job and the table a new linoleum top.
Years later had a round table with an MDF core, and Formica covering, finished out in maple.
The Formica lasted longer than the linoleum, but in either case, both will outlast ANY wood table by at least 10 years.
Ya pays your money, ya takes your pick.
Lew
when I was a kid.
covered with linoleum that was glued >down with linoleum cement.
cleaning techniques, then the table >and chairs got a new paint job and the table a new linoleum >top.
finished out in maple.
outlast ANY wood table by at least 10 years.
Wow, not trying to hijack the thread here, but I had not thought of that in years. One of my relatives had a dining room table with curved chrome legs, and a linoleum top. Around the top was a polished aluminum edge banding that had a couple of channels in it, and in the channels were round topped chrome nails to hold the edge banding on.
To this day, my parents have their first >purchased< dining room table, the only one I ever knew. It has some kind of really hard surface (Mom remembers the salesman told her a fancy name, but she thinks it is "bakelite") that is very shiny and doesn't really scratch easy. It is a lot like the old chemical resistant high pressure laminates.
It is impervious to wear. Even so, Mom was so afraid that something would happen to that table that she always kept a tablecloth on it, even to this day it has one.
Talk about burning memories...
Robert
I remember seeing tables like that.
If you could afford chrome legs, you were living in the high cotton.
Linen cloth impregnated with Bakelite is often found as an insulating material in electrical devices.
There is an outfit in downtown L/A that stocks sheets of the stuff, mostly for the AeroSpace, I think.
I used a 1/16 thick piece for my router table top along with the fence.
Stuff is expensive, but also bullet proof.
Sounds like some one who lived thru the Great Depression.
Taught them to take care of things.
Lew
Polymerizing tung oil should work. I keep seeing tung oil finish written on cans, but they have driers and varnish in them. JJ
Funny how my cherry top table is only 60 years older than the earliest linoleum, which is ironically made of varnish.
JJ
Obviously my mother never cleaned your table top.
Lew
Don't know if it's the look your after...but I like General Finishes Arm-R-Seal...I've had it on an oak table top...and have been 100% impressed with it's performance. The kids have left a sweating glass on it after dinner and found it the next morning, no damage to the top.
Does the ArmRSeal absorb or does it build up a surface finish?
It builds...but not thick like poly
Thanks, man. I will order some today.
When you get it, I believe it'll say you can brush or apply with a rag, I applied many coats with a rag, it may take several coats...but stay with it and don't forget to sand between coats. Good luck!
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