Lacquer on Danish oil

[J Jenkins]

I have made a large oak table top. I've put a couple of coats of Danish oil on, to bring out the grain and deepen the colour.

Because the table will take lots of wear and tear from a young family I want a final finish that is very durable. A local finishing shop said they'd use a two part acid cat lacquer, and they could make it a matt finish (which is good because the wood isn't completely flat in places where I've had to sand out grain tear-out)

But they said they couldn't put this on top of the Danish oil finish and would have to sand it off - i.e. lots of extra work and money.

I find it hard to believe, but I'm no expert.

Any advice?

[Mike G]

As far as I know there is no reason you can't put lacquer on top of cured oil. That leaves two choices, do it yourself or find a shop that will do the job.

[test]

The rule of thumb for lacquer is that it can be used on raw wood, over shellac, or over sealers made especially as undercoats for lacquer. It's use over varnishes is not usually recommended because it's binding properties don't work well with most oil's/varnishes. Lacquer adheres to either very rough surfaces or to itself by actually partially disolving the prior coats of lacquer and forming a solid, single coat. That being said, there's only one way to tell whether it will work - Test It On Some Scrap and allow it to cure and see how it handles. As far as lacquer on a high use table - I wouldn't recommend it. Lacquer is beautiful (my finish of choice), but not the most durable of finishes. In particular, lacquer will react poorly with alcohol (any cocktail drinkers in your house?) and a spilled alcohol drink will cloud the finish. For high use/abuse pieces - I'd use a varnish/polyurethane to help protect the surface and resist damage.

My two cents (which is about what it's worth).