How to remove mineral oil from bench top

[Kentucky Highlander]

An old man that my parents know told them he had a 'butcher block' table top he needed to sell, he was moving and didn't want to move it. I took a chance and went to look at it. It is exactly like the maple top I paid $299 for to make my bench. The guy asked $25 for it. I paid him and brought it home.

The only trouble is he put about a quart of mineral oil on it last night and I would like to get it all off so I can build a second bench. I got a real nice Wilton vise I think would really look nice on it.

Question is: How do I remove the mineral oil? It is almost dripping off of it.

KY

[xrongor]

i use a hard white (black ones leave marks, which for your purpose may not matter) rubber squeegee on my butcher block after letting the oil soak for a while. this wont strip the oil if thats what you want, but after a day or so it should be in a shape you can work with.

randy

[Kentucky Highlander]

thanks,

[Bob]

use mineral spirits to clean it off...

Bob S.

[Mike G]

The answer is pretty much you don't. You can use mineral oil to get up the excess and maybe even thin what has already soaked into the wood. However I'm afraid you'll just have to live with what the wood has already taken in and will continue to take in until you get the excess off.

[James Cubby Culbertson]

Naptha or even Dawn dishwashing liquid will take care of it. This was recommended to me by Jeff Jewitt to remove the oil used when rubbing out a finish. Cheers, cc

[George]

Emulsifying is good, but might harm the wood. TSP, the new stuff which isn't, is a good choice.

Personally, I'd take it to the sunlight and soak everything that came to the surface off with unprinted newsprint. Might even coax it a bit with a warm iron. After that, a rubdown with spirits to drive it back or remove from surface, then a bit of the wax that will serve as the glue rejecter on my bench should keep it nice until it evaporates.

[Charlie Self]

George responds:

Good tip. For those who think newsprint is hard to find without ink impressions, check almost any small or medium sized newspaper. They are glad to sell their end rolls for a very small price, usually under $5.

Charlie Self "The test and the use of man's education is that he finds pleasure in the exercise of his mind." Jacques Barzun

[Kentucky Highlander]

Thanks to the three of you.

I was just out there and took a cabinet scraper to it, hoping to get some of the stains off of it, and was surprised at how much of it came off. Only thing was as I was working on the other end it came back to the surface, though not as heavy.

After I get the most of this off can I use a oil based varnish or other finish to seal it? The top is almost dead flat and I want to keep it that way.

[George E. Cawthon]

End rolls? you mean those 8-12 foot long rolls? Just an inch or inch and one half would be a heck of a lot of paper and only $5?

[Charlie Self]

George Cawthorn responds:

Most of the ones I've seen vary in length from 42" to about 72". The point is, these are pulled off the press because leaving them there will interrupt a run at an inefficient time, or otherwise create a production problem. It isn't economical to return a short roll to the press, so over time, an awful lot of them accumulate. Thus, 5 bucks is an acceptable trade-off to keep from having dozens standing around. Another point: This material makes a good backdrop for photography instead of buying rolls of seamless paper.

Charlie Self "The test and the use of man's education is that he finds pleasure in the exercise of his mind." Jacques Barzun

[George]

Take a sponge -natural preferred- and a bit of water paint of suitable color. Daub at random to get a _color_ vanishing background.

I get the latex-surfaced shiny printing paper from a local mill occasionally. Makes the world's best drop cloths. NOTHING gets through.

[Greg]

The Ft Myers News-Press will give you the end rolls. They just want you to give them a deposit on the empty roll. Once you have one you just swap them out. We used newsprint for packing and always had a few rolls around the shop.

[Larry Jaques]

On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 01:41:02 GMT, "George E. Cawthon" calmly ranted:

I got two 50" wide end rolls for $3 each from the newspaper in LoCal before moving and each was the equivalent of about 3k liner feet. I packed my entire house with 1.5 of them and left the rest for my mom since she was moving in a year. They're a very good bargain.

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