I plan to sand down a wood kitchen tabletop. I think its pine wood. What do I treat it with after sanding. Oil? Which is best?
Indoor? Danish Oil. Outdoor? Tung Oil.
Edit: My kitchen table goes indoors and out on the terrace when needed.
pine wood generally tends to be the softer wood kind. Do you have a lot of dings and scratches on it? If so, other than what bossbaby said, there are other kinds of oil that also hardens the wood which you might want to look into. I realize it is for the kitchen ).
In the worst case, coat it with a thin layer of epoxy (or similar). It will last a long time and retain the dark oiled color of the wood.
I once painted an oak table with the high-gloss stuff they use on basketball courts. I think it would have survived a thermonuclear war.
1 Like
I recommend a mix of linseed oil and turpentine. Quite often light coloured wood will get marked more than surface deep, so the amount you need to sand off back to bare wood in order to apply a laquer-type coating can make it impractical. Linseed oil will bring out the wood’s natural colour without staining it and the turpentine, as a solvent, helps to blend away any deeper staining.
So sand it to a smooth finish, apply the mixture with a brush, with more or less turpentine depending on how sticky it feels. You want it to soak in without leaving a sticky residue. So yeah, brush it on and use a cloth to really rub it into the wood. This rubbing will potentially bring out some of the dirt, so if the cloth ends up darker than the mixture you know it’s working, but then, once dry, you’ll want to lightly sand it again and repeat.
Finish with a cloth to get a nice smooth finish. Any future marks can be addressed using the same mixture in a localised area.
I use 0000 (ultra fine) steel wool to apply it in thin layers. It gives a very smooth finish, but it requires patience and elbow grease.
And boy, does it stink. Hope OP has a workshop.