I’m refinishing a pine farm table ( sanded all the old finish, in 3 successive grits, 100,150 and 220) and then used Watco danish oil finish with stain, dark walnut. It took the color beautifully but is completely mat in luster except for the knots. I applied 4 coats with wiping and dry time between each and a 5th coat using the wet sand method and 800 grit, couldn’t get 600. It’s smooth as a baby’s butt but dull. Is it just still taking on oil and needing more oil? I don’t want it any darker than it is. I’m considering minwax wipe on poly at this point after giving it a week of drying or perhaps switching to Watco danish in natural . Should I sand before using the poly? Will natural danish oil make it darker? Any other suggestions? I really expected the oil finish to be satin at this point. (And yes, I finished in my kitchen lol )
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Danish oil will soak into pine seemingly forever. Your wipe on poly idea is a good one, especially for a dining table. A light sanding is a good idea after 5 coats of anything. The poly will probably darken the look of the table, so you might want to test on the underside or a sample board.
Thanks for your response! You’re right about the pine, just sucked it up even though the wood is probably older than I am! I picked up some minwax wipe on poly today and give it a go this weekend . A bit darker will be ok and I suspect the richness will come out too with the poly? Maybe next time I’ll take a clue from the wide pine floors I refinished a few years ago and use just use Varithane amber oil based poly by itself instead! They came out gorgeous with just sanding and poly.
Thank you.
Sue you should wait until oil finish dries hard. Oil could bubble up from pores into poly if its not. Because of the amount of oil used it could take a couple weeks or more to dry enough. You can buff to satin but oil finish needs to be dry hard. This could be a month away
If you wait till the oil finish is dry and apply a paste wax finish you can aquire a nice sheen.
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