Anyone have any suggestions when it comes to finishing a wood countertop with Oil and not Poly or Varnish.
I am installing a wood countertop of air dried, 1-inch, Wild Black Cherry. I don’t want a surface finish for aesthetic reasons, however I am worried about near the sink area. I have had 3 wood countertops before…about 20 years ago I made a Cherry counter and used linseed and tung oil with the advice of a friend, i.e. oil once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, and once a year thereafter. I lived with that counter for about 3 years then sold the house. I think it held up o.k. but can’t really recall that well. My second counter was oak and I used Poly. Recently I installed a temporary plywood counter and used one application of Watco as per the directions on the can… after 7 years there is some blackening around the rim of the sink, but overall the Watco has held up well.
Anyone have any experience with an oiled countertop? My other options are poly the whole thing, or install some other laminate type section at the sink which somehow “flows” into the cherry counter.
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wood counter oil sink
The majority opinion seems to be that in the very best case you'll have to refinish it periodically.
For what it's worth, I visited Sam Maloof's shop and home recently (part of a one day class through UC Riverside), and his home (the original one, now part of the museum) had a solid wood countertop. I could tell it wasn't poly finished ... I'm sure it was his standard oil finish. Looked great.
The one thing I'd be careful about, even with the level of finishing you describe as having been done on the first house, is making sure to wipe up spills and such. I also wouldn't want folks to put wet glasses or such on the counter, and I wouldn't want anybody to put a hot pan on the counter. I'd have lots of trivets and coasters around for that sort of thing.
By the way, in Sam's new house he'd built a wooden island (portable), and somebody had put a hot pot on it. There was a circular burn mark on the wood. I'm sure he'll refinish the top, but this is the sort of thing that'd concern me.
John
>> ... making sure to wipe up spills and such. I also wouldn't want folks to put wet
>> glasses or such on the counter, and I wouldn't want anybody to put a hot pan on the counter.
Well, nobody asked my opinion, but IMO, that's what counters are for. There are lots of places in a house for beautiful wood surfaces. I have no slightest interest in kitchen counters I have to pamper.
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