# Please Help - wenge + Osmo?



## Aidex (18 Jun 2016)

Hi Everyone

I'm about to start building some bedroom furniture with oak veneer carcasses and wenge veneer mdf boards for doors and drawer fronts. 

I've never used but am keen to try out an Osmo product to finish these as what I've read and heard is that it's a very good hard wearing product that's quick and easy to apply - sounds perfect!

My worry is mainly on the wenge rather than the oak...I was thinking of using the Osmo Top Oil in clear satin which is meant to have a slight sheen. But on the Osmo site it recommends using a different finish for oily or highly resinous woods. I've read conflicting views on forums about wenge being oily/not acting like an oily wood in the way it takes finish so was wondering whether:

1. standard Osmo top oil would be fine;
2. to treat wenge as an oily/high resin wood like teak; or
3. if you guys can recommend a different Osmo finish better suited to this project/wenge and oak veneers?

Many thanks for all your help again!

Aidex


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## Phil Pascoe (18 Jun 2016)

I used ordinary Osmo on my wenge tops - no problem at all.


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## Aidex (18 Jun 2016)

Hi Phil

Thanks for your help. Which one is the ordinary Osmo they have so many different ones and a lot of them seem quite similar (to me at least) :?: 

Thanks again!

Edit: got it... Polyx Oil Original... has anyone used the gloss? If so, how glossy is itneg compared to a gloss varnish? Thanks!


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## ED65 (20 Jun 2016)

Aidex":3qtfp7mj said:


> I've read conflicting views on forums about wenge being oily/not acting like an oily wood in the way it takes finish


I was going to ask, what's _your _wenge like? How oily wenge is is always going to vary, but as this is veneer and not solid wood there's a limit to how oily it can be. 

Regardless of whether it's oily or not you should be able to finish it with the same stuff that's good for the oak with the same dodge that works for glueing, which is to degrease the surface with a strong solvent like acetone just prior to finishing. 



Aidex":3qtfp7mj said:


> Which one is the ordinary Osmo they have so many different ones and a lot of them seem quite similar (to me at least) :?:


They may be remarkably similar once you get down to it, with minor tweaks to a basic formula. We'll likely never know for sure since they go to such trouble to obfuscate about what they're made from :| 

Personally I wouldn't mess about with any product like this, I prefer to keep things simple and use products where I know what I'm applying to the wood. Makes it much easier to troubleshoot, and to refinish in due course. Also has the advantage that you'll save a packet which is rarely a bad thing.


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## Aidex (31 Jul 2016)

Thanks for your help. I got a small pot of the Omso Polyx satin and it went down very well on the oak veneer and a wenge scrap. Also on a zebrano veneer sample but not so nice on a rosewood sample veneer.

A little concerned with the wenge tho. It looked awesome on a scrap but I ordered about 15 sheets and one was badly damaged so the yard replaced but the replacement looks nothing like the other (light parts much yellower and it almost has a shiny look to it with different browns to the rest - it looks like it's had finish applied to it versus the unfinished/deader look of the other boards. Even the mdf core is darker than all the other mdf cores). I was hoping that a sand might fix this but not really convinced... We then had a baby and it's been sitting for 4-6 weeks so don't think I can return.  My wife just says to use that board for the dresser which will sit at the other end of the room (making fitted wardrobes, bed, bedside tables and dresser with it). Well will try to make it.... #-o


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## custard (1 Aug 2016)

Congratulations on your baby!

Well worth requesting a replacement board even after six weeks, explain that the colour is a poor match. One reason that Wenge is so popular is because it's relatively homogeneous, so a complaint is valid.

Regarding finishing, Wenge isn't actually all _that_ oily. It's no where near as oily as decent Rosewood for example. You'll be fine.

If you need solid wood sections of Wenge as lippings etc then try Surrey Timbers, they're a few miles south of London on the A3 by Guildford. The guy who runs the place is a South African who spent many years in the African timber trade, so he's pretty good when it comes to African timbers like Wenge. You could take an off-cut off your veneered board and search out the best colour match.

Good luck!


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## Aidex (1 Aug 2016)

Hi Custard

Many thanks...its baby no. 2 and with the first one needing little to no sleep its slowly but surely killing us. It's because of the severe sleep deprivation that I have almost 30 sheets of veneered mdf sitting in our new sitting room. My brains so mushy I just know I'll mess up my cuts. 

I the meantime in my semi lucid state I've been trying to think of a way to speed up crosscutting perfectly square with the guide rail quickly (no mft but it would be too small anyway for this project). I found a US made jig on the FOG for this but it's 150$+shipping etc which seems like a lot. Axminster has some Veritas fence that clamps onto a framing square so I'm hoping to check that out. My 2 year old loves it there so it's a good excuse to take him too. (http://www.axminster.co.uk/veritas-square-fence-475961).

I'll give the yard a shout as the lady I dealt with was really sweet so hopefully they'll help out. I was concerned it may have been exposed to moisture in storage given the much darker colour of the mdf too but then there's no swelling etc.

Thanks for the Surrey Timbers tip. I've been asking my wife to pick handles before I plan the doors and she's set on small wenge ones to look minimalist (ideally not too noticeable) while keeping soft close hinges (had previously thought of Tip On push to open). For that I'd need a little bit of solid lengths that I could play around with. Do you know if they sell PAR as I don't have a planer/thicknesser?

Thanks again!


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## timbo614 (1 Aug 2016)

As an amateur I have used osmo Polyx-oil (high solid) 3032 Satin-matt (for floors and furniture) on DIY projects with oak veneered MDF. I love it!
Goes on easy and they do not jest about putting it on thinly! It says "one coat only on veneers" and they mean that too. If you put on two (as I did mistakenly the first time) it takes forever to "feel dry".

I used it on a built-in wardrobes/drawers DIY project and it is still identical to the day I finished it nearly three years ago - it's tough even tough enough to the resist the missus hanging things on the handles with wire coathangers - I do ask her not to!


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