# Oil for Oak Doors?



## woodpig (16 Nov 2011)

I need to put a finish on about 10 Oak veneered doors at home and definitely don't want to use varnish. I had thought about a coat or two of Danish Oil but don't want to darken the wood too much, anyone have any other suggestions?


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## RogerM (16 Nov 2011)

I usually use Osmo PolyX but it does yellow the wood. Having discussed with Terry Smart at Chestnut Oils I used shellac sanding sealer (2 coats) and 2 coats of clear microcrystalline wax on some oak beams for a kitchen. It is noticeably paler than the PolyX test piece.


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## Charlie Woody (16 Nov 2011)

I found Osmo door oil very good. Easy to apply - 2 coats - only slightly darkened the wood and almost 3 years later still looks good imho.


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## woodpig (17 Nov 2011)

Thanks guys, I've just ordered some to give it a try.


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## RogerP (17 Nov 2011)

I've used Chestnut Hard Wax Oil on some kitchen cabinet oak doors. It's paler than Osmo, so far seems very hard-wearing and dries quicker too.


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## knappers (19 Nov 2011)

A vote for chestnut hard wax oil here too.

Si.


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## woodpig (19 Nov 2011)

Chesnut HW oil is according to their website a gloss finish which I'm not keen on for this application.


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## woodpig (19 Dec 2011)

Update. I bought a litre of Osmo Door Oil and I'm pleased with the results. It does not darken the wood too much and the finish is nice. To be picky though, it's quite expensive at about £28 a litre and the tin it comes in has a plastic lid which has to be destroyed to remove once you've used the oil once. The oil is quite thick and they say not to thin it but if I was using this stuff on a regular basis I'd probably experiment with thinning it a bit to improve penetration/coverage and speed up the process a bit.


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## Charlie Woody (19 Dec 2011)

They must have changed the tin since I used it as mine had a tin lid - similar to normal paint tins. I found that once stirred it went on easily enough. I can't remember how much I paid but did do quite a bit of googling for prices. Glad you are happy with the results.


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## RogerP (19 Dec 2011)

woodpig":1qkuqawq said:


> Update. I bought a litre of Osmo Door Oil and I'm pleased with the results. It does not darken the wood too much and the finish is nice. To be picky though, it's quite expensive at about £28 a litre and the tin it comes in has a plastic lid which has to be destroyed to remove once you've used the oil once. The oil is quite thick and they say not to thin it but if I was using this stuff on a regular basis I'd probably experiment with thinning it a bit to improve penetration/coverage and speed up the process a bit.



Those are some of the reasons I gave up Osmo and changed to Chestnut which comes in a proper screw-top tin, is thinner, dries off in a couple of hours and a final wax polish applied with fine wirewool gives a lustre rather than gloss finish.


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## woodpig (19 Dec 2011)

It's this tin:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Osmo-Door-Oil-H ... 273&sr=8-1

It's a difficult to open screw plastic cap which screws onto a plastic thread pushed into the top of the tin. Once opened and used the two plastic parts virtually weld together.
Very, very poor packaging. I found heating the oil in a water bath made it easier to apply.


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## RogerP (19 Dec 2011)

woodpig":342xojv5 said:


> It's this tin:
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Osmo-Door-Oil-H ... 273&sr=8-1
> It's a difficult to open screw plastic cap which screws onto a plastic thread pushed into the top of the tin. Once opened and used the two plastic parts virtually weld together.
> Very, very poor packaging. I found heating the oil in a water bath made it easier to apply.


They even show off the horror in their ads


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## woodpig (19 Dec 2011)

You can't see it in the picture but that red cap has a couple of "security" tabs you have to press in so it is not very easy to get off in the first place.
Luckily you can rip the whole lot from the tin once it gets "welded" by the contents. You may need another container of course if you have some left over.


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