Inherited workbench restoration

[peter-harrison]

Bicarb will stain oak- it's alkaline and reacts with the tannic acid in the wood. I was told years ago to put a heap of talcum powder on an oil stain and leave for....a while!
I have a very similar workbench which I heavily "restored" - some would say ruined! I changed the base for one which could hold drawers, and took off the wooden vice and replaced it with a Record one. The well on mine is a bit of fairly rough pine too- remember that in those days wood was expensive and labour was cheap.
If you're going to plane the top, be very careful! they often have a lot of foreign bodies embedded

 

[dickm]

Going off topic completely, intrigued by Orraloon's forum name. Did you grow up spikkin the Doric, or like me, are you still trying to learn it. After 14 years in Formartine, can cope with one Doric speaker, but when two are speaking, it's double Dutch.

 

[isaac3d]

Blow the dust off it for a start. For the oil stain, pour on some meths and set it alight. Don't worry, only the meths will burn as well as the oil. Repeat until happy.

My eyebrows raised when I read this. I can't recommend this as a strategy. The meths will certainly burn (and if done outside, your workshop won't!), but very little of the oil will burn off either and as recipio said the wood won't burn too much either, unless you use too much meths, of course.
Personally, I'd stick to straightforward physical removal, at least to begin with, such as planing and/or sanding. Probably more effective and certainly safer.

 

[tibi]

I will first plane the top oak board flat, as it is cupped. It may remove some or most of the oil. Then I will see what else should be done.