Removing dried Danish oil drops from engineered-oak floor.

[BeeJee]

Does anyone know a suitable solvent that will safely soften some dried drops of Danish oil that - despite all my best efforts at covering cupboard-doors and the floor - still managed to get onto our engineered-oak kitchen floor without me noticing until a couple of months after I’d refinished the Danish oil surface of our oak worktops? I don’t want to risk using anything that will also damage the polyurethane (?) satin finish of the floor. I’ve tried - very carefully - scraping the gloss surface of the oil-spots with a small, sharp chisel and it will come off dry (but again I don’t want to damage the finish of the floor itself). There is an older blob from a few years back that is abrading away nicely just from the general kitchen footfall, so in theory I could very-small-scale sand or de-nib the shine off the blobs so their lustre matches the floor (because the oil blobs themselves on top are effectively transparent) but ideally I’d prefer to soften the dried oil and gently scrape it/damp-wipe it away completely. Any ideas or advice?

 

[Fitzroy]

Danish oil 'dries' by a polymerisation reaction which is not reversible so I doubt you can dissolve it off with anything normal, ie water, alcohol (methyl, ethyl or propyl), or white spirit. Beyond these you are into chemical strippers, which if they attack the Danish oil will likely also attack your floor finish.

If you have an offcut of floor (or can order a sample from the manufacturer) your best approach is likely to do some tests.

F.

 

[eribaMotters]

How about attempting a white spirit damped cotton wool ball left on the offending drops over night. If it does not work you will not have lost anything.

Colin

 

[PerryGunn]

You could try a denibber, as used in automotive paint shops to remove specks/runs that are proud of the paint.

They are designed to shave off the 'blob' that's above the paint surface without digging into the underlying surface

This is the one that I have (others are available)
Festool Denibber LZK-HM online

This shows how to use it better than I could explain it...

 

[Richard_C]

I wonder if some kitchen roll and very very hot water might help? Best test on an inconspicuous piece first. Do you have a scraper for a ceramic hob, used carefully and flat that might remove some.

 

[ajs]

A scraper fitted to an oscillating multitool would be my first thought.

 

[gmgmgm]

I suspect some hot water or a hair dryer might soften it enough to take it off.

Or make it invisible by gentle rubbing with some fine wire wool, so it matches the satin finish?

 

[Terry - Somerset]

I think I would remove as much as possibly with a very sharp chisel but stay clear of damaging the floor finish.

Even if this doesn't completely remove the dried danish oil, it will ensure it disappears more rapidly through normal routine footfall wear.

Using wire wool, different solvents etc risks damaging the floor finish which may be a more obvious defect and more problematic to resolve.

 

[BeeJee]

Danish oil 'dries' by a polymerisation reaction which is not reversible so I doubt you can dissolve it off with anything normal, ie water, alcohol (methyl, ethyl or propyl), or white spirit. Beyond these you are into chemical strippers, which if they attack the Danish oil will likely also attack your floor finish.

If you have an offcut of floor (or can order a sample from the manufacturer) your best approach is likely to do some tests.

F.

Does anyone know a suitable solvent that will safely soften some dried drops of Danish oil that - despite all my best efforts at covering cupboard-doors and the floor - still managed to get onto our engineered-oak kitchen floor without me noticing until a couple of months after I’d refinished the Danish oil surface of our oak worktops? I don’t want to risk using anything that will also damage the polyurethane (?) satin finish of the floor. I’ve tried - very carefully - scraping the gloss surface of the oil-spots with a small, sharp chisel and it will come off dry (but again I don’t want to damage the finish of the floor itself). There is an older blob from a few years back that is abrading away nicely just from the general kitchen footfall, so in theory I could very-small-scale sand or de-nib the shine off the blobs so their lustre matches the floor (because the oil blobs themselves on top are effectively transparent) but ideally I’d prefer to soften the dried oil and gently scrape it/damp-wipe it away completely. Any ideas or advice?

Quick reply (this way for now) to everyone for their wealth of useful advice on this topic - really,really helpful! Thanks everyone. I’ll reply individually to each one of you if I can do it successfully (!) asap. Thanks once again you lovely lot!

 

[BeeJee]

Danish oil 'dries' by a polymerisation reaction which is not reversible so I doubt you can dissolve it off with anything normal, ie water, alcohol (methyl, ethyl or propyl), or white spirit. Beyond these you are into chemical strippers, which if they attack the Danish oil will likely also attack your floor finish.

If you have an offcut of floor (or can order a sample from the manufacturer) your best approach is likely to do some tests.

F.

Many thanks for this; I didn’t know the actual nature of how ‘drying’ occurs with Danish oil and your view of solvents as a response bears out what I was thinking. I did try experiments with dried Danish oil plus turps, or Rustin’s surface-remover, or Wd40 etc on offcuts when I‘d originally noticed that older oil-spot a couple of yrs ago - results inconclusive enough to want to err on the side of caution…!

 

[BeeJee]

How about attempting a white spirit damped cotton wool ball left on the offending drops over night. If it does not work you will not have lost anything.

Colin

Thanks for this, Colin. I’ve got some spare offcuts from the flooring up in the loft and will try this out. (Tried turps on offcuts back when I’d seen that older oil-spot I mentioned and it was inconclusive - but that was just wiping with turps not ‘soaking’.)

You could try a denibber, as used in automotive paint shops to remove specks/runs that are proud of the paint.

They are designed to shave off the 'blob' that's above the paint surface without digging into the underlying surface

This is the one that I have (others are available)
Festool Denibber LZK-HM online

This shows how to use it better than I could explain it...

Thanks for this; that denibber looks absolutely amazing; very pricey for me at my stage (I’d need to sleep with it under my pillow it’s such a beautiful thing!) but if I was a professional craftsman/refinisher/car bodywork guy/decorator with plenty of years still to go I would definitely buy one of those like a shot - looks a superb, lifetime‘s-worth bit of kit! If I can get the glossy shine off the oil-marks taken back to match the sheen of the flooring that will do me (as the oil itself is virtually transparent); small piece of a denibbing-pad glued to a dowelling drift, for example.

 

[BeeJee]

I wonder if some kitchen roll and very very hot water might help? Best test on an inconspicuous piece first. Do you have a scraper for a ceramic hob, used carefully and flat that might remove some.

Thanks for this, Richard. I think v hot water used as a ‘lubricant’/softener might well be worth a try. I’ve still got some offcuts of the flooring up in the loft so I’ll try your suggestion out by putting some blobs of danish on them, letting it dry and then see how it goes - should be potentially a lot less high-risk than dry-scraping/denibbing it.

 

[BeeJee]

A scraper fitted to an oscillating multitool would be my first thought.

Thanks for this; a good idea - it’s getting the precise accuracy that’s the thing, so the right ‘end’ on a Dremel that I’ve got might well be worth a shot. I’ve got some offcuts of the flooring up in the loft so will give it a go with one of them first…!

 

[BeeJee]

I suspect some hot water or a hair dryer might soften it enough to take it off.

Or make it invisible by gentle rubbing with some fine wire wool, so it matches the satin finish?

Thanks for this; I’ve had some really useful advice from several people here and your suggestion seems to be the sort of way forward: the hot water as a ‘lubricant’/softener, plus very careful and precise scraping or abrading. The fine wire-wool treatment is recommended incidentally for very fine finishing of the final coat when Danish-oiling so that ‘fits’ well.

 

[BeeJee]

I think I would remove as much as possibly with a very sharp chisel but stay clear of damaging the floor finish.

Even if this doesn't completely remove the dried danish oil, it will ensure it disappears more rapidly through normal routine footfall wear.

Using wire wool, different solvents etc risks damaging the floor finish which may be a more obvious defect and more problematic to resolve.

Thanks for this, Terry; lots of good, useful advice from various people on here and your suggested fits in with what looks to be the way forward. There is no real thickness to the oil-splodges, so it’s really a matter of taking the glossy shine of the blobs back to match the natural sheen of the flooring. The Danish-oil itself is effectively transparent so it will not ‘show’ as such and with the dried ‘top-coat’ of the oil gone the residue will wear off. The danger is dulling/damaging the actual flooring-finish, so it’s a matter of judicious gentle-scraping and delicate, pinpoint sanding/denibbing/fine wire-woolling…! I’ve got some offcuts of the flooring up in the loft so - erring on the side of caution - I’ll have a try-out with one of them first…!

 

[ajs]

Thanks for this; a good idea - it’s getting the precise accuracy that’s the thing, so the right ‘end’ on a Dremel that I’ve got might well be worth a shot. I’ve got some offcuts of the flooring up in the loft so will give it a go with one of them first…!

I was thinking more of this kind of thing: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BBQ9ZNMV although I'm not recommending that particular model, it's simply the first that came up in the search. The silver scraper attachment pictured is bevels on one side only, so you can lay the blade flat on the floor and go at the drips from the edges.

 

[RogerS]

All I can offer you is my sympathy. Never ceases to amaze me with all the more modern finished available that anyone would still use that ghastly Danish oil.

It's in the same camp as linseed oil paint. Best avoided.

 

[BeeJee]

I was thinking more of this kind of thing: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BBQ9ZNMV although I'm not recommending that particular model, it's simply the first that came up in the search. The silver scraper attachment pictured is bevels on one side only, so you can lay the blade flat on the floor and go at the drips from the edges.

That looks a useful and versatile item - and if I did a lot of woodworking/DIY that sort of tool would be a reallyworthwhile buy; but the two oil-marks concerned are only postage-stamp sized, though (and really only noticeable because they catch the light when you look towards the back door), so not worth buying one just for that job. Thanks for the ‘hardware’ tip, though!

 

[BeeJee]

All I can offer you is my sympathy. Never ceases to amaze me with all the more modern finished available that anyone would still use that ghastly Danish oil.

It's in the same camp as linseed oil paint. Best avoided.

Aww - and there was me thinking it was nice, tactile stuff to work with and givies an attractive,deep lustre finish on a work-top . Used it because that was what our builder and his carpenter who put the oak worktops on (and laid the floor) recommended when the refurb was done, 2015. You’re right, though, it can be a faff refinishing it, especially if you get ‘the tacky trouble’ where the oil goes on too thick (or there’s a trace of greasiness left on the top from kitchen wear-and-tear). Coincidentally, I’d looked at Osmo oil as a future alternative for next time I do the worktops - but word seemed to be that it won’t go successfully over previous Danish oil. If there is a superior finish to Danish oil from your experience - giving a similar durable, lustre-sheen finish - that DOES go over underlying Danish successfully I’d welcome your view. Back in 2015 my first instinct would have been to have gone for a varnish fwiw>

 

[RogerS]

Aww - and there was me thinking it was nice, tactile stuff to work with and givies an attractive,deep lustre finish on a work-top . Used it because that was what our builder and his carpenter who put the oak worktops on (and laid the floor) recommended when the refurb was done, 2015. You’re right, though, it can be a faff refinishing it, especially if you get ‘the tacky trouble’ where the oil goes on too thick (or there’s a trace of greasiness left on the top from kitchen wear-and-tear). Coincidentally, I’d looked at Osmo oil as a future alternative for next time I do the worktops - but word seemed to be that it won’t go successfully over previous Danish oil. If there is a superior finish to Danish oil from your experience - giving a similar durable, lustre-sheen finish - that DOES go over underlying Danish successfully I’d welcome your view. Back in 2015 my first instinct would have been to have gone for a varnish fwiw>

I'd make a new piece of furniture