While searching for cheap danish oil, I found this by Toby Newell on the Period Property website forum under the title: The Definitive Guide to Wood Finishing
"Teak oil/Danish oil: practically the same products. Combination of linseed oil (which is cheaper and less durable) and tung oil (which is more expensive and more durable) solvents, alkyd and urethane plasticisers and drying chemicals, basically just a polyurethane varnish with up to 20 percent more oil, better quality oils have more tung oil and less linseed. Easier to apply due to solvents and dryers but, not as strong as tung oil or polyurethane. I am therefore constantly perplexed at the fervent adoration they receive, perhaps they sound traditional?"
I don't use linseed oil or tung oil because of their very long drying times and first started using danish oil because I thought it was a similar product, but miraculously quicker drying. Although not a fervent adorer of danish oil, I have been guilty of thinking it sounds traditional. I know that manufacturers use different recipes/formulae (and seem to be secretive about them). I know that my local Glasgow manufacturer Smith & Rodgers does not use linseed oil in their product, because their chemist told me. Indeed, from what he said it sound more like rocket fuel. Certainly, S&R's danish oil does not look like others, Rustins, for instance. S&R's oil is very cloudy. The chemist told me that theirs has a higher wax content than most and this is the cloudy bit, which will settle to the bottom of the container quite quickly. The end result using S&R danish oil is a very matt finish, by the way. Buffing and rubbing will give a result very much like a wax finish.
Now, I understand almost no chemistry and have no wish to do so, so please go gently.
I understand that dryers help the oil to dry and that solvents are the liquids that dissolve the solids which, when dry, will be the solid protective coating. This appears self-explanatory and is as deep as I wish my scientific grasp of the matter.
In any case, it is not what I want to know. I want tradition. I want natural and environmentally friendly oils. I want to know whether the resins are plant resins or synthetic (and if synthetic are they petrochemical products). I don't like the sound of alkyds, whatever they are. I want to know if the solvents are white spirits or turpentine. I want to know if the wax is paraffin or beeswax. Is danish oil really little different from polyurethane varnish? Can I easily mix my own hippy version of danish oil?
Toby also says: "Mylands wax is based on Gedges recipe dating from the late nineteenth century." I like the sound of that. Does it follow that Mylands' danish oil is similarly old fashioned?
Any recommendations for a healthier, happier danish oil?
Ross
"Teak oil/Danish oil: practically the same products. Combination of linseed oil (which is cheaper and less durable) and tung oil (which is more expensive and more durable) solvents, alkyd and urethane plasticisers and drying chemicals, basically just a polyurethane varnish with up to 20 percent more oil, better quality oils have more tung oil and less linseed. Easier to apply due to solvents and dryers but, not as strong as tung oil or polyurethane. I am therefore constantly perplexed at the fervent adoration they receive, perhaps they sound traditional?"
I don't use linseed oil or tung oil because of their very long drying times and first started using danish oil because I thought it was a similar product, but miraculously quicker drying. Although not a fervent adorer of danish oil, I have been guilty of thinking it sounds traditional. I know that manufacturers use different recipes/formulae (and seem to be secretive about them). I know that my local Glasgow manufacturer Smith & Rodgers does not use linseed oil in their product, because their chemist told me. Indeed, from what he said it sound more like rocket fuel. Certainly, S&R's danish oil does not look like others, Rustins, for instance. S&R's oil is very cloudy. The chemist told me that theirs has a higher wax content than most and this is the cloudy bit, which will settle to the bottom of the container quite quickly. The end result using S&R danish oil is a very matt finish, by the way. Buffing and rubbing will give a result very much like a wax finish.
Now, I understand almost no chemistry and have no wish to do so, so please go gently.
I understand that dryers help the oil to dry and that solvents are the liquids that dissolve the solids which, when dry, will be the solid protective coating. This appears self-explanatory and is as deep as I wish my scientific grasp of the matter.
In any case, it is not what I want to know. I want tradition. I want natural and environmentally friendly oils. I want to know whether the resins are plant resins or synthetic (and if synthetic are they petrochemical products). I don't like the sound of alkyds, whatever they are. I want to know if the solvents are white spirits or turpentine. I want to know if the wax is paraffin or beeswax. Is danish oil really little different from polyurethane varnish? Can I easily mix my own hippy version of danish oil?
Toby also says: "Mylands wax is based on Gedges recipe dating from the late nineteenth century." I like the sound of that. Does it follow that Mylands' danish oil is similarly old fashioned?
Any recommendations for a healthier, happier danish oil?
Ross
