What oil for oak mantel to protect and retain natural colour

[yeti]

Recently purchased an oak piece to serve as a mantel piece. It's 2" x 6" x 52".

I want to retain the natural colour of the oak and the wood yard suggested I apply an oil. The oak is current untreated. I've just finished smooth planning and finishing the edges..

Question is, what oil please?

 

[Lazurus]

Danish oil for me.

 

[MikeG.]

Leave it raw.

Oil and oak is, well, an acquired taste. It will go much darker and orangier than you expect. It was traditionally left raw, or limewashed.

 

[ColeyS1]

'Osmo raw' will probably be the least noticeable

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[Phil Pascoe]

Or water based polyurethane.

 

[MikeG.]

Is this oak seasoned or green? Green oak can react instantly with some finishes, turning very dark immediately. I put a teak oil on some oak once which went all-but-black in seconds.

 

[thetyreman]

I like pure tung oil on oak

 

[yeti]

It's seasoned oak.

Once fitted to the fireplace the surrounding wall is going to be rendered+plastered, so thinking I best apply some form of protection before that (watery) works..

 

[MikeG.]

Well you'll get better results with oil on seasoned wood than on unseasoned.

However, and this is important, there is no wood finish that I know of which will protect oak (seasoned or green) from wet plaster. Through years of renovating my house, with oak posts, beams and studs, plus window boards, shelves, floors, and so on, I can tell you that the only way to ensure your oak isn't stained deeply by contact with plaster is to tape it up thoroughly with a heavy tape such as Duck tape. Plaster gets to oak through every oil there is, wax, and all varnishes and lacquers. In fact, I'd go so far as to say you are better off leaving the wood unfinished so that if some wet plaster finds its way past the tape you will have a chance of scraping off a layer, or using some oxalic acid, to remove the resulting black stain.

 

[yeti]

Will the untreated oak remain stable or absorb too much water and cup/twist? Mantel is 2" thick.. Otherwise good idea to clean-up after the plaster and treat then.

 

[yeti]

Photo

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Briwax (besswax plus carnauba wax with a pretty stinky white-spirit-like solvent) works for me and should work nicely for you without any other finishes. Make sure to get the 'clear' Briwax which doesn't contain added stain to colour the wood.

e.g. https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p95790

Cheers, W2S