BLO Finish Issue

[T.J. Jones]

When I built my workbench a number of years ago I put a couple coats of BLO on. I didn't wipe all the oil off and it has an uncured coat on the top. I started to flatten the top only to find that I could not plane or sand it because it is soft and clogs up. I tried using a 36 grit belt and it lasted about a minute.

Any suggestions on what to use to get back to where I can plane or sand the top?

[Dave Diaman]

Maybe you could use a hand held planner set really shallow to get the layer with the BLO off. After getting it flat again I would recommend just putting on a few heavy coats of wax. I use wax on all my bench tops and have never had any issues.

[T.J. Jones]

Thanks Dave! I'm thinking wax or nothing!

[JR1]

Likely a Scraping Plane will remove the excess. MS or kerosene will allow you to wipe the excess off—plenty of paper towels. Any type of power plainer will likely just make a bigger mess. This is why you wipe off excess BLO

BTW you will want to take a polisher and really work the wax so it forms a hard coating!

[fredhargis]

I think I'd start with an everyday paint scraper to remove as much as possible, then a card scraper. If your open to suggestions, a very good finish for a bench is a mixture of beeswax/MS/BLO. Easily repaired, glue pops right off, and it provides a low level of moisture resistance. More here if it's of interest.

[Howard Acheson]

What species of wood?

Use a cabinet scraper to remove the gummy surface. Should only tale a few minutes.

Another option is to use a chemical paint remover containing methylene chloride. Follow the directions on the label.

[T.J. Jones]

A BIG thank you for the great advice! I got after it with a paint scraper and that got most of the finish off. I can use a plane on it now to flatten.

[jteneyck]

If you're nice to Howard he might post his classic bench top finishing recipe. It's a mix of mineral oil and paraffin and works great.

IMO, you don't want a varnished surface on your bench, nor do you want a heavily waxed one. Stuff just slips around too much. Reasonably welled sealed is good enough.

John

[Howard Acheson]

>>>> he might post his classic bench top finishing recipe

Here it is....

A film finish (lacquer, shellac, varnish, poly varnish) is not the way to finish a workbench top. A workbench is going to get dinged and film finishes will crack or craze or be otherwise damaged. Once a film finish is penetrated, it looses its effectiveness and adjacent areas begin to fail. No treatment is going to make a soft wood benchtop harder. I much favor an "in the wood finish". Here are two that lots of folks find effective.

First, is an boiled linseed oil and wax finish. Sand the surface to 180 grit. Mix paraffin or bees wax into heated boiled linseed oil. USE A DOUBLE BOILER TO HEAT THE OIL. The ratio is not critical but about 5-6 parts of boiled linseed oil in a double boiler with one part paraffin or beeswax shaved in. Take it off the stove. Thin this mixture about 50/50 with mineral spirits to make a heavy cream like liquid. Apply this mixture to the benchtop liberally and allow to set overnight. Do it again the next day and again the following day if the top continues to absorb it. After a final overnight, lightly scrape off any excess wax and buff. This finish will minimize the absorbsion of any water and you can use a damp rag to wipe up any glue excess. Dried glue will pop right off the surface. Renewal or repair is easy. Just use a scraper to remove and hardened stuff, wipe down with mineral spirits using a 3/0 steel wool pad (a non-woven green or gray abrasive pad is better), wipe off the gunk and apply another coat of boiled linseed oil/wax mixture.

My personal preference is for an oil/varnish mixture treatment. Either use Minwax Tung Oil Finish, Minwax Antique oil or a homebrew of equal parts of boiled linseed oil, your favorite varnish or poly varnish and mineral spirits. Sand the benchtop up to 180 grit. Apply the mixture heavily and keep it wet for 15-30 minutes. Wipe off any excess completely. Let it dry overnight and the next day, apply another coat using a gray non-woven abrasive pad. Let it set and then wipe off any excess. Let this dry 48-72 hours. To prevent glue from sticking apply a coat of furniture paste wax and you're done. This treatment is somewhat more protective than the wax and mineral oil as the varnish component adds some protection from not only water both some other chemicals also. The waxing makes the surface a little more impervious to water so you can wipe up any liquid adhesive. It also allows hardened adhesive to be scraped off. Repair and renewal is easy. Just go throught the same scraping, wiping down with mineral spirits and reapplication of the BLO/varnish/mineral spirits mixture and an application of paste wax.

Both of the above treatments are quite protective but are easy to maintain and renew. They do not fail when the surface takes a ding.

[Wild Turkey]

T.J. Jones said:

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I tried using a 36 grit belt and it lasted about a minute.

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That's when a variable speed sander comes in very handy. Slow it down so it cuts without melting.

But the scraper was probably better