Are you looking forth to provide extra durability to your wood? Well, unlike the wood wax, wood oils work best in providing high durability to your furniture, whether it be for your furniture or for your floors.
Olive oil is one of the best wood oils most people prefer using. Nevertheless, is olive oil good for wood?
Furthermore, wood oils are easy to work with through which you don’t really need to be a professional so as to professionally apply wood oil in your wood furniture perfectly. Not only this, but I also noted that wood oils are easy to repair and reapply through, which you just need to sand down the oils and then reapply them again.
The only disadvantage you will have in using wood oils is through their slow drying times, which requires you to give it much time.
How Can I Tell whether Wood is Waxed, Oiled or Varnished
You can easily tell the difference on the finish put on your wood easily. This is essential as, during replacing or reapplying the finish, you will require to use the same finish used. This is to avoid any effect brought about changing the finish used on your wood.
There are 3 types of finishes you can apply on your wood, including wax, oil, or a varnish. Below is how you will be able to recognize each of these types of finishes;
Oiled Surfaces
These are those surfaces with wood oil. They are applied as the finish. In most cases, these surfaces are not highly glossy. On placing any object on these surfaces, there will be less reflection; instead, you will get an unclear image reflection.
Furthermore, you can add a white spirit on the surface on an unnoticeable area, and when it dissolves on the surface of the wood, then there is a high likelihood that the finish is oil. This might leave you with unnecessary spots hence the need to apply at an unnoticeable area.
Considering the spirit also dissolves in wax surfaces, you need to know how to differentiate it from the wax surface by knowing how to determine a waxed surface.
Waxed Surfaces
Basically, to know a waxed surface, you will need to scrape the surface of the wood with your fingernail slightly after cleaning the wood. If it is waxed, you will find some wax below your nail hence ease in knowing that the finish is wax.
Moreover, you can opt to check the surface through buffing the surface through which most of them become shinier; for a waxed surface, it will increase in its shine substantially.
Varnished Surfaces
Normally, a varnished surface is usually hard to touch together with having a reflective surface. These surfaces will make a clicking sound whenever you knock nails on it.
You will find the reflection of an object standing on these surfaces clearly visible compared to the waxed or oiled wood surface.
Does Olive Oil Go Rancid on Wood?
Use of pure oils avoids the oil you use going rancid on the wood you use. As opposed to other rub-in oils, olive oils go rancid on wood at times. As it is a natural oil, Olive oil will stay for a long time before it dries, but it dries after a period of time, and it could as well go rancid.
With time, it has been noted that pure oils do not go rancid on wood; however, natural oils such as olive oil go rancid on your wood but after a long period of time. Some of the pure oils which do not go rancid on the wood are the mineral oils such as tung and linseed.
However, though olive oil will rancid on wood, you can replenish as well as recharge it with time. The process of replenishing is easy without much required of you. The benefit of using olive oil though it will get rancid over time, is that it is fully natural without chemicals or any offensive smells which would be the best for your home, unlike other finishes.
To reduce the rate of olive oil rancid on your furniture, you can add some lemon juice just at your home, which gives you an amazing experience.
Can You Use Vegetable Oil on Wood?
Getting a store-bought furniture polish is not usually cheap and might need you to pay extra bucks. Nevertheless, as you need your furniture with a perfect finish, the use of homemade furniture finishes will save you much.
Vegetable oil is an amazing finish for your wood. However, most people don’t have an idea of whether they can use vegetable oil on wood. The other amazing thing about the use of vegetable oil is its environmentally friendly characteristic, unlike some other manufactured finish, which could be irritating.
You can use vegetable oil on wood for perfect lamination. As vegetable oil will go rancid on your furniture, we recommend the addition of lemon juice on the ration of 2:1 on the vegetable oil and lemon juice used.
After this preparation, you will be sure to have your vegetable oil perfect for providing you with an amazing finish with a reduced rancid rate.
Should You Oil Wood Furniture?
Oiling wood furniture is a critical decision you make, which can either make you proud of your furniture or give you additional disappointments. To ensure that you are on the safe side, it is essential to know whether you should oil wood furniture or not.
I personally love the results I have always received from the use of wood oil on my furniture. Rather than using other finishes such as Wax or Varnish, I found Wood Oil being a perfect solution to your furniture finish.
Here are some of the reasons you should oil wood furniture;
- Deep penetration of oil into wood hence giving the wood furniture a natural feel.
- On penetrating the wood deeply, wood oil emphasizes the colors and the patterns of the grain.
- All wood oils are environmentally friendly hence providing enough protection.
- Perfect if you are looking for a non-glossy natural look.
- They are fully non-toxic and food-safe hence making them perfect for home use.
- Ease in applying and repairing wood oils on your furniture.
What is the Best Oil for Wood?
There are several oil finishes you will find both homemade as well as the manufactured oils. However, the common thing with oil finishes is that they are non-toxic and eco-friendly.
Aside from the natural oil used for wood, such as Olive, Vegetable, and Coconut oil, there are other amazing oils that work best for wood.
Repairing and replacing them is also very easy; hence ease in having them in your furniture and renewal of your furniture. However, they are not highly durable as compared to the use of a varnish or lacquer.
Below are some of the best and the commonly used oil finishes;
- Linseed Oil – This is one of the most common oils used in furniture on wood finishes. The most common linseed oil used is the boiled linseed oil, while the best is the polymerized linseed oil.
- Tung Oil – This wood oil is derived from the seeds of the tung tree with the best tung oil used for furniture wood being the polymerized tung oil.
- Walnut Oil – This wood oil is derived from the nuts of the Juglans Regia tree. It is mainly used on kitchen furniture and utensils such as cutting boards and other kitchen utensils as it is food safe and non-toxic. To ensure it cures fast, polymerized walnut oil is mainly used.
- Mineral Oil – Though it is a derivative of petroleum, this wood oil is food safe as well as non-toxic. It is commonly used in kitchen woods such as cutting boards, wood bowls, among many others. It, however, does not provide many desirable results as the above other listed wood oils.
Final Words
Generally, olive oil is good for wood. With just a few cons on its use, you are sure to have the best finish for your wood furniture. We all expect everything to have its advantages as well as disadvantages.
This is indifferent to olive oil use on wood. It is purely non-toxic, together with giving you a perfect finish. Though it might become rancid with time, you can opt to add some lemon to ensure that it stays for a long time without rancid on wood.