Watco Danish oil

[Mabel H.]

I have been using Watco Danish oil on several projects, and like it . I have been using the natural finish, but wanted to try some of the others with stain in them.

I was thinking walnut, but not sure how they look or which to try, light, medium, or dark. 

Also as a side note, how do these colored oils work on Baltic birch plywood. 

If anyone has experience with any of this let me know what you think.

[Foxfold]

10 hours ago, Mabel H. said:

I have been using Watco Danish oil on several projects, and like it . I have been using the natural finish, but wanted to try some of the others with stain in them.

I was thinking walnut, but not sure how they look or which to try, light, medium, or dark. 

Also as a side note, how do these colored oils work on Baltic birch plywood. 

If anyone has experience with any of this let me know what you think.

I do hope someone can answer your question. I only use a natural finish on my pieces, I too have never tried any with stain in them. Mainly because it's not cheap and if I don't like it then I've spent money on something I'll not use again.  Though like you, I'd love to know.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Mabel, I use Watco Danish oil all the time. It is my go to finish. But I use hard woods such as oak and these take stains real well. I looked for examples but the only ones I can come up with is 2 magazine racks that I make. The one with the heart is natural and the one with the deer is med walnut. I do not like to use dark walnut because if I need that dark of a wood I will use real walnut wood. It is tough to see because these were print photos transferred to digital a long time ago. I have used cherry also and it works great on woods like oak. Have even used it on maple and had good results even though it is a light wood but it is a hard wood. With hard woods you have distict grain lines and this is where stains settle and give that colored look. Soft woods and BB plywoods do not. 

Baltic Birch plywood is a soft wood and any soft wood will suck in stains but will be blotchy. people use gel stains for that purpose so that it does not get sucked in quickly and they can wipe off what they feel is necessary and control color better than oil stains or even waterbase stains.  If you do get some try it before committing to your project is about the best advice I can suggest. Those stains are not cheap. You may be better off using minwax small pint containers (much cheaper). Basically the same thing without the polyurethane in that Watco Danish oil has. If you are top coating it makes sense any way. Good luck

Edited December 4, 2018 by JTTHECLOCKMAN

[jollyred]

Stores selling stains usually have displays or brochures showing the looks of the stains on various woods.  I would think stained BB would look most like stained birch or maple.  As far as which shade to use, that has to be determined by the one making the object.  One color does not suit all designs.  Having said that, some stains come in very small containers, and one or two of these will  not break the bank.  Get a couple of these and try them out on scrap pieces of BB to find out what they do for you.

[Mabel H.]

Thanks for the great information. 

I had thought along the same lines that you described, from the use of regular stain.

I don't like to use stains, but on projects where I use one type of wood and want the pieces to stand out or be defined it becomes necessary. I will have to try some of the lighter stains, as I assume the darker stains are usually to black.

The piece of wood I am working with now is ucalyptus something new for me. 

[Scrappile]

I have never had good luck staining Baltic Birch with any stain other than gel on for the reason stated.  It looks "blotchie".  I am no expert and there may be ways to work around getting the blotches.  The last BB I stained I used General Finishes Gel Stain.  I was very pleased with the results.  It was also very easy to apply.

The backer on this piece is what I stained.

 

[OCtoolguy]

Finishing was always left up to my wife because I didn't like doing it. But now, she is no longer able to help so I must learn how to do it myself. I'm making a couple of those baskets that you have all seen pics of when I finished the first one. The two I'm working on now will have top and bottoms made of maple and the seven layers in between are made of red oak. I want to have as much contrast as possible but not obnoxiously different. I am interested in seeing what everybody suggests on this thread. So far, everything I've done up to this point I've just used a clear finish like spray laquer or shellac. I have a can of natural Watco oil or Dutch oil. I forget which one. I save all the large scraps so I could test them but without going out and buying a bunch of mini cans, I'm sort of at a standstill. Hope to get some advice here.

 

[scrollerpete]

I have used Tung oil on the outside of my baskets and inside I used bees wax and mineral oil. I also used Shellac on the outside and so far I have bowls that have been done for 3 years and they are stil like new.

[jollyred]

I have used a pre-stain conditioner to help even out the blotchiness of the stains on some woods.  I think that would also work with BB, I will have to try it one of these days.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

7 hours ago, octoolguy said:

Finishing was always left up to my wife because I didn't like doing it. But now, she is no longer able to help so I must learn how to do it myself. I'm making a couple of those baskets that you have all seen pics of when I finished the first one. The two I'm working on now will have top and bottoms made of maple and the seven layers in between are made of red oak. I want to have as much contrast as possible but not obnoxiously different. I am interested in seeing what everybody suggests on this thread. So far, everything I've done up to this point I've just used a clear finish like spray laquer or shellac. I have a can of natural Watco oil or Dutch oil. I forget which one. I save all the large scraps so I could test them but without going out and buying a bunch of mini cans, I'm sort of at a standstill. Hope to get some advice here.

 

Ray you chose to use woods that do not get painted. It would be a huge crime if you do. If the project is not put together yet then it is very easy to stain the red oak any color you want. leave the maple natural. You can use just about any stains but i would stay in the medium color range. You can use waterbased stains in any color that are basically thinned down stains and will just allow enough coloring but won't hide the grain. Something like pickling stains. After you assemble then top coat with some clear lacquer to lock in the colors. Depending on gloss that you prefer you can choose. Did I mention I hate polyurethane. Your case no Danish oil unless that is what you are staining with. But minwax makes so many colors and in small quantity. 

[loftyhermes]

Without going to the shed and from memory I did this puzzle in Baltic Birch using Danish Oil and Colron coloured Danish Oil (Jacobean Dark Oak) for the dark pieces

[OCtoolguy]

19 hours ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

Ray you chose to use woods that do not get painted. It would be a huge crime if you do. If the project is not put together yet then it is very easy to stain the red oak any color you want. leave the maple natural. You can use just about any stains but i would stay in the medium color range. You can use waterbased stains in any color that are basically thinned down stains and will just allow enough coloring but won't hide the grain. Something like pickling stains. After you assemble then top coat with some clear lacquer to lock in the colors. Depending on gloss that you prefer you can choose. Did I mention I hate polyurethane. Your case no Danish oil unless that is what you are staining with. But minwax makes so many colors and in small quantity. 

Thanks JT but this is where I get confused. Can I pre-stain, stain and then glue? I don't want to do anything that is going to keep the glue from adhering. That's why I did the first one with just gluing and then a spray finish. I got very lucky in that the wood was of different shades on the poplar and they all came out great. But, like I said, I got very lucky. These two are for gifts and I don't want to do anything to screw them up.

 

[OCtoolguy]

3 hours ago, loftyhermes said:

Without going to the shed and from memory I did this puzzle in Baltic Birch using Danish Oil and Colron coloured Danish Oil (Jacobean Dark Oak) for the dark pieces

Vey nice. I'd be happy with that much color contrast on my baskets.

 

[Bill WIlson]

2 hours ago, octoolguy said:

Thanks JT but this is where I get confused. Can I pre-stain, stain and then glue? I don't want to do anything that is going to keep the glue from adhering. That's why I did the first one with just gluing and then a spray finish. I got very lucky in that the wood was of different shades on the poplar and they all came out great. But, like I said, I got very lucky. These two are for gifts and I don't want to do anything to screw them up.

 

Generally speaking, the rule of thumb is that glue goes on bare wood for best adhesion.  That makes it challenging to use different colors of stain on the project, post assembly.  Now, I've gotten away with gluing pieces that were stained or dyed, but I wouldn't necessarily trust the bond to stand up to much stress.  And I would not recommend ever gluing over a film finish.

Now to address your specific issue, I think the best thing would be to use woods of naturally contrasting colors, such as walnut & red oak or cherry & maple/poplar, etc.  That way you get the color variation and finishing is simple.  By & large, I try to avoid staining whenever possible.  I like to use the natural color and grain of the wood, but then again, I'm fortunate enough to live in a part of the country where there is a nice variety of native hardwoods readily available.

[OCtoolguy]

12 minutes ago, Bill WIlson said:

Generally speaking, the rule of thumb is that glue goes on bare wood for best adhesion.  That makes it challenging to use different colors of stain on the project, post assembly.  Now, I've gotten away with gluing pieces that were stained or dyed, but I wouldn't necessarily trust the bond to stand up to much stress.  And I would not recommend ever gluing over a film finish.

Now to address your specific issue, I think the best thing would be to use woods of naturally contrasting colors, such as walnut & red oak or cherry & maple/poplar, etc.  That way you get the color variation and finishing is simple.  By & large, I try to avoid staining whenever possible.  I like to use the natural color and grain of the wood, but then again, I'm fortunate enough to live in a part of the country where there is a nice variety of native hardwoods readily available.

Thanks Bill. I agree with you. I don't really want to stain. I'm hoping to bring out the color of the red oak just by applying a clear finish. When I did that to the poplar basket, it did give it more "pop" so I'm going to try a piece of scrap oak that I have left over from the cutting. If I can get away with just doing that, I'll be happy. The maple should remain pretty much as it is but have more of a wet look. I'll just have to experiment. I don't want to do anything that will take away the glue factor. I'd hate to give one to somebody and have it fall apart after a few times being used.

 

[Bill WIlson]

You will have contrast with natural red oak and maple.  It won't be dramatic, but the grain patterns alone are so different that it will be easy to see the difference, even without any supplemental coloration.  Red oak is a very porous, open grain wood and will absorb a lot more of the Danish oil than the maple will.  This will highlight the early & late grain in the oak, making it stand out and giving it a deeper amber tint than it does with the maple.  It may not be as much contrast as you would prefer, but I don't think anyone giving it more than a quick look would ever think it was all the same wood.

[jollyred]

One thing you might try is to mask off the area where the glue will go so the wood in that area does not get stained.  I have done this on some projects, and it seems to work pretty well.  Also, maybe you can stain after doing the gluing, or use mechanical fasteners (such as nails or screws) instead of glue to hold the parts together.  I often use a 23 gage pin nailer (it uses tiny nails that are difficult to see after nailing them in) to attach parts and to reinforce some joints that I think need more than glue to hold them together.

Tom

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

I agree with Bill. Staining and gluing after is not the strongest of joints. What happens with stain is you are basically sealing the wood pores and the glue can not seep into them and interlock which is what happens when you glue wood to wood. I too like to use contrasting woods to allow for differences. Using Danish oil which has polyurethane even further seals the wood so gluing is even harder. Then you may have to go to Aileens tacky glue or welbond for gluing these things. 

[kmmcrafts]

Poplar wood.. use dark walnut on this puzzle.. second time I used the color for Danish Oil... first time was on BB plywood.. and it doesn't work well with that stuff  looked terrible..  but BB ply doesn't work all that great with stain either..