Danish Oil

[Faireycake]

I have come-by a job lot of this, it seems (they recommend that it is) like a good primer for painting plywood, any experience to the contrary, or advice on how best to use it, beyond the makers instructions?

[Ancient Geek]

It's been used for years, all the Danish wooden Boat builders of fame Borreson, Pedderseon & thueson etc use it their mahogany seems to last for years (At least 50.) without bleaching or staining they even epoxy over it!

[chris]

there's Danish Oil and there's Danish Oil. What make is it? Some is OK for interior use, some OK for Garden furniture etc. I would find out more before I put it on a boat.

[Ancient Geek]

"Danish Oil" is a brand at least in Denmark its not really an oil at all but a Varnish.

[DavidC]

Danish Oil should be a wood finish made from either Tung Oil or Polymerized Linseed Oil. It drys hard and I see no reason why it should not be used as a base coat, although I would check very carefully what you actually have and try a test piece.

It needs to be applied carefully so that you do not get pools of oil forming in much the same way as all oil applications. It is regularly used in furniture (particularly as it does not involve the skills needed for French Polishing!).

For furniture, I was always taught that it needs a coat a day for a week, a coat a week for a month and a coat a month for a year

[Faireycake]

The brand I have is Rustins, its seems entirely the case that what ever I thought this was going to be, it is actually a varnish indeed!

[Ancient Geek]

Linseed oil dry very hard the best London Gunstocks are treated and finished with no more than Linseed Oil several dozen coats rubbed down with fine steel wool this gives that deep lustrous shine that seems to be weatherproof and last and last.
It is said that Peddersen & Thueson soaked their glued up wooden Dragons in the stuff before varnishing which is probably why even if ignored for tens of years they seem like new.

[Ed]

Yes,

a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine is supposed to go some way towards re-invigorating old wood that has dried and really shrunk and replace some of the natural oils lost in the drying process. In other words clinker wood hulls with big gaps in the lands.

I tried this with ISKA when I had her.....with some limited success, I thought at the time, but it is a very messy job. Certainly there was no problem with varnishing over the top, in fact one of the things I liked was that it left no sign of use at all.

I always like the general idea of using a softer oil-primer finished with a hard top-coat....the Deks-olya approach and have figured that as AG says, if it works for the scandihoolies, why not here....but never seemed to have much success. Varnish tests (such as Classic Boat) never seem to favour this approach either.

Do feed back your experiences.

cheers

eib

[jpa_wfsc]

I just followed this link - seems like a good test...

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source ... yc1N4JjEYw

So - durability is not a function of price! Also a shame G4 was not in the test!!!

And - what is the effect of a boat cover on varnish - does it actually make life any better?

j./

[Rupert]

Keeps the UV down, but if resting on it must play havoc with with water being trapped.