A little history and perspective...
I've been creating wood furniture art as a full time gig since 2016. In the first several years of business, I experimented with many kinds of wood finish including various urethanes and lacquer top coats, shellac, resin, and different oil blends from many big brands like Minwax, Waterlox, General Finishes, Rubio Monocoat and others.
My early experiences with wood finishes began with restoring antique hardwood furniture for myself and family where I learned a bit of chemistry and experience in repairing and refinishing and eventually discovering local urban wood sawmills and I began making live edge furniture and trying different types of wood finish.
Experiences with other finishes...
My experiments with different wood finishes on my own pieces provided a lot of perspective on the application process and longterm durability in real life use with my own family. Many of my early pieces were finished with either Waterlox or General Finishes Arm R Seal which are both hybrid oil urethane blends. They both are film forming finishes, meaning a plastic coating that covers the wood. This type of finish can be brushed on, or sprayed. There is so much than can go wrong throughout the application and curing of multiple coats that can lead to a lot of frustrating rework. Ultimately the fumes and outgassing were exceptionally brutal, and I was spending hours sanding between coats or wet sanding or buffing out dust that cured in the top coat chasing perfection.
While Waterlox and Arm R Seal were highly stain resistant and waterproofing, the repair process for when it gets scratched is not fun. Trying to fill the scratch and back sand and blend. Sanding or scraping to remove the old layers of scratched finish to start all over with multiple coats. I have furniture art living with clients all over US in various climates and some get used heavily every day like countertops or kitchen tables while others are more show pieces that are rarely used. A top coat finish usually has to be repaired by a professional and shouldnt be sanded or buffed in a home because of toxins in the plastic dust. Solvents like mineral spirits and paint thinners that soften some of the top coat chemistry is not something you want circulating fumes in a home.
I've never personally used water-based polyurethane or lacquer finishes because I've found them to be the most temporary methods of finishing wood and most difficult to achieve all the qualities that I look for. I've never had a spray booth or clean room and this is typically required to get a decent quality. If you've ever touched a wood table top that felt sticky, thats likely a failing poly finish where alcohol based cleaners have been used that have degraded and softened the top coat.
Questions I seek answers for when evaluating a wood finish:
How expensive is the product itself?
What company makes it? What are the ingredients?
How easy is the prep and application process for finishing various types of specialty wood slabs and river tables? Nasty lingering fumes or pleasant smell? Multiple toxins or zero VOC? Spray booth or indoor small shop? Minutes, days, or weeks to cure?
How good is the coverage - how much of it is used in the finishing process, and will it keep on the shelf or start hardening before I can use it up, or is the packaging hard to resuse in a can?
How many coats or applications are required?
How durable is the finished table? Stain and waterproofing? Heat Sensitivity?
How easy is the repair/detailing process for scratches?
How is long term stability? Will the finish wear through or blister and peel?
Why I use Odie's Oil after trying the others:
A brief background... Odie's Oil is a unique blend of natural lignum oils and hardwax produced by a small family business in Florida that is now expanding to grow and harvest their own tung plants for ingredients. It is not the cheapest option available but its worth it to me because of the coverage, quality of finish, and supporting small business instead of big chemical corporations producing product that they know are harmful to woodworkers. There are absolutely no VOCS, chemical solvents or hardening cyano-acrylic additives in Odie's Oil like nearly all of their competitors. They've recently achieved a classification as structural wood finishing oil and was choosen for NOAA Antartica project and also approved for use on . How does all of this affect practical use?
If you are concerned about micro plastics in your life than keep reading. The exclusion of toxins in all of Odie's Oil products is the largest advantage from both a woodworker-creator health perspective and what your and my client's are living with. I finish all wood furniture in my own home with Odie's oil including a Mesquite dining table, Manzanita Console, Box Elder Burl floating record console, Acacia waterfall coffee table, Maple wide plank kitchen island, Walnut live edge bathroom vanities, dog food riser table, as well as all pieces produced for clients since 2019.
Ease of Application
Because there are no harsh chemicals or outgassing wood pieces can be cut and modified and refinished or detailed on-site or in a home without generating toxic dust or fumes from urethanes. Odie's smells like citrus and because you buff off the excess oil and wax thats not absorbed there is no sticky residue and worry about dust or bugs drying in a top coat! This has enabled a lot of flexibility for projects involving on site fitment or installation, or having to transport big countertop slabs or tables back and forth to the woodshop to strip the old finish and brush or spray multiple coats again.
Odie's is a permanent natural oil finish. I've heard some people say that any oil without a chemical acrylic hardening agent added is temporary. They are comparing Odie's to mineral oil cutting board finishes not other true tung or hardening oils. The same people encourage use of hybrid oil/poly or oil/hardener blends and graphene/ceramic top coats over oil finishes to improve durability. I'm not a fan and prefer not to expose myself or clients to toxic ingredients tied to numerous health issues like respiratory and skin problems.
Real World Examples of On-Site Finishing with Odie's Oil:
Walnut Butcher Block Refinish: I created a special Walnut burl coffee table for a client in Biltmore neighborhood. She had another company make her a Walnut butcher block kitchen island several months prior. They finished it with a quick coat of mineral oil and only on the top side. The client was frustrated with water and food stains and raised wood grain spots despite adding 2 coats of mineral oil every month. She asked if I would refinish it like her coffee table that I made finished with Odie's Oil and wood butter. I came to their home with my HEPA vac and sander to cut through the scratches, raised grain, and water stains before finishing with Odie's oil. Since it was a mineral oil finish I didnt need to worry about toxic dust from sanding off a topcoat. They've had me come once in the last 4 years since to sand out scratches and touch up spots by the sink and dishwasher to keep it looking perfect - much better maintenance turnaround than adding mineral oil 2x a month and still getting stains.
Checkout this project here:
Airport Rush Job, On-site Wood Countertop Cut to fit:
I was hired by Swift Aviation to create a large set of Red Gum Countertops for reception desk, bartop, and bathroom vanities. It went from a 90 day turnaround to 2.5 week mad rush to ribbon cutting day. All trades involved in the build out were scattered and lots of decisions were made on the fly to make fast progress on the building infrastructure and build out of the space. When I came to deliver the large Red Gum Burlwood finished countertops and was informed of the major changes in dimensions and plans for each surface. I came back later that day with tools to cut the burls in half and notch and cope them around flagstone covered walls and cabinet structures and refinish the modified raw areas. The following day the bathroom vanities were set in place but during the lunch break the flooring guys moved another set of the wood countertops face down on wet grout, and electricians walked all over the wood vanities to hang the light fixtures with work boots leaving deep scratches and dents all over the freshly installed and polished countertop. I spent about 3 hours on-site the following day sanding and buffing out scratches and refinishing all the damage caused by the neglect and rush of other tradesmen.
Any kind of top coat finish wouldve filled the space with dust and fumes and likely needed so much sanding to repair or refinish after these modifications that everything would be making another trip to/from my woodshop.
Checkout this project here:
Touch and Feel Qualities
The aesthetic and hands on qualities of handmade wood furniture are really what defines the experience of living with the piece. If it feels rough or lacks luster or feels more like plastic than polished woodgrain - the experience is far different. My customers love to touch and feel the wood grain not plastic covering the wood. The ability to live with it and know that it can be detailed and repaired without extensive costs is also a big benefit and peace of mind. I prefer the feel of polished hardwood sanded to 1k+ thats not hidden under layers of plastic but sealed by natural oils and waxes that soak into the wood to make the natural color and figure glow and protect longterm.
Polished Wood and Resin Process or plastic coatings?
Using Odie's oil as a final finish means that there are no limitations to polishing the surface where as with Rubio and other oils with hardener additive or film forming top coats will only bond to rough sanded surfaces relying on the finish to bring out the clarity.
Rubio recommends to only sand up to 180 to avoid problems with adhesion but that leaves wood feeling very rough and resin looking very foggy. Its not a film forming finish so its not going to fill in sanding scratches like a poly or resin top coat or polishing out the wood/resin.
Film forming oil urethane finishes like Waterlox and Arm R Seal recommend to sand up to 320 and sometimes applying a wipe on seal coat like Seal A Cell to help adhesion and improve how the top coat is absorbed and levels. The most common issue I had with these finishes was sanding swirls showing in the sheen of the top coat, or decontaminates and oxidation of chemistry in the finish affecting bond and causing crazing and spidering of the top coat while dust and bugs are also landing in the top coat. Trying to sand through imperfections and recoat takes so much time and abrasives, I ended up hating the finishing process trying to chase perfection. I would rather spend more time polishing before I apply Odie's than trying to buff and blend and cut through dust in top coats.
Many of my river tables with resin are polished up to 4k before I apply Odie's on the wood. Read on for technical tips for polishing river tables with Odie's and other popular hardwax and topcoat oil hybrid finishes Ive been discussing.
Technical Tips for Polishing with Odie's
I like the Mirka Abralon pads for sanding 500-4k. I give it 2 days to cure and then polish the resin with a foam pad buffer and polishing compounds to polish the resin up to 8k. I use plastic polishes from Novus and Meguiars. I wipe the wood with Odie's citrus based safer solvent to remove the polishing compound residue from wood grain before adding 2nd application of Odie's Oil. The used fine grit mirka pads are great to friction polish with the Odie's oil and safer solvent.
Their safer solvent is especially good for pigmented oil blends for cerused wood finishes which is non toxic, slower absorption and dry time than mineral spirits and no fumes - smells like citrus because thats where it comes from.
When it comes to sanding and polishing, that is where you'll spend more time in the prep work for Odie's but ultimately depends on the finish you are wanting and the characteristics of the wood you are working with. Matte is achieved at 400 or lower, 600-2000 is a range of Satin/Polished, 4k+ is fine polished high gloss. But its not the same gloss or matte as a top coat because you arent filling in the woodgrain with plastic so the texture is all kept on display.
To achieve a polished high gloss sheen on wood finished with Odie's you have to sand to 4k+. Softer species like Redwood or Buckeye may require additional burnishing and oil to fully saturate and polish to high gloss. After the first application I wait a couple days, resand surface at 4k, then apply a blend of Odie's Oil and safer solvent, wait for it to get tacky and use 4k pad on buffer to friction polish and repeat the process 2 days later. Odie's Wood butter or wax also helps add sheen.
Odie's has a lot of technical tips on their Youtube channel:
Technical Tips for hardwax oils with hardeners & buffing oil-modified urethanes:
Many river table makers that use Rubio will sand the whole piece to 220, oil the wood and then mask it off, and wet sand and polish just the resin to full gloss in similar way I do with Odie's and the total piece.
I have experimented sanding wood to finer grits up to 800 and finishing with Rubio's pigmented oil before Odie's released the Mr. Cornwalls powdered pigments. You can see those projects here:
Top coat finishes like urethanes will only bond to rougher sanded surfaces like 220/320 which rely on the solids in the finish to fill in the sanding swirl patterns.
Using non woven blending pads like maroon after 320 sanding will help minimize swirls out of the resin river casting before applying Rubio or a film forming top coat. Wipe with solvent to remove fine powdered contaminates in the woodgrain and resin surface and tack rags for dust.
Resin River tables will never have great clarity at this point without further polishing. Odie's provided better protection without limitations in polishing and thats why I moved on from Rubio along with avoiding toxins. You'll notice even the solid wood pieces I polished to 800 grit with black and peacock green in the links above were all wood without large resin fills.
If you are using a top coat film forming wood finish like Waterlox or Arm R Seal on your river table projects and having issues with getting that perfect sheen and minimizing that plastic feel, I recommend buffing with Orange Oil and the Mirka abralon pads. The Howard's orange oil is best for wet sanding oil based finishes and the 500 grit pads help cut through any dust in the top coat. Take it up to 4k and buff with compounds for high gloss sheen.
