Five oils by what their makers say they are
| Product | What it is | Cures? | Times | Food-contact claim |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunnyside Boiled Linseed Oil | Linseed oil with cobalt and manganese driers | Yes, a drying oil | Not stated | None in the documents reviewed |
| Watco Danish Oil | Oil-and-varnish blend | Hardens in the wood | Touch 6–8 h; handle 10 h; recoat 72 h | None in the data sheet |
| Minwax Tung Oil Finish | Tung oil alkyd resin with driers | Yes, to a coating | Not stated | None in the data sheet |
| Osmo Polyx-Oil | Hardwax oil: plant oils and waxes | Dries between coats | About 8–10 h per coat | Claims for toys (EN 71.3) and saliva (DIN 53160); no food-contact claim |
| General Finishes Butcher Block Oil | Mineral oil | No — the Forest Products Laboratory classes mineral oil as nondrying | Two coats, wiped off; reapplied as maintenance | GF: meets the requirements for wood in food contact |
Watco at 70–80°F and 50% RH; Osmo at 23°C and 50% humidity. What each kind of oil is, and why the label is not the chemistry, is in the oils guide.
Choosing
- For an in-the-wood look on furniture: a drying oil, an oil-and-varnish blend or a hardwax oil. All three cure. Watco allows a polyurethane over its Danish Oil after 72 hours if more protection is wanted.
- For floors: Osmo makes Polyx-Oil for wooden floors as well as furniture; check that a product's maker names floors.
- For cutting boards and butcher blocks: an oil whose maker claims food contact for that use — General Finishes makes that claim for the mineral oils in its Butcher Block Oil. Mineral oil never cures, so it is renewed regularly. See food-safe wood finishes.
- If you want tung oil: read the composition. Minwax's Tung Oil Finish is, by its own data sheet, an alkyd varnish made with tung oil; a can labelled pure tung oil should say so in its composition.
- If you want boiled linseed oil: expect driers — Sunnyside names a cobalt manganese salt — and use it on unfinished wood only, as Sunnyside says.
- Teak oils are sold under a use name; none was reviewed for this guide. Check what the maker says is in the can.
Before buying
Safety— Rags from oil finishes
NFPA warns that rags wet with oil-based finishes heat as they dry and can ignite. The makers' procedures differ — Sunnyside, for instance, says to keep soaked materials in sealed metal containers — and are compared in finishing techniques.
Before buying an oil
- The composition on the data sheet, not just the name
- Whether it cures, and how long its maker says it takes
- The use it is made for: furniture, floors or food surfaces
- A food-contact claim from its maker, if it will touch food
- Whether a topcoat can go over it, and when
- A plan for oily rags
Sources
Compositions and claims are each maker's own statement for its product. Products sold as teak oil were not among the documents reviewed and are not described. No oil was tested and none is ranked.
- 1.
Technical Data Sheet 872, Boiled Linseed Oil. Sunnyside Corporation, 2010.
Used for: Boiled linseed oil as flaxseed oil with additives to shorten drying, for unfinished wood only, thinned up to 2:1 with mineral spirits.
- 2.
Safety Data Sheet, Boiled Linseed Oil (87216). Sunnyside Corporation.
Used for: Its driers named as a cobalt manganese salt, and soaked materials that can ignite kept in sealed metal containers.
- 3.
Technical Data WAT-02, Watco Danish Oil. Rust-Oleum (Watco), 2020.
Used for: Danish Oil as a blend of penetrating oil and varnish that hardens in the wood: touch 6–8 h, handle 10 h and recoat 72 h at 70–80°F and 50% RH; polyurethane over it after at least 72 hours; no food-contact statement.
- 4.
Technical Data Sheet, Minwax Tung Oil Finish. Minwax.
Used for: Tung Oil Finish as tung oil alkyd resin, driers and additives in mineral spirits, curing into a protective coating for interior wood; no food-contact statement.
- 5.
Product Information, Polyx-Oil Original. Osmo, 2020.
Used for: Polyx-Oil as a hardwax oil for floors and furniture, two thin coats about 8–10 hours apart at 23°C and 50% humidity, with Osmo's claims under DIN 68861-1A, DIN 53160 and EN 71.3.
- 6.
Butcher Block Oil (product page). General Finishes.
Used for: Butcher Block Oil's mineral oils described by GF as meeting the requirements for wood that contacts food, for cutting boards, utensils, bowls and butcher blocks; two coats wiped on and off; reapplied regularly as maintenance.
- 7.
Christopher G. Hunt. Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material (FPL-GTR-282), Chapter 16: Finishing Wood. USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 2021.
Used for: Drying oils curing over several weeks; mineral oil as a nondrying oil that never cures.
- 8.
Safety with Oily Rags (safety tip sheet). National Fire Protection Association, 2019.
Used for: Oily rags heating as they dry and igniting.
About this buying guide
Written by BenchRoot Editorial. How BenchRoot sources, checks and corrects its pages is set out in the Editorial Policy. If something here is wrong or unclear, the contact page explains how to tell us.