Danish Oil Not Being Absorbed

[Goodshipvenus]

I generally only use tung oil or Danish Oil on wood. It darkens the wood, brings out the grain and seals  it.

 

I am currently working on a Japanese Woody Joe model that is supposed to be made from Japanese Cypress. When I apply light oak Danish Oil it leaves blotches where the Oil does not seem to be at all absorbed by the wood. I’ve never seen this with any other wood. I’ve tried sanding down the spots in case there might be impurities on the surface. It helps somewhat, but there are still spots where the wood looks exactly the same shade it was before I applied the Danish Oil. It seem impervious to treatment. 

Any ideas on what’s happening and how to deal with it?

[Goodshipvenus]

What acrylic lacquer do you recommend? What brand name?

[vossiewulf]

If you prefer not spraying, many people use Wipe On Poly by Minwax.

 

The other thing about oil finishes is they DON'T seal the wood- they offer the least surface protection and unless applied in many coats, almost no slowing of moisture exchange and therefore it offers little mitigation of low/high humidity cycles- if you want your model to last, it's best to apply a real film finish. You can always stain first to get the color that you want, then finish with a clear topcoat. If you don't like pigment stains, look at alcohol-soluble aniline dyes.

[Goodshipvenus]

Thanks much. I will try that. I assume Wipe On Poly is a matte finish?

On more question: if I do use a stain (which I probably won’t at this point, just sand off the Danish Oil) won’t i still have the same problem of uneven absorption?

[vossiewulf]

5 minutes ago, Goodshipvenus said:

if I do use a stain (which I probably won’t at this point, just sand off the Danish Oil) won’t i still have the same problem of uneven absorption?

Yes, if you use a penetrating stain. Dyes sit mostly on the surface and are less prone to problems of uneven absorption.

 

Wipe On Poly is a satin finish. You can get some matte polyurethanes, but I don't think they look very good, the way they do matte creates considerable obscuration of what's underneath- short version is they have poor clarity in my opinion. I haven't found good matte clear coats outside of real nitrocellulose lacquer. In my case I ended up using Tamiya flat lacquer, I decanted it from the spray cans and used my airbrush. It can be used straight from the can, but spray cans don't do light coats well, it tends to be heavy.

 

Another good choice for small quantities is Testor's Dullcote lacquer, that comes in bottles of a few ounces. It's best sprayed with an airbrush, but it can be applied by brush.

 

For larger supplies, I'd recommend Mohawk. Their primary market is musical instruments, they make extremely good lacquer finishes.

[wefalck]

My preference is nitrocellulose lacquer or its 'filled' version, sanding sealer. The solvent is also a solvent for the wood rosins so penetration is good. One coat may be sufficient. I rub it down with steel-wool, which gives a nice satin finish. A treatment like this does not add any appreciable thickness, it is more in the surface, rather than on it.

 

If you prefer something a bit more glossy, you can polish the surface with a soft rag - on a model you can do this also with cotton sticks all-over or just at places that would become polished by hard use. Different grades of shine create some interest in a surface and also look more realistic.

Edited March 18, 2019 by wefalck