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Furniture treatment

sandyvsandyv Posts: 116
in The potting shed
We are after treatment for outside wooden table and chairs, but we want something that will sink in to the wood and help preserve it rather than just coat the surface like paint and peel off after a season or two, which most now seem to be like. Suggestions please, as it's hard to tell from the info on the tin.
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  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-garden-furniture-oil-clear-1ltr/2043r
    Or a teak oil. Something that soaks in. Will need a light resanding  and  reapplying every year especially if left outside over winter
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    I have used both teak and danish oil (not at the same time!) on our stuff over the years. But it is still a pain as it needs redoing frequently - at least every other year (even on the tables that go in the garage over winter).
    But (and this isn't an advert) - I saw this stuff the other week. I haven't tried it yet, as I'd already done the tables this year. So I'm not recommending it - but I will use it next year to see whether it's any good. It looks expensive, but if it really does last 10 years (or even close to that), it will be worth it.

    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    @steveTu  When you look at the coverage of that it does look expensive 😯

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    I'd need to sit down with a pen and paper, but I'm not sure it works out that expensive (if it works). Currently teak/danish oil takes 3 coats (at least - plus top ups after rain) - AND - I end up re-sanding and re-coating the tables/benches at least every couple of years (took me five hours with a sander to sand down a bench and re-oil it yesterday). So 10 years of oil, plus the extra time and effort...debatable eh?
    But I won't know til I try it! And if it fails after a couple of years, it's very, very expensive. Sod's law I only saw it after lock down - and I had 'old' oil left anyway - otherwise I would have given it a go this year.

    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    You have a point @steveTu ... I was looking at their pics of folk merrily applying it to fences ... I’ve not worked it out but it feels cheaper to replace a lap fence every ten years 🤣 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    This is a hardwood bench treated (this year!) with Colron (not advertising - just what they must have had in B&Q (other stores are available) at the time) Danish Oil - Antique Pine. Two coats on and one to go. I didn't have enough clear Teak oil left. The 'issue' with coloured oils or stains is that the colour builds with each coat and ends up losing the base wood colour (here, the bench had very light areas, as well as 'pink' tinged areas that are already being lost to the Antique pine colour). This will probably do for a  year or two (the benches go under covers during the winter) - and next time I will definitely try the Roxil.

    The bench is about 12 years old I think - so the oil (teak and /or danish) has preserved the wood ok.
    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • sandyvsandyv Posts: 116
    This looks like a nice finish. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    Well, a couple of years on and I bought some Roxil (other wood treatments are available) to try on our tables (one hard wood and one soft). They hadn't been done for a while (usually oiled - Danish or teak ), so I sanded them down and I had bought some coloured water based wood stain (red,yellow and blue) to liven them up. Oops. Never let me near colour with a paint brush. Anyway, I stained the things and have now applied the Roxil (very easy to go on with a brush - creamy emulsion type and dries to a non sticky finish). Bad mistake really as I now have to leave the tables that colour to see if the Roxil lasts 10 years as it states....




    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • EmptyheadtimeEmptyheadtime Posts: 366
    As others have mentioned previously, I used Danish oil for a couple of years as it gave a lovely finish but needed reapplying every few months do I changed to the screwfix garden furniture oil  (linked above) and have been really impressed with it. It gives a nice finish just like the Danish oil but it has lasted much better and I only need to give a quick once over yearly now.
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    Quick follow up....and I don't quite follow what I'm being told here, so bear with.
    The colour went on ok, and the Roxil (other wood treatments are available) was easy to apply as well. All looked good. BUT, as soon as the first heavy dew/rain, the tables looked fine (with the water staying on the surface), although the colour seemed to leech through the treatment. Each time it rains, the water bobbles fine on the surface, but oddly the colour then is also drawn up through the finish. So now, after a couple of weeks, the colours on the table have completely changed - and the tables are a pain as the colour is still coming off.
    Talking to the wood dye providers (Bolgers - other wood dye providers are available), they couldn't follow why a silicon based treatment would let the colour seep through - but Roxil said that their product isn't a sealer per se and that the colour should have been sealed with a spirit based sealer. They also said that the Roxil treatment was more targeted at 'raw/bare' wood. So my mistake.
    I'm just hoping that after wiping down the tables to remove the excess leeched dye a few times, the colour loss will stop at some point and I won't have to re-sand them back to bare wood...live and learn.
    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
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