On 12/02/2019 02:27, John Rumm wrote:
On 11/02/2019 16:52, wrote:
have a wood (American Walnut) worktop. It's been used in the kitchen
for some, and some places are in need of refinishing.

Fairly sure I've got something basic wrong here, so I'll describe
what I did.

I sanded back (sanding with the grain) the damaged patches with 80,
then 120, then 180 grit, and wiped all dust off.

I then oiled with a rag and Liberon Superior Danish.

In some places the oil took nicely, as expected. In others, it was
immediately obvious that there was a problem. The surface remained
matt, almost greyish - in the worst places it looked as though the
oil was mixed with dust. Now it has dried, all these matt patches are
still matt, still look like they have much less oil on them, and look
pretty poor when the sun shines at the wrong angle.

Thoughts? Found one suggestion that I should use white spirit (or
meths?) to ensure all the dust was removed, but this doesn't seemed
to be mentioned on any of the guides to oiling worktops that I've
looked at.

You will typically need several thin coats to build up a good finish. So
oil again, leave a few mins and then wipe off any excess. Allow to dry
for a day, and then repeat several times.


Good advice from john. I can't see exactly what you are doing but the
wiping off of excess is important and often not understood. If you
varnish wood you are trying to build up a film over the surface. With
oil you are absolutely not wanting any oil left sitting on the surface.
You are trying to saturate the wood until it is no longer porous.

In principle you can refinish patches of oiled wood without doing the
whole surface. the wood will begin to have a slight sheen after several
applications. If the colour has changed then there isn't much you can do
about that if it's the effect of light, moisture and oxidation over time.
TW