On Apr 2, 5:13 pm, ROY! wrote:
First off let me say I'm a huge fan of Danish and Tung oil. Just about
every indoor project I've built has been finished with either one or
the other. Now I'm about to begin a cherry kitchen table. I realize
there's little to no protection with Tung or Danish but I LOVE the
look and feel of any wood finished in oil. So, that being said, is
there any finishing product I could use on this table top which will
afford me the look of an oil finish along with a decent amount of
protection??

R!


To my knowledge, not for a table that will be used by a family, one
that will have hot things set on it, cold things set on it, wet things
spilled, things that stain, and above all, one that would take a
scrubbing up to my SO's standards.

She LITERALLY scrubbed the factory baked pre-cat finish off the table
top we eat on. And good sir, that table always, always has a table
cloth on it, coasters for drinks, trivets for hot things, and when we
have company, placemats.

You could put one of the group favorites like Watco. That would
enable you to refinish as much as you felt like you had to pretty
easily.

However, if you want to show your work off and keep it uncovered, you
will need some true abrasion resistance to constant use combined with
washability, so you will only have a few good choices. None I can
think of will give you much of that soft oil finish feel.

So I guess it depends on exactly how durable you think a dining room
table finish should be.

Robert

Subject

As I read this post, my thoughts drifted back to my parents' kitchen
table when I was a kid.

A simple drop leaf table and chairs, painted with white enamel and the
top covered with linoleum that was glued down with linoleum cement.

Took my mother about 5-7 years to wear out the linoleum using her
specialized cleaning techniques, then the table and chairs got a new
paint job and the table a new linoleum top.

Years later had a round table with an MDF core, and Formica covering,
finished out in maple.

The Formica lasted longer than the linoleum, but in either case, both
will outlast ANY wood table by at least 10 years.

Ya pays your money, ya takes your pick.

Lew

On Apr 3, 12:20 am, Lew Hodgett wrote:
Subject

As I read this post, my thoughts drifted back to my parents' kitchen table when I was a kid.

A simple drop leaf table and chairs, painted with white enamel and the top covered with linoleum that was glued down with linoleum cement.

Took my mother about 5-7 years to wear out the linoleum using her specialized cleaning techniques, then the table and chairs got a new paint job and the table a new linoleum top.

Years later had a round table with an MDF core, and Formica covering, finished out in maple.

The Formica lasted longer than the linoleum, but in either case, both will outlast ANY wood table by at least 10 years.

Ya pays your money, ya takes your pick.

Lew

Wow, not trying to hijack the thread here, but I had not thought of
that in years. One of my relatives had a dining room table with
curved chrome legs, and a linoleum top. Around the top was a polished
aluminum edge banding that had a couple of channels in it, and in the
channels were round topped chrome nails to hold the edge banding on.

To this day, my parents have their first purchased dining room
table, the only one I ever knew. It has some kind of really hard
surface (Mom remembers the salesman told her a fancy name, but she
thinks it is "bakelite") that is very shiny and doesn't really scratch
easy. It is a lot like the old chemical resistant high pressure
laminates.

It is impervious to wear. Even so, Mom was so afraid that something
would happen to that table that she always kept a tablecloth on it,
even to this day it has one.

Talk about burning memories...

Robert

Wow, not trying to hijack the thread here, but I had not thought of
that in years. One of my relatives had a dining room table with
curved chrome legs, and a linoleum top. Around the top was a polished
aluminum edge banding that had a couple of channels in it, and in the
channels were round topped chrome nails to hold the edge banding on.

I remember seeing tables like that.

If you could afford chrome legs, you were living in the high cotton.

To this day, my parents have their first purchased dining room
table, the only one I ever knew. It has some kind of really hard
surface (Mom remembers the salesman told her a fancy name, but she
thinks it is "bakelite") that is very shiny and doesn't really scratch
easy. It is a lot like the old chemical resistant high pressure
laminates.

Linen cloth impregnated with Bakelite is often found as an insulating
material in electrical devices.

There is an outfit in downtown L/A that stocks sheets of the stuff,
mostly for the AeroSpace, I think.

I used a 1/16 thick piece for my router table top along with the fence.

Stuff is expensive, but also bullet proof.

It is impervious to wear. Even so, Mom was so afraid that something
would happen to that table that she always kept a tablecloth on it,
even to this day it has one.

Sounds like some one who lived thru the Great Depression.

Taught them to take care of things.

Lew

Lew Hodgett wrote:

The Formica lasted longer than the linoleum, but in either case, both
will outlast ANY wood table by at least 10 years.

Funny how my cherry top table is only 60 years older than the earliest
linoleum, which is ironically made of varnish.

JJ

jeremy wrote:

Funny how my cherry top table is only 60 years older than the earliest
linoleum, which is ironically made of varnish.

Obviously my mother never cleaned your table topG.

Lew