The best finish for
The three main players on the market are Odie's Oil, Osmo, and my personal choice, Rubio Monocoat. Unlike film finishes, hard-wax oils provide protection by penetrating and binding to the top most wood fibres on the live edge slab and then a seal layer of wax cures on the surface.
If you like the look of an oil finish, consider trying tung oil varnish. This finish gives walnut a dark yet warm color, and if you choose to apply it by wet-sanding, this too can fill the grain as above.
I chose to finish the walnut with a combination paste consisting of boiled linseed oil (BLO) and beeswax. This rub-on polish dries really fast and makes the wood soft to the touch.
We recommend using tung oil for walnut. This type of oil will darken the grain, enhancing and protecting the wood.
Tung oil is ideal walnut finish; it gives an attractive dark brown lustre to the wood grain. Walnut has open, porous grain structure that requires multiple coats of tung oil to fill and achieve a smooth, even finish.
What Are The Basics of Getting a Fantastic Wood Finish? The solid walnut top, above, is a slightly different story. I finished it with just a hand-rubbed tung oil varnish, applying 8 coats to protect the top surface while giving the walnut a gorgeous, natural warm glow, too.
Tung oil offers a number of advantages over linseed oil, including a food-safe, water-resistant finish that's not prone to mold and a beautiful matte amber color that doesn't darken over time. For your next project, give Pure Tung Oil products by the Real Milk Paint Co.
Woods such as oak, mahogany and walnut are characterized as having “open grain” because the wood pores are large. In contrast, “closed grain” woods like hard maple, cherry, poplar and beech have smaller pores. You don't have to fill the pores of any wood before applying a finish.
Sometimes during the finishing process we use water to 'pop' the grain before final sanding to help achieve a smoother finished surface. It also gives you a sneak peak into what the piece will look like when the finish is applied.
General Finishes EF Sanding Sealer is a high quality acrylic waterborne sanding sealer that builds fast and makes sanding smooth and easy. For wood with large, open grain, such as walnut or mahogany, sanding sealer is especially handy as a final fill after most of the grain has been evened out with grain filler.
Among natural finishes, tung oil surpasses shellac and linseed oil in hardness, durability, and water resistance. It's also food-safe, once cured.
Shellac gives a high-gloss finish in a warm tone, but it isn't very durable. Lacquer is extremely durable and gives a clear finish in a variety of sheens. Shellac is easier to repair, but lacquer is more resistant to scratches, heat, and water.
It has a solid grain and it's strong making it an ideal choice for dining room tables. It is very easy to repair if damaged, the table can easily be re-sanded and oiled. Walnut is moderately dense and can and will hold up to whatever you throw at it.
Can I use olive oil on wood furniture? Yes, you can. Use a cloth to work the oil into the wood grain, rubbing back and forth. When the wood has absorbed the oil, leave it for ten minutes then wipe the excess off with a clean cloth.
Olive oil treatment will not damage your wood, it will feed and nourish the wood and bring out it's natural shine.... but, you might want to limit your use of the oil, as, just like any wax or polish they can make the surface difficult to paint or varnish in the future... will be fine to use it every year or so.
Some woodworkers favour walnut oil as a finish for implements that will come in contact with food, such as wooden bowls, because of its safety. Rancidity is not an issue because walnut oil dries when applied to wood in a thin coating.