Need tough finish for kitchen counter
Soilbuilder
| Posted in General Discussion on
I’ve got beech butcher block counters from Ikea that I finished with 5 coats of a water=based poly floor finish. It’s working great, except for the highest use area that is wiped a lot. In that area, water has penetrated to the wood and raised the grain.
I plan to refinish it somehow soon. I could sand and put more coats of the same stuff or ??? Looking for suggestions for tough clear finishes.
thanks
Replies
There are clear epoxies used as floor finishes... the only one I've used myself (which has an amber tint) is called Street Shoe and is available from any large flooring supplier.
PaulB
http://www.makeabettertomorrow.com
http://www.finecontracting.com
Sand all that poly offa there, finish with 120 grit sandpaper, then flood it with very warm (but not hot) olive oil.
Work the olive oil into the surface with clean 00 steel wool. Let stand overnight. Wipe, scrape (not too hard) with a cabinet scraper, repeat.
Do this three or four times.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
No matter how good the water based poly is, it's still water based and it does soften over time with repeated wiping with water. So, I don't consider it suitable for kitchen or dining room usage.
I'd clean it up, seal it with shellac, and protect it with a good oil based varnish or bar top finish.
Mike D
Thanks....after reading all the posts, I'm going to follow your plan
I agree with Dinosaur, except I would probably use mineral oil instead of olive oil (I would worry that olive oil might get rancid). Behlen, I think, and a couple other companies sell special butcher block/salad bowl oil, too.
I've heard that concern before, but in 25 years of using olive oil on food-contact wood counters, it's never happened to me. I don't think vegetable oils go rancid the way animal fats do. Certainly olive oil doesn't.
You could use peanut oil, too, I think, but there may be some allergy issues with that.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
I also have a wood counter, which I finished with ordinary vegetable oil.
One thing you have to keep in mind with wood countertops -and especially with ones that get wet at all- is that they are counters that will always require some maintenance. Such is easy to do, but you have to realize that there is no such thing as a 'finish and forget' treatment.
Maintenance for me is simple: spray it lightly with oven cleaner, wipe it, scrub lightly with an SOS pad, and clean off the counter. Let it dry - that doesn't take long at all - wipe with oil, let it soak for a few minutes, then wipe off the excess. That's what I do for areas that have become grimy, or that regularly get hot.
If the area just gets wet, then you just have to let it dry, and re-apply the oil.
I agree an oil finish isn't for people who won't take care of it. Traditional rule for furniture/trim oiled finishes is, 'A coat a day for a week; a coat a week for a month; a coat a month for a year; a coat a year for life....'
That doesn't really work for food-contact surfaces as those should get scrubbed with boiling water and steel wool after meat, poultry, or fish prep. I wouldn't use oven cleaner on it, though.
I renew the oil coat on mine when it looks or feels too dry, but it's so well saturated that that's not often. It does have to be taken down to the shop, sanded, and completely refinished about once every ten years, which, considering the heavy use it gets, isn't much at all.
Of course, I don't try to keep it looking like a showroom piece, either. It's a working counter.
Kitchen prep counters can get anything from light to heavy use. Some people won't cut on them and use those damned polyethylene things. Their re-finishing requirements will be less than mine
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
I only found a need for the oven cleaner and strong-soap SOS pad in the areas that get hot ... from, say, the Foreman grill sitting there. The heat seems to 'gel' the oil a bit, giving the surface a slightly tacky feel; it may also discolor the oil some. The over cleaner is a cinch for removing that bad oil.
AHA ... major memory recovery here ... I'll bet the 'bad oil' is really the results of the deep-fryer boiling over .... and not a fauly of the finish at all!
Even so, it's not very often that I need/want to do this; once a year at most.
I do a lot of baking, so I've got a couple of pastry scrapers in the kitchen. I keep one of them filed nice and flat--like a cabinet scraper--and use it to peel off anything that won't go away with boiling water and elbow grease.
My granddad was a butcher back in the days of sawdust on the floor and wood butcher-block cutting tables. I learned it from him.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
Walnut oil is another good alternative.
Or if someone wants a little more build-up, I like to use Waterlox tung oil. It applies and is maintained like an oil finish, but builds a tougher finish faster than pure oils.
I have built 2 different birch kitchen countertops for my daughter (2 different houses). The first had 3 coats of semi-gloss poly (floor finish), was used for a year before the house was sold & looked great. Current kitchen counter was finished (by daughter) with multiple coats of a pentrating, hardening oil, specifically made for countertops. To me, it didn't look good when freshly done & certainly doesn't look good now, 3 years later. Not much sign of water damage/discolouration but a very dull finish that marks easily & even hard to wipe with a damp cloth.
For the same application, I've been very happy with Boos EZ-DO:
http://www.irawoods.com/John-Boos-EZ-16C-Pint-EZ-DO-Finish
thanks
Try salad bowel oil. I have several walnut and maple cutting boards that are used and abused that are finished with salad bowel oil. We can put them in the dishwasher without problems though most of the time they are hand washed.
When I make them I apply 10-12 coats of the oil, literally soak the first coat then dry and sand, coat then sand, and so on getting finer grit each sanding. You can get it to a high shine if that is what you desire. I do hit them with the belt sander every 3 to 5 years and recoat... a counter top should last much longer.
No offense, but nothing to do with bowels is ever going near any food preparation areas in this house.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
spellcheck can't fix everything. <G>
opps... that's what I get for reading about the adventures of a large animal vet friend and posting at the same time.
Oh, you meant bowl?
See, that's what happens when you read a post, mistakenly take a meaning for granted and then just blurt out a response.
Some could learn from our experience, no?A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Try salad bowel oil.
Ewww. I don't think so.
I have maple butcher block counters that I used oil based poly on and they are doing great. Water based poly may seem like a good idea, and it might be fine on some kinds of furniture but you are seeing why they still sell the oil based.