Restoring worktops

I was asked to have a look at some wooden worktops that were in poor condition. The worktops had previously been treated with danish oil and on closer inspection it had been applied too thick and adhesion was poor. In fact it still felt tacky and could be scraped off quite easily with a finger nail, despite being on the surface for 4 years.

Somewhere under all that old danish oil were nice timber worktops, which with some effort and the correct products would look as good as new.

I quickly masked off the floor in the area I would be working in. I used some lining paper and masking tape. Far better than risking tripping up dust sheets when working over hard floors. Also any bits of oil fell onto the paper and could be vacuumed up. Again better than shaking dust sheets out ! All the old oil and any other coatings would need to come off, essentially the timber needed to be stripped right back. This includes the front edge of the worktop and the small up stand on the wall.

I used several methods to see what was going to be the quickest most effective way to prepare them for the new coating.

A cabinet scraper was quite effective and worked well especially in some of the corners and on the up stand. In the fiddly corners I hand sanded with 120 grit Mirka Abranet abrasive. Although it’s designed for machine sanding it’s also very effective for manual sanding as it flexes more than sandpaper and gives a smoother finish. I went over the areas with a finer grit after.

For the main tops and the front edge I used my sander, which connects to my extractor. The extractor acts like a giant vacuum and sucks away 99% of the dust as the sander does its work. Several different sanding grits were used and I finished with 180. Essentially the tops felt as smooth as glass once sanded.

There was of course some dust from the hand sanding and scraping off so I quickly changed the pipe on the extractor for use as a vacuum cleaner. It’s important to put a brush attachment on the pipe as a plastic or metal end would have marked or even damaged the worktops. I visited my local wood care supplier A G Woodcare in Bidford on Avon as I knew there could be a few options. They advised the best product would be Osmo Top oil. It’s a product dedicated for use on worktops so it’s safe for food preparation areas, once it’s dry.

It was important to clean the worktop before application. I used some Meths and a micro fibre cloth. Meths is quick to evaporate and will remove any dirt or grease that could have been left behind.

It’s important to mention that any cloths which have been soaked in Meths should be left to dry unfolded and preferably outside. Cloths which have been left screwed up in a bag have been known to combust ! Not my personal experience of course !

All I had left to do was two coats of the oil. It’s far better to apply this with a lint free cloth. One piece to apply and work in the direction of the grain and a larger piece to wipe off any excess, almost buffing it to a finish. It’s a bit like polishing a car ! The oil is 8-10 hours re coat time so I popped back the following day for a second coat. There was also a gap to seal with some translucent silicone, between the top and the up stand. So again it was important that the second coat of oil had dried overnight so that the silicone would stick.