Scrubbed pine - traditional solution

[popski]

I’m terribly sorry if this question has been asked before. In the Georgian addition to our 15th c house, we’ve taken out a 1960s formica kitchen and replaced it with one loosely modelled on the early Victorian dresser that remained in the larder - mived from the kitchen, I later realised. Somewhat impressed by ghe look of Plain English (but not impressed by the £40k SP) we added oak worktops in a similar style and I sealed them with I think a Ronseal product. Around the sink, I clearly missed the odd bit or didn’t apply the three coats evenly, and I’m now getting water marks. Obviously, I can sand back and reapply, but I wondered whether to go traditional, sand off the varnish and just regularly scrub to get a traditional scrubbed pine look (on oak....) Firstly, is this wise/viable, second, if do, what were the methods used, aside from elbow grease? Was there a traditional solution scrubbed in?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

 

[Abi Cott]

Solid wood worktops require regular maintenance. The black staining around the sink is frankly probably historically authentic. I generally recommend that my customers oil their worktops at least 4 times in the first year and preferably more. There is then a gel you can use once you've built up a deep patina of oil, but solid wood worktops are not a low maintenance option.

 

[MikeG]

You won't get a scrubbed pine look with oak. Oak stains in contact with water, and will go dark. You're also likely to get cupping problems, expansion across the grain, and splits. I'm afraid you'd be quite disappointed with the results, so I suggest remedial action now, cleaning back to bare wood and re-sealing. The biggest problem you have, I think, is where to stop this work. Polyurethane varnishes do not adhere well to themselves after they have dried, so if this is what you used in the first place I think you are going to have to strip the entire worktop, end to end, and re-finish the whole thing. Otherwise you will just move the problem to another area of the worktop, and will see annoying de-lamination of the finish forever more. I personally would avoid polyurethane varnishes, and would suggest a water-based lacquer such as Smith & Rodger's Aquacoat SP. You can re-coat this any time, and it has the great advantage of not darkening over time with exposure to UV light.

 

[popski]

Great. Thanks for the advice, very much appreciated.

 

[Toby Newell]

I would agree with both Abi and Mike on this one, with one caveat and that is to use a reversible breathable finish.

Oak moves more than pine, the grain (little holes you see) are orders of magnitude larger than in pine (so small you can't see with the naked eye) and these absorb water too.

Wood next to water of any kind and especially oak isn't wise imho, some woods fare better than others due to their natural chemistry and physical structure, like teak for example which is often used for lab desks for that reason. I would strip off completely and refinish with a traditional oil, not a modern osmo type product, which is a misnomer as it's a varnish. The clue is drying times. Oils take days to dry and almost a full day to be ready to accept another coat, osmo 'oils' are varnishes, which are just oils with additional ingredients to speed drying and increase water resistance. Try Liberon tung oil, it is the most durable and water resistant, get five or six coats on in one week then apply another coat or two each weekend for a few months until you have reached your desired build.

This should be reasonably durable everywhere apart from around the sink, most places you can rub with 000 or 0000 wire wool, and wipe on another coat, around the sink you may need to strip back every two or three years.

If you want to remove any black iron marks then you can use hot soda crystals followed by hot oxalic acid, this is a traditional gentler version of modern two part peroxide bleaches which are horrific as they damage the wood. Just bear in mind, if you choose to use a water based finish as Mike suggests, then don't use any sort of bleach, as however well you clean and neutralise the bleach it will attack and destroy any water based coatings.

BTW I can take pictures showing during and after from my friends lovely kitchen which we did together (his wife and I) almost a year ago. I think she recently recoated it. She does all the cooking and most of the cleaning! And she is very clean, on the other hand she cooks a lot so I suppose her worktops would give a good impression of what a surface would look like that is well used and well cared for. The only potential problem with a proper true drying oil is that the more you apply the shinier it gets as there are not matting agents added. A tung oil will outlast any other finish, water based or other, in a wet environment although in drier areas a water or solvent based finish may fare better, it's a balance. Also, using water based finish will yellow much less, which is an inevitable problem with oils especially if your oak is quite light in colour.