Antique workbench

[Kopp]

Not sure if I should post this here or in finishing,but it is a hand tool. I just purchased an 10' long antique workbench with a leg vise. After cleaning the wood what finish would the experts on this forum recommend. The wood seems like it could a finish that would soak in? I will try to post some pictures for you to see. Thanks

[barryvabeach]

Kopp, there are a lot of choices - one common one is a wiping varnish -  Miniwax Antique Oil Finish or Watco are two common ones.  You will get an antique look, and will be easy to repair. I just planed down my bench a little this weekend, and used a water based finish - though I applied it very lightly -  it raised the grain slightly and I am hoping that it will make the top a little less slippery, but too early to tell.

[AgGEM]

I am no expert.
But I routinely plane / scrape my fur and pine bench top and re coat with Watco Danish Oil.

I am really happy with the result.

Ag

[frigator]

Hard to say without seeing it. Nothing like the patina of an old antique workbench.  Might be best to just leave it as is.

[Strokes77]

Not sure if I should post this here or in finishing,but it is a hand tool. I just purchased an 10' long antique workbench with a leg vise. After cleaning the wood what finish would the experts on this forum recommend. The wood seems like it could a finish that would soak in? I will try to post some pictures for you to see. Thanks

Without pictures, I do not believe you that you acquired an antique workbench...

However, if you really did, then I would rub some Boiled Linseed Oil in to the top, and get after it.

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

I have an Ulmia workbench which was made sometime in the 1980s. It is made of beech and had no finish for the first ten or so years of its life. I acquired it about 20 years ago from my dad and thought that it was a little dry, so I rubbed it down liberally with turpentine. At least it was clean and smelled good--like a woodshop. A month later and it looked dry again. I made a mixture of boiled linseed oil and turpentine. It was about 80-90% BLO and 10-20% turps. Gave the bench a good rubdown and then wiped it clean with paper towels the next day. I continued this rubdown about every two or three years. The top has a nice surface and projects move about easily. Glue pops up without a problem. I would recommend this treatment for your bench. Go easy on the BLO because it will turn the wood dark. Too much and the wood will get sticky and blacken. Good luck with your new bench.

[cputnam]

Here are two solutions recommended by Howard Acheson:

This is what I recommend for a workbench top treatment.

A film finish (lacquer, shellac, varnish, poly varnish) is not the way to finish a workbench top. A workbench is going to get dinged and film finishes will crack or craze or be otherwise damaged. Once a film finish is penetrated, it looses its effectiveness and adjacent areas begin to fail. No treatment is going to make a soft wood benchtop harder. I much favor an "in the wood finish". Here are two that lots of folks find effective.

First, is an boiled linseed oil and wax finish. Sand the surface to 180 grit. Mix paraffin or bees wax into heated boiled linseed oil. USE A DOUBLE BOILER TO HEAT THE OIL. The ratio is not critical but about 5-6 parts of boiled linseed oil in a double boiler with one part paraffin or beeswax shaved in. Take it off the stove. Thin this mixture about 50/50 with mineral spirits to make a heavy cream like liquid. Apply this mixture to the benchtop liberally and allow to set overnight. Do it again the next day and again the following day if the top continues to absorb it. After a final overnight, lightly scrape off any excess wax and buff. This finish will minimize the absorbsion of any water and you can use a damp rag to wipe up any glue excess. Dried glue will pop right off the surface. Renewal or repair is easy. Just use a scraper to remove and hardened stuff, wipe down with mineral spirits using a 3/0 steel wool pad (a non-woven green or gray abrasive pad is better), wipe off the gunk and apply another coat of boiled linseed oil/wax mixture.

My personal preference is for an oil/varnish mixture treatment. Either use Minwax Tung Oil Finish, Minwax Antique oil or a homebrew of equal parts of boiled linseed oil, your favorite varnish or poly varnish and mineral spirits. Sand the benchtop up to 180 grit. Apply the mixture heavily and keep it wet for 15-30 minutes. Wipe off any excess completely. Let it dry overnight and the next day, apply another coat using a gray non-woven abrasive pad. Let it set and then wipe off any excess. Let this dry 48-72 hours. To prevent glue from sticking apply a coat of furniture paste wax and you're done. This treatment is somewhat more protective than the wax and mineral oil as the varnish component adds some protection from not only water both some other chemicals also. The waxing makes the surface a little more impervious to water so you can wipe up any liquid adhesive. It also allows hardened adhesive to be scraped off. Repair and renewal is easy. Just go throught the same scraping, wiping down with mineral spirits and reapplication of the BLO/varnish/mineral spirits mixture and an application of paste wax.

Both of the above treatments are quite protective but are easy to maintain and renew. They do not fail when the surface takes a ding.

[Kopp]

Thanks for all the great information, I'm going to use some blo on the bench. I have been trying to post a picture of it and will get that figured out by the time I get the bench finished.