Lemon oil

[Brianr24]

Hey guys this is 1rst time I tried lemon oil on anything. I loved the way it looked. But I waited a few days and then sprayed it with satin poly. I don't like the look but worse it just seems it won't really dry. Anyone have experienced with this?. Thx

[dgman]

Why would you use lemon oil? Lemon oil is a polish, not intended as a finish. As you have found out, it never dries. Using an oil to bring out the natural color and grain of the wood is what I do, but you have to use a product that is intended as a finish. I use a 50/50 mixture of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits. Then when dry, I use Deft semi gloss spray lacquer. Always read the label. If it say polish or cleaner, it is not a wood finsh!

[Brianr24]

Dgman you are correct. But haven't you ever heard of using lemon oil? The advantage is no toxic fumes or combustible rags. Steve good is big proponent of it and other strollers. Iv used all the oils as you mentioned Danish and teak mostly I figured I would give this a shot since its cold here and heat is on in house. Obviously you are correct and something is wrong. Lol

[dgman]

Yes I know Steve reccomends it, or used to recommend it. But the fact is lemon oil and orange oil are not designed as finishes. I have been touting this for years. I wish he would post about this as I have communicated with him about it.

[Brianr24]

Yes I guess it will be 1rst and last time I try it. Too bad it looked really good and smelled nice much better than other oil finishes getting pulled through a gas heater.

[Lucky2]

Brian, you should be able to remove the finish and wax that you applied. There's no sense in trashing the whole project, clean it up and save it. It's always best to try something out on a spare piece of wood, if you do you won't end up in a mess like this again.

 

Len

[Phantom Scroller]

I used to use it until I found it take forever to dry and if you put it on furniture for anytime it stains it. But smells lovely try a wax polish on the top after a few days. Roly

Edited November 17, 2017 by Phantom Scroller

[Brianr24]

10 hours ago, Lucky2 said:

Brian, you should be able to remove the finish and wax that you applied. There's no sense in trashing the whole project, clean it up and save it. It's always best to try something out on a spare piece of wood, if you do you won't end up in a mess like this again.

 

Len

Len I did test on spare piece. I just dint spray it with poly and that's when the problem occurred. I won't trash it it's not that bad. I wiped it down with paper towel its better. I won't do it again tho.

Edited November 15, 2017 by Brianr24

[Bill WIlson]

12 hours ago, dgman said:

Yes I know Steve reccomends it, or used to recommend it. But the fact is lemon oil and orange oil are not designed as finishes. I have been touting this for years. I wish he would post about this as I have communicated with him about it.

I'm with Dan on this one.  I know some folks use it and love it.  Maybe in some limited applications, it can be appealing, but the problem is that once word gets out, then people think they can use it just like any other commercial finish and that's where problems start.

[Brianr24]

1 hour ago, Bill WIlson said:

I'm with Dan on this one.  I know some folks use it and love it.  Maybe in some limited applications, it can be appealing, but the problem is that once word gets out, then people think they can use it just like any other commercial finish and that's where problems start.

Yeah I would love to hear from someone who does use it and love it. I would be curious to hear how they're using it. I'm pretty sure Bpardue  uses it on all his intarsia pieces. Not sure how he applies in to deal with not drying. His work is Beautiful.

Edited November 15, 2017 by Brianr24

[Roberta Moreton]

I have used lemon oil and mineral oil. I do not put a film finish over either of these.

[kmmcrafts]

I use mineral oil and beeswax mix.. and I do  not spray any kind of top coat finish on top of that.. most all my work is with this finish with the exception of portraits and my wall clocks. those get solvent based poly spray and on certain occasions.. I use the water based poly spray.. the water based poly might have a strong smell at first but dries really fast so it's nice in those rush type orders.. 

If I was doing work like you had shown.. I'd use either danish oil or poly clear.. that type of work looks nice with a nice coat of clear.. do not like clear sprays on fret type work.. because I rarely see a nice even coat sprayed in the fret areas etc.. I think that type of work looks best in a natural wood look.. 

 

[Bpardue]

I use Lemon oil on the majority of my intarsia pieces as a "wash".  Sense Intarsia involves a lot of Sanding there is a lot fine dust still on the pieces when I glue them up. I have a tub of the lemon oil and hold the piece over it and use a brush to brush the oil on both the front and back than pat the piece dry with paper towels. What the oil does is a few things. - removes the dust as a wash, helps remove the fine sanding scratches that may have remained, will show any glue spots on the face of the piece that can be removed easily and it will make the grain & colors in the wood pop. This lemon oil is not the final finish. Depending on the temps in my shop I will let the piece air dry for 3-4 hours up to 24 hours before I start the actual finish process. 

Finish process is 3 coats of a spray finish on both the front & back of the piece with a buffing of steel wool between each coat.

Yes lemon oil is a polish and i use it in my process of finishing however Lemon oil will never fully dry out and if anyone uses it it must be "locked" into the piece with actual wood finish, like poly or any of the other finishes designed for wood or it will leach out over time and discolor the surface the piece is on. 

One benefit I have found in doing this is dealing with popular with the green tones in it. A lot of people say there popular that was green when they finish a project turns brown within a couple of years. I have pieces hanging both in my home and at my church with "green" popular still green in color after 7 years and no noticeable changes in any of the colors in the pieces. They still look like they were done yesterday.    

I have been asked repeatedly on how i get the depth of color and finish on my pieces. My process starts with Lemon oil.

I mentioned above I use lemon oil on the majority of my pieces, the only time i do not use it is if the piece has a lot of Aspen in the piece. Lemon oil will yellow Aspen. If I'm using a small amount of Aspen I will use a whitening gel finish on it prior to glue up and that i will go through my normal process above. If there is a lot of Aspen than i start with clear spray shellac as my 1st coat than change over to my normal spray finish      

[Brianr24]

1 hour ago, Bpardue said:

I use Lemon oil on the majority of my intarsia pieces as a "wash".  Sense Intarsia involves a lot of Sanding there is a lot fine dust still on the pieces when I glue them up. I have a tub of the lemon oil and hold the piece over it and use a brush to brush the oil on both the front and back than pat the piece dry with paper towels. What the oil does is a few things. - removes the dust as a wash, helps remove the fine sanding scratches that may have remained, will show any glue spots on the face of the piece that can be removed easily and it will make the grain & colors in the wood pop. This lemon oil is not the final finish. Depending on the temps in my shop I will let the piece air dry for 3-4 hours up to 24 hours before I start the actual finish process. 

Finish process is 3 coats of a spray finish on both the front & back of the piece with a buffing of steel wool between each coat.

Yes lemon oil is a polish and i use it in my process of finishing however Lemon oil will never fully dry out and if anyone uses it it must be "locked" into the piece with actual wood finish, like poly or any of the other finishes designed for wood or it will leach out over time and discolor the surface the piece is on. 

One benefit I have found in doing this is dealing with popular with the green tones in it. A lot of people say there popular that was green when they finish a project turns brown within a couple of years. I have pieces hanging both in my home and at my church with "green" popular still green in color after 7 years and no noticeable changes in any of the colors in the pieces. They still look like they were done yesterday.    

I have been asked repeatedly on how i get the depth of color and finish on my pieces. My process starts with Lemon oil.

I mentioned above I use lemon oil on the majority of my pieces, the only time i do not use it is if the piece has a lot of Aspen in the piece. Lemon oil will yellow Aspen. If I'm using a small amount of Aspen I will use a whitening gel finish on it prior to glue up and that i will go through my normal process above. If there is a lot of Aspen than i start with clear spray shellac as my 1st coat than change over to my normal spray finish      

Thank you for response. 

The process is pretty much exactly what I did and I agree the lemon oil gave a great deep look to the wood. I guess the problem occurred when I sprayed with poly (minwax satin) I spray very light coats but after second coat I knew was bad.only thing I could think is to wait longer after lemon oil before spraying. I know in original post I said a few days but I'm trying to think it could been only one night. It was old English lemon oil. Thx again 

[tonylumps]

I use Lemon oil, BLO,Tung oil,. After applying I let it sit for 12 to 24 Hrs. I seal everything i cut with a Clear Shellac spray.I even use it for oily Hardwoods.I do not use it as my finish.It takes about 15 Minutes to dry and then a very light sanding You could put any kind of finish on top of it i normally use a Lacquar finish.never had a problem When I was doing carpenter work I used to watch Painters seal everything with Shellac.

[Brianr24]

40 minutes ago, tonylumps said:

I use Lemon oil, BLO,Tung oil,. After applying I let it sit for 12 to 24 Hrs. I seal everything i cut with a Clear Shellac spray.I even use it for oily Hardwoods.I do not use it as my finish.It takes about 15 Minutes to dry and then a very light sanding You could put any kind of finish on top of it i normally use a Lacquar finish.never had a problem When I was doing carpenter work I used to watch Painters seal everything with Shellac.

U read my mind. I'v actually used shellac as a sealer many times before on furniture. Its been sitting for a few days now I wiped all the poly off it's pretty dry. When I get a chance I'm going to get some spray shellac and try that let thAt dry and try poly again. I only have shellac in the can spray will be easier on this type of work.

[Bill WIlson]

Shellac also is excellent as a final finish.