Danish oil
Danish oil is a penetrating oil finish. Rust-Oleum’s sheet for Watco Danish Oil gives its resin as natural drying and semi-drying oils with a rosin ester, and says not to thin it.
The method is wet-on-wet: let it soak in for 30 minutes, apply a second coat and wait 15 minutes more, then wipe the surface completely dry. It is ready for use in 8–10 hours, and needs 72 hours before a polyurethane topcoat goes over it. Watco prints 220–300 sq ft per gallon.
Danish oil, by its maker
Danish oil: recoat across makers
No maker we read prints a recoat time.
Danish oil: coverage across makers
Only one maker prints a coverage, so no class value: see its own figure below.
| Product | Touch-dry | Recoat | Use | Full cure | Coverage | Thinning and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watco Danish Oil One source: Rust-Oleum (Watco), the maker of that product | — | —let it soak in 30 minutes, reapply and wait 15 more, then wipe completely dry | 8–10 hready for use | — | 220–300 sq ft per gallon | Thinning: Do not thin.Conditions: Apply at 60–90 °F, RH under 85 %.Wait 72 hours before a polyurethane topcoat; natural drying oils and rosin ester. |
Compared with other finishes
Work it out for your project
Times are the makers' own at the temperature and humidity they name, and several of them say cooler, damper conditions slow their finishes. For how much to buy, the finish coverage calculator uses these same coverage figures. Every finish side by side: the finish dry time chart. What the federal rules say about finishes and food: food-contact finishes.
Elsewhere in finishing: shellac and the shellac cut calculator; for repairs before the finish, wood filler vs wood putty; and for the glue-up, wood glue types.