Recommendation for oil/lacquer/wax that doesn't colour wood

bennyg85

Hi,

We've recently salvaged some very old pine timber and had it made into a bathroom vanity unit.

We'd like to seal it (for obvious reasons) but not change the colour of the wood. We've tried Osmo oil, but the wood has gone yellow/orange.

Can anyone recommend something else please?

Thanks,

Ben

Roland

There’s a version of Osmo which has a white content. @Andyjr1515 used it on a white bass project. I’ve had a similar problem with wood turning, and have been experimenting with Acrylic lacquer. Nine months in and it’s held it’s colour, but I expect that it will inevitably darken with age.

Raw Sycamore:

Sycamore with Acrylic lacquer:

Andyjr1515

Roland said:

There’s a version of Osmo which has a white content. @Andyjr1515 used it on a white bass project. 

Yes - it's Osmo 3044 RAW.  It is designed to try to retain the 'fresh sanded' look rather than darken as pretty much all woods do when dampened and/or clear finished.  I've used it a number of times, but the first time I did so, @bennyg85 , was to do just that - to avoid the yellowing effect of most finishes when applied to light woods such as maple/sycamore/etc..

This is what happened when I applied a 'standard' clear finish.  The fretboard is maple, the body is sycamore:

NOT at all what I was after.

This was with Osmo 3044 RAW:


And 6 years later, it still looks like this.


  

sweepy

Gunstock Oil can be had unstained

Andyjr1515

sweepy said:

Gunstock Oil can be had unstained

Yes indeed...but the wood will still tend to darken (actually to its more natural colour rather than the fully-dried, sanded look).  The orangy pic above was also using an unstained finish.  The Osmo RAW contains a subtle whitener that counteracts the natural yellowing/darkening that wood goes when it is either dampened or clear-finished.

TTony

Another vote for the OSMO RAW from me.

Co-incidentally, I've just applied a coat to a guitar that's getting a refin.

A little of it goes a long way ...

bennyg85

Thanks for the recommendation. In the shopping basket it goes! Will report back.