We recently ran out of the oil that originally came with our wood kitchen worktops.

So in preparation for using some new stuff – Ronseal anti bacterial oil – I lightly sanded back the work tops. Following the instructions to the letter I applied 3 coats leaving 24hrs between coats.

We’ve just come back from a week away and the worktop looks awful. Patchy in places making it look like someone has sanded patches in random places.

I’m sure the oil we had before had a little colour to it whereas the Ronseal stuff is clear.

Is this my problem?

Oils other than clear seem difficult to come by.

Help.

All advice welcome.

My current plan is to oil it every night for the rest of my life…….

Yeah. Deffo knackered.

As it appens, I need some old worktops for my workshop. Whereabouts are you? I’ll come and rip them out and take them away for free.

I did the same. The joy of wooden worktops is that you can just sand back again.

However. I will never go for solid wood worktops again. Can’t see the benefit. Too much upkeep and worry over red wine stains

In general, if you’re applying a different product on top of a new, “lightly” sanding back is a bit risky. You have no idea of the compatibility between the two. You’re better off sanding right back to bare timber – sorry.

Can you beg/borrow/steal a random orbital – gerry rig it to a vacuum cleaner if you can – so get one with sheets with holes punched? I think with what you’ve got now, you’re just going to have to sand the lot off and start from new.

Oil/wax will gum sandpaper up IME. Try a square cabinet scraper (the flat rectangular type, like these)
Finish with a sander…having said that DD is a wooden flooring expert IIRC and has way more experience than I

Double bugger.

Thanks all.

Time to buy shares in sand paper and elbow grease.

So ….. what grade(s) should I be going for?

Use the cabinet scraper- they’re really effective- and follow up with wire wool. start with coarse and progress to fine. It won’t clog the way paper will.

Yes, the comments on clogging paper are true – especially if it’s patchy as you say – which suggests uncured product (or at least not fully cured but perhaps dry to the touch) – maybe try a scraper, then an orbital with 40 grit, progress to 80, then a finish sand with 120 before re-coating. Again, apologies if this sounds like a ball-ache, but IME, when you get this sort of patchiness, it’s not a great sign for being able to put it right easily.

Well thank you very much OP. I was about to buy some for the worktops which came with our house, but you may have just saved us!

I find 180 works best for sanding oiled wood, any courser and the oil blocks the grit really quickly. You can buy bulk packs of paper, so getting through a lot isn’t that expensive.

Random orbital will make the job much faster.

Our worktops are solid wood and covered in Junckers Rustic oil. It’s completely bomb proof, oil, red wine, bleach, acid, all have no effect, not a single stain in 15+ years. Quite a few scratches from failed jump attempts from the cats mind….

Oh and once you’ve got it back to bare wood use Osmo Top Oil.

Fullers earth might take the oil out. What’s Ronseal oil anyway – Tung oil? Stick to one type of oil.