geoff. Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 What is the “best” wood treatment for Klipsch “oiled oak”? I have used tung oil in the past with good results, but it doesn’t always have the same result. Less than showroom quality sometimes. I have also read here Watco Rejuvenating Oil is highly recommended, but it is extinct north of the 49th parallel. ...One might blame a succession of Liberal goberments for that... or possibly global warming. Watco Danish Oil IS available here at Home Depot in a variety of colours/stains. Home Hardware has Minwax tung, antique and marine oil. I want to do these right (the first time) as they appear to have not been treated since new and are in very good condition. I appreciate any suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZEUS121996 Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 14 minutes ago, geoff. said: What is the “best” wood treatment for Klipsch “oiled oak”? I have used tung oil in the past with good results, but it doesn’t always have the same result. Less than showroom quality sometimes. I have also read here Watco Rejuvenating Oil is highly recommended, but it is extinct north of the 49th parallel. ...One might blame a succession of Liberal goberments for that... or possibly global warming. Watco Danish Oil IS available here at Home Depot in a variety of colours/stains. Home Hardware has Minwax tung, antique and marine oil. I want to do these right (the first time) as they appear to have not been treated since new and are in very good condition. I appreciate any suggestions. If you really want Watco Rejuvenating Oil, PM me your address and I will send you a can Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Try this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 If you just want something to feed the wood to keep it from being dry, use a lemon based oil. If you want a more durable, more resist the elements, go with tung or Watco. Teak oil seems to be a little of both but dries hard like tung and Watco. Lemon oil needs to be redone all the time but doesn't require being stripped off with something like mineral spirits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff. Posted March 29, 2018 Author Share Posted March 29, 2018 Mark, thank you for your generous offer. I don’t know if shipping combustibles is legal, now... although I discovered some “herb” traces in the bottom of a pair of K-61’s shipped from Hawaii when I cleaned them up before installation. Come to think of it, a buddy restoring a Ford coupe got a gas tank from Texas that still had gas in it when it arrived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Bil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted March 29, 2018 Moderators Share Posted March 29, 2018 13 hours ago, geoff. said: What is the “best” wood treatment for Klipsch “oiled oak”? I don't know what is the "best" treatment for oiled oak but I know what I used. On a pair of oiled oak Forte ll's I used BLO boiled Linseed oil, wiped it on and wiped any left on the surface off with a clean rag a couple of times, no problems. Just wipe off any that don't soak in, wait about 10 min and wipe one last time. Seems like once oiling a year is plenty enough. 2 hours ago, geoff. said: I don’t know if shipping combustibles is legal, now.. Not really I guess it just depends on how combustible and there is a small extra charge for it. I ordered a gallon of Marine Spar varnish from the North East and it was no problem shipping the gallon. The sell it locally @$49 a quart, got a gallon for $89 with $12 shipping. No herbs were found in the package A few lobsters would have been nice. It true about any rags used, I just take them outside and burn them, I'm not taking a chance I would rather see it when it catches on fire than be surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted March 29, 2018 Moderators Share Posted March 29, 2018 Just thought of something, if you are looking to get away from the oiled finish it is best to do it when it is dry like yours. You can put any finish on it when it's dry. Definitely not after it's been oiled unless you finish it with a Spar Varnish. If you did use oil just wait a couple of weeks and Spar varnish can be applied if that is the finish you want. If is has not been oiled recently any sealer finish can go on it. Depends on the finish your looking for, wipe on or something more permanent ? If they have been oiled and you want a permanent finish try this, it's not hard at all. I did an outdoor bar top with marine Spar Varnish and it came out great. The first few coats are thinned 50% to 70% with mineral spirits and is called wet coats, this is to make it soak deep into the wood. After those I thinned it about 25%, I kind of did a little overkill and applied 13 coats, it's like glass and very tough. If it were to get scratched up and in bad shape I could lightly sand with #220 sandpaper and add one more coat and it would be like new. They say many don't like spar varnish because it's hard to work smooth but it's not true. I followed very simple instructions in a story from the guy who does repair work for Christy's auction house in NY . Very simple, apply to area you can work in a couple of minutes quickly with a small 4" foam roller, ( i did about 2' of this top at a time) then use a cheap black foam disposable brush like the little flat ones that comes to a point on the end, hold it buy the end of the handle and just let the weight of the brush drag across the surface not terribly fast, this removes any small bubbles. One pass as it will be drying fast, if you happen to leave a tiny bubble don't try to fix it now. 3 coats are recommended with light sanding in between which will remove any tiny bubbles. By the second coat you will have the hang of it and you will see no bubbles, It's really simple and fast, let dry 1-2 hours and it's dry, cure over night lightly sand and coat again the next day. The difference with marine Spar Varnish is the oils, this is the difference compared to Polyurethane, the Spar Varnish is sunlight resistant and can expand and contract with big temperature changes, it's made for outdoors, it was originally named because it was used on the spars of sailboats. It comes in gloss, matte and semi gloss. 13 coats of gloss 4 years ago, and used pretty heavily, gloss would probably not look good on a speaker ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blvdre Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Though I've never used it myself, I thought the Howard's stuff was popular here at one time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 On 3/29/2018 at 1:56 PM, dtel said: Just thought of something, if you are looking to get away from the oiled finish it is best to do it when it is dry like yours. You can put any finish on it when it's dry. Definitely not after it's been oiled unless you finish it with a Spar Varnish. If you did use oil just wait a couple of weeks and Spar varnish can be applied if that is the finish you want. If is has not been oiled recently any sealer finish can go on it. Depends on the finish your looking for, wipe on or something more permanent ? If they have been oiled and you want a permanent finish try this, it's not hard at all. I did an outdoor bar top with marine Spar Varnish and it came out great. The first few coats are thinned 50% to 70% with mineral spirits and is called wet coats, this is to make it soak deep into the wood. After those I thinned it about 25%, I kind of did a little overkill and applied 13 coats, it's like glass and very tough. If it were to get scratched up and in bad shape I could lightly sand with #220 sandpaper and add one more coat and it would be like new. They say many don't like spar varnish because it's hard to work smooth but it's not true. I followed very simple instructions in a story from the guy who does repair work for Christy's auction house in NY . Very simple, apply to area you can work in a couple of minutes quickly with a small 4" foam roller, ( i did about 2' of this top at a time) then use a cheap black foam disposable brush like the little flat ones that comes to a point on the end, hold it buy the end of the handle and just let the weight of the brush drag across the surface not terribly fast, this removes any small bubbles. One pass as it will be drying fast, if you happen to leave a tiny bubble don't try to fix it now. 3 coats are recommended with light sanding in between which will remove any tiny bubbles. By the second coat you will have the hang of it and you will see no bubbles, It's really simple and fast, let dry 1-2 hours and it's dry, cure over night lightly sand and coat again the next day. The difference with marine Spar Varnish is the oils, this is the difference compared to Polyurethane, the Spar Varnish is sunlight resistant and can expand and contract with big temperature changes, it's made for outdoors, it was originally named because it was used on the spars of sailboats. It comes in gloss, matte and semi gloss. 13 coats of gloss 4 years ago, and used pretty heavily, gloss would probably not look good on a speaker ? Very nice. Don't think it would look the best on an open wood grain like oak. On something closed like maple, ash, or maybe even walnut, that high gloss would look excellent. Really depends on if you like the warm glow or pop off the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted March 31, 2018 Moderators Share Posted March 31, 2018 That was pine 2"x12" cut smaller on one end to make a circle. To me I don't think gloss would look good on a speaker, many years ago they would put gloss on everything. It was really just to show what spar varnish looked like, it's really only a little different from poly because of the oil which allows it to go over a previously oiled finish. But like poly it comes in gloss, satin and semi-gloss, I did a kitchen table in satin and it would look good on a speaker, guess it depends on the look your after ? This was the first time I used marine spar varnish and I'm very pleased with the durability of it, I wanted gloss for the bar so it was easy to wipe off. The grand kids have stuck marsh mellows after having them on a fire and about anything else you could think of to the top of the bar and it just wipes off. That is not stain on the top, it was burned with a torch and slightly sanded to get the darkness I wanted. First time I tried that also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff. Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 Thanks for all the suggestions! It really does boil down to whether YOU want a warm glow or a shine. I was leaning towards a warm glow and in lieu of BLO used Minwax Antique Oil. It’s primary ingredients were listed as mineral spirits and linseed alkyd resin(?). It was supposed to leave a “soft lustre”. Here is where it gets disappointing. I lightly sanded the tops as they were rough to the touch. The sides I left untouched. I prefer how the sides turned out. Regardless, it nicely darkened the oak, and it is protected now from incidental misfortune. BEFORE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff. Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 AFTER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analogman Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 The Minwax is a wiping varnish - same stuff essentially that's packaged under several (many) names and often time making a reference to "tung oil" or "tung oil finish" Few of them, if any, actually contain any tung oil Straight, 100% tung oil does yield a fantastic finish but takes a LOT of time to cure as well as multiple applications The one I liked the most (in the "wiping varnish catagory) was "JASCO" but I can't find it any more - they also make paint strippers and the plant is local to me BUT the JASCO stuff really put down a heavy film so was only good for gloss or if you planned on a rub out - the working time is also very short ACE marketed (under their name, Zinsser actually made it) the best I have ever used overall but have discontinued it - that fact is what led me to the Minwax version (very similar) when I'm doing a project that calls for a thick film It's a top coat - doesn't really feed the wood but it does look nice (I have used it many times, including the Minwax branded stuff in the red tin) I've since switched to Watco exclusively (less solids, more control and longer working time) IF I'm looking to seal the grain but not load up the surface No matter what I do for the finish coat I always go over a cab with BLO and turpentine first before I do anything else - makes the grain pop and gives you more depth On dark Walnut pieces I often use just the BLO and turpentine as the final finish - can't beat it Your photo looks nice - glad you found something that worked for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted April 1, 2018 Moderators Share Posted April 1, 2018 They really do have a nice grain pattern, as far as color goes they look just like my oak oil and clear oak. What you used kind of sounds like a thinned version of BLO, which is good, probably less chance of putting it on to thick, either way they look nice, much better now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilkic65 Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 I have rebuilt a pair of klipsch and need to refinish a part of the cabinet they are oil oak and I want to get as close as I can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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