Is oiling necessary for Oiled (fill in your veneer) speakers?

[chuckears]

...or, is it just for cosmetic/aesthetic reasons?

I've oiled my oak Fortes for years - sometimes waiting a couple of years between applications.  After picking up these oiled walnut beauties recently, I was left to wonder if it is truly necessary for the life of the veneer to apply oil (I'm aware of the recommendations of which oils to use) - because I actually like the slightly dull look these have. It seems to suit them, to my eyes.

 

[the real Duke Spinner]

Watco Danish Oil

[jcn3]

On 11/23/2022 at 4:32 PM, chuckears said:

...or, is it just for cosmetic/aesthetic reasons?

I've oiled my oak Fortes for years - sometimes waiting a couple of years between applications.  After picking up these oiled walnut beauties recently, I was left to wonder if it is truly necessary for the life of the veneer to apply oil (I'm aware of the recommendations of which oils to use) - because I actually like the slightly dull look these have. It seems to suit them, to my eyes.

 

 

I think the logic of oiling periodically is that you keep the wood from drying out. However, like you've said, there are so many examples of 40+ year old speakers that have survived the test of time and look beautiful as is.

 

Using Howard's Feed and Wax seems to be a good compromise to me - provides some degree of protection without changing the color or finish.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

I don't like oiling speakers, especially JBLs because you need to be so careful by the drivers.  I just refinished several pairs of speakers using oil based poly.  Each was an oiled finish but the smell and time involved using BLO is annoying.  Beautiful finish and a do it once thing (at least for the next twenty years). 

 

My concern in another thread is drying out.  I think that I need to put on a coat of BLO to maintain a pair of 250 TIs while I wait to restore them (they are actually perfect, just old, need a nice finish and maybe some caps).