Which wood oil should I use — danish, tung, linseed or hardwax?

All of these are called oil and they are not the same class of product. Two are pure drying oils, one is a blend of oil and varnish, and one is a film-forming finish that happens to contain oil. That difference decides everything about how they go on, how long they take, how much protection they give, and how you repair them.

Safety

Step by step

1. Raw linseed oil — very slow, very penetrating, minimal protection.Pure flax oil with nothing added. It soaks deep into timber and takes days per coat to cure, sometimes longer in cool weather. Its place is outdoor tool handles, gates, garden woodwork and traditional joinery where you want feeding rather than protecting. It is far too slow for furniture.
2. Boiled linseed oil — the same thing with driers added.Not actually boiled: it contains metallic driers that speed the cure to roughly a day per coat. It is the classic general-purpose interior oil for bare timber, tool handles, beams and rustic furniture. It darkens and ambers noticeably over time, which suits oak and pine and does not suit pale timbers.
3. Danish oil — an oil and varnish blend, and the practical all-rounder.Typically a drying oil, a varnish resin and a solvent. It penetrates like an oil but leaves a slight film, cures in hours rather than days, and builds a low satin sheen over several coats. This is the right default for interior furniture, and it is why so many pieces are finished with it.
4. Tung oil — the most water-resistant of the pure oils.Pressed from tung nuts, it cures harder and more water-resistant than linseed and ambers less. Pure tung oil is slow and needs many thin coats; most products sold as tung oil are blends with driers and solvent, which behave much more like danish oil. Read the tin to know which you have bought.
5. Hardwax oil — a hybrid, and the answer for hard use.Oil and wax with resins, formulated to penetrate a little and leave a thin microporous film. It is what floors, worktops, stair treads and kitchen tables should be finished with: far more spill and wear resistance than a pure oil, still repairable in patches without stripping. It is applied quite differently from the others — thin, worked in, and wiped back hard.
6. Pick by how the piece will be used, not by the timber.A bookcase and a kitchen table can be the same oak and need different finishes. Low use and a bare-wood feel: danish or boiled linseed. Water and spills: tung or hardwax. Real wear — floors, worktops, treads: hardwax oil, or a varnish if you want maximum durability and will accept a harder repair.
7. Apply any of them thin and wipe the excess off.The one rule common to all oils: they cure in the wood, not on it. Any oil left standing on the surface stays sticky, stays soft and attracts dust. Apply, let it soak for the stated time, then wipe every trace of excess off with a clean cloth before it starts to set.

Tips

• Oiled surfaces are repaired by wiping more oil onto the worn area. There is no edge to blend, which is the great advantage of oil over varnish on anything that gets used.
• Every oil darkens timber and most amber over the years. On pale ash, maple or sycamore that may be unwelcome — a water-based lacquer keeps the colour.
• Oil is not a preservative. Outdoor timber needs a preservative treatment as well as, or instead of, an oil finish.

Alternatives

• Varnish or polyurethane: A surface film. Far more protection against water, heat and abrasion than any oil, at the cost of a repair that means stripping and recoating rather than wiping more on.
• Wax: The lightest of all. Lovely feel, easy to renew, almost no protection, and it blocks anything else being applied over it later without stripping.
• Water-based lacquer: Fast, low odour and does not amber, so it keeps pale timbers pale. Less character than an oil and repaired like a varnish.

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