When Should You Re-oil Your Wooden Worktop?

Last Updated on September 12, 2024

Test Your Wooden Worktop – Oil It – Test it Again
A Simple Guide to Reoiling Your Solid Wood Worktop!

1. The Water test

If you do not know when your kitchen worktop needs re-oiling, you can simply spill a little bit of water on the surface. If the water drip forms a bead, the worktop is ready to go, but if the water sits flat, it is time to re-oil your worktop.

2. Sand it, before you oil it

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Check out our Oak worktops

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Sanding is an essential procedure prior to reoiling. Besides being characterful and enduring, the Solid Wood Kitchen Worktops are also great because you can sand down any scratches or stains that you have on them – hence restore them to their original glory. Start with a light sanding paper and build up from 120grit to 180grit, but no finer.

Why not finer? Because the solid wood surface has a specific micro-texture composed of vein-like fibres and pores, which have micro-gaps between them and this is where the oil penetrates the wood. If you use a finer sanding paper, you are running the risk of evening out all the natural micro-gaps of the wood and thus making the worktop not suitable for oiling.

3. Time to apply the oil – Instructions for Osmo Oil and Danish Oil

Read below if you are using Osmo Oil (recommended)

We recommend using Osmo Top Oil, as it is food-safe, provides perfect protection and it is easy to use! First, shake up the tin then pour freely onto the wood worktop and spread it over evenly with a clean lint free cloth or a brush. Always remember to rub the brush in the direction of the grain.

Let your Osmo Oil dry

Each coating will take between 15-20 hours to dry. Personally, I do enjoy oiling and maintaining my worktop – it is like a reminder that I have real wood worktop in my kitchen. Thereafter, you will need to apply further of two coats. Instead of trying to form one thick layer, it is always better to have multiple thin coatings. Otherwise, you might end up with a sticky and unpleasant surface. It is very important to cover your worktop with minimum of 2-3 coats in order to form an adequate protective barrier. It will provide the moisture and physical resistance that you will need your kitchen worktop to have. And do not worry – you can’t over-oil your wooden worktop.

Note: You only need 2-3 coats of Oil when installing the worktop for the first time. When re-oiling for maintenance, you only need a single coat of Osmo to refresh your worktop.

Read Below if you are using Danish Oil

Danish Oil penetrates the pores of the timber and provides a suitable protection against water, moisture and food spillages. Danish Oil requires 2-3 coats of oiling before installation and at least 4-5 layers after installation. To start oiling or re-oiling your worktops, firstly, start with shaking the tin lightly and then pour some on the surface. Using a clean lint free cloth or a brush spread it out evenly just by lightly applying pressure. It is essential to always rub the brush in the direction of the grain.

Let your Danish Oil dry

Each coat of Danish Oil will take up to 6 – 8 hours to dry. We do not recommend trying to form one thick layer of coating as it can end up being rather sticky and unpleasant. Instead applying several thin layers of coating. When first oiling the wood worktop after installation, it is important to build up coatings (2-3 before installation and 4-5 coats after installation), but when re-oiling for maintenance purposes you would only need to apply 2-3 coats, depending on how worn out your wood worktop is.

5. Is your worktop ready to go? Test it!

Put your worktop to the water test once again (Step 1) and if the worktops fails the test again, repeat the oiling process.

It is advisable to consider re-oiling you worktop once every year depending on how much “action” is taking place in your kitchen. The busier you are, the quicker your oil wears down and the more you have to look after your kitchen worktop. We believe regular re-oiling is a small price to pay for the beauty that the natural wood will bring into your home.