Dust stuck to new worktop, help please!

[mothy]

We've just had a new kitchen fitted with iroco hardwood work surfaces. We left it a bit late to put the first three coats of Danish oil on before the surface was fitted and I guess the oil wasn't quite dry because there's dust stuck to most of it.

I thought we could just wire wool/ fine sandpaper it off but I've just tried on a tiny patch and the dust is being rubbed into the surface making it look awful. Any suggestions please? I want to cry!!

thanks, Kat

 

[JohnD]

If it was me, I would swab it with white spirit. This will soften and dissolve the surface oil so it can be wiped off.

If the wood is not already mirror-smooth it may pull bits of fluff off the rag. Once you have it oil-free you can use extra-fine glasspaper or steel wool again to get it off.

There might be a better approach that I don't know about.

 

[big-all]

just to put your mind at ease the situation is fully recoverable providing you do it right

as i am not the best one to advise on this specific situation i will leave that to others

there you are john d to the rescue

oooo and i would avoid steel wool unless advised as it can roughen up [open]the grain

 

[mothy]

Thanks to both of you, I will leave the white spirit attempt till The Husband comes home so if it goes wrong he can't blame me!

 

[Jasonb]

One of the usual causes of sticky oiled surfaces is not removing the excess oil after 5-10 mins, this will be more of a problem with already naturally oily wood like Iroko.

If they are just small sticky patches then a cabinet scraper will remove the excess oil.

You should also be rubbing down between coats preferably with a grey Scotchbrite pad (looks like a plastic pot scourer) as there is no risk of leaving small strands of wire in th egrain to go rusty.

Jason

 

[chrisz]

pm'd you...

 

[chrisz]

In fact, noticed you can't private message!

Mothy, do you have any reasonable size bits of iroko left over that I could buy off you? I need a bit to box in my boiler after fitting my kitchen?