Former Users of Odie's Oil

[Jim Grieco]

Any former users want to share what you switched to?
I like Odie's. The smell, ease of use and of course the finished finish. It is just getting a bit expensive, and I wonder if there is anything else close to it.
*I do not want more work to do with a finish

 

[Mark Jundanian]

I've never used Odie's, but have you considered other hard wax oil products, e.g. Osmo Polyx-Oil, Rubio Monocoat, et.al.

 

[Odie]

I've never used Odie's Oil, but it sounds good:

About this item​

• We all want our finished woodworking projects to look their absolute best when finished. The hard part shouldn’t be the application process, nor should it be the choosing what to apply to your project. Introducing Odies Oil, the food safe, solvent free, non-toxic wood finish and wood stabilizer. Odies Oil is easy to us and it waterproofs and leaves a wonderful lustrous sheen in one coat. It is also the perfect finish for leather, concrete, plastic, vinyl and metal.
• Odie's Oil is great for all species of wood, exotic and domestic. Formulated to work on even the oiliest of woods. Your surface with Odies Oil applied will actually get better with age, becoming more durable and more beautiful as time goes on. It contains natural UV inhibitors-sunscreen for your wood!
• Odie's Oil is a proprietary blend of oils and waxes, born out of inspiration, hard work and a driving need to solve problems specific to the woodworker. The culmination of 30+ years of research, development and field testings in the most extreme environments produced a revolutionary product that out-performs and out-covers the competition.
• If you’re a wood turner and want to bring out the best in your projects, give Odie's Oil a try. You can use it as a friction polish! Works on most any turning project you can imagine from pens, bottle stoppers, vessels, bowls and a whole bunch more! Odie's Oil does not contain driers or toxic chemicals and is food safe. It’s safe for everybody: families, kids, and pets! Super easy to use it requires no sanding or stripping in between coats or for retouching! Wipe on, Wait a while, Buff off!
• A little Odie’s goes a long way! No solvents" means there is almost nothing to evaporate, so what you put on the wood, stays in the wood. Odie's Oil covers many, many times the area of other wood finishes. Up to 20 times the coverage as conventional finishes. Coverage will vary depending on wood density and porosity. Coverage is approx. 189 sq. Feet per 9 oz jar (based on American Cherry). This finish has a unique honey-like consistency and a pleasant aroma. It really goes a long, long way.

 

[Bill Alston]

I’ve seen it on sale here in the UK but it’s very expensive so I’ve never tried it. A cheaper alternative might be interesting as long as it’s available over here.
Maybe there are some home brew recipes on YouTube? I know for sure that home brew abrasive waxes on YouTube are just as good as the commercial ones because I’ve made them myself.

 

[John Redding]

I’ve used Odie’s on a variety of things, including turnings and flat work. It’s not cheap, but a little really does go a long way. The one thing I’ve noticed, as is true of many hard oil finishes, is that it tends to introduce a touch of yellow to the wood. I’ve done quite a bit of segmented turning with aspen, and it does cause it to yellow a bit though it certainly provides a depth to the wood.

If maintaining the original color is the goal, then I’ve been using a water based wipe on poly as it’s been the best solution I’ve found to date.

 

[Odie]

If I'm understanding correctly, Odie's Oil is applied like a friction polish and combines the oil with the waxing/polishing stage.

Doing these two steps individually, as I do with the Danish Oil application, and then followed by the Beall buffing stage works extremely well for me. I don't see how Odie's Oil can be better......easier certainly, but how can it possibly be better?

Among woodturners, there seems to be a big gap between what is easier, as opposed to what will have the better outcome.

=o=

 

[John Redding]

I think you have it exactly right, Odie - it’s faster but not necessarily better. Also, I think the depth a DO adds to at least certain woods is superior to that from Odies. For example, I do some koa segmented turnings and I find the DO is better at developing the depth and luster on koa than the Odies. When I use DO, I also use the Beal buffing (though generally not all 3 steps) and on koa it is my preferred approach.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

There are plenty of recipes online for making your own hard wax (and soft wax) finishes if you want to try it. It's nothing too special, unlike what the pricetags want you to think. Tried & True Original (linseed oil and beeswax) would be considered a soft wax finish. I use it. Christopher Schwarz/Lost Art Press freely publishes the recipe and process of making their soft wax finish. Hard wax finishes contain carnuba wax, the hardest natural wax with a 180 degree melting temp. Soft wax finishes are typically beeswax, or maybe paraffin.
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1- Oils penetrate and cure within the grain, and enhance the appearance of the wood colors. After several coats they can't penetrate any more and cure on the surface.

2- Resins stay on the surface and create a plastic film, a protective wear layer on the wood surface. (Oil or water formulas are the carriers for the resin.)

3- Waxes stay on the surface, but only in the micro scratches which will otherwise scatter reflected light. It makes the surface look, and probably feel smoother. It is not a long-lasting finish, it wears away and needs periodic re-application. It can be used on any kind of film finish.

This 3-step process is arguably the best way to finish wood. Or, pick 2 steps. Or a single step. No right, no wrong.

But I'll contend that even though mixing the components together into one product may work just fine, the all-in-one blend of oil, resin (or not), and wax may compromise the strengths of using the 3 components as separate steps of a process. Again, there is no right way, no wrong way, just different ways that have strengths and compromises. Pick your poison. Something that is new, something that is different, is not necessarily something superior to that which is time tested.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Soft wax, buy the finished product from them...
https://lostartpress.com/products/soft-wax-soft-wax-kits (includes a short video of the product and use).

Or make it from their recipe-

Cook Your Own Linseed Oil & Wax Finish - Lost Art Press

My daughter Katherine has been making a linseed oil and beeswax finish as fast as she possibly can for the last few weeks. And she has been selling out within

blog.lostartpress.com

Or, raise the temperature (carefully, a double boiler is your friend) to 185 degrees and melt carnuba rather than (or in some proportion along with) beeswax and make your own hard wax oil. A mayo consistency, more or less, should be the mix to go for.

 

[Doug Freeman]

Doing these two steps individually, as I do with the Danish Oil application, and then followed by the Beall buffing stage works extremely well for me. I don't see how Odie's Oil can be better......easier certainly, but how can it possibly be better?

Thin finishes with a resin, like poly or danish oil, have an advantage over the hardwax oils, particularly for spalted or other “weaker” woods. They penetrate deeper into the fibers and any cracks etc (if flooded on and kept wet for ~30 min) and cure with added structural integrity of the wood.

For good solid wood it isn’t a concern, but I turn a lot of spalted and other somewhat questionable wood (tends to have more character).

I turn a lot of natural edge items, and getting these thick hardwax oils onto negative surfaces woulld be time consuming and I’m not sure how they would look.

 

[Doug Freeman]

2- Resins stay on the surface and create a plastic film, a protective wear layer on the wood surface. (Oil or water formulas are the carriers for the resin.)

Resins do not just stay on the surface. Thinned poly or spar or epoxy penetrate just like oils. It is a function of viscosity and open time of the finish. Danish oil has a resin component. The resins can be almost completely wiped off the surface. Most all my projects are finished this way.