Ikea Beech Table top conditioning

Question

Okay guys, I need your expert help. I bought a solid beech counter top that I'm using as my computer table. A couple of days ago I bought wood treatment oil from Ikea. Followed instructions and left it to dry 24 hours. Now, it looks good but the table sweats oil. Any paper or book that I place there gets the oil. I have been sweeping the whole thing with a clean microfiber cloth but no use. What can I do to fix this and not damage the wood in the process? Put beeswax polish? Please help!

Answer 1

left it to dry 24 hours.

First thing, I don't know if Ikea make a selection of oil treatments but going by the one that's most commonly used this won't ever dry.

If the oil is based on mineral oil (it might even be nothing but mineral oil, which could be purchased much more cheaply elsewhere) when the instructions say something to the effect of "leave to dry for 24 hours" really what they mean is leave it to soak in for 24 hours since it will never actually dry.

Now, it looks good but the table sweats oil.

Wipe off the oil until it stops weeping out. It really is as simple as that with just about any oil finish.

Ideally you wipe off excess so thoroughly at the time of application that you'd have at most a scattering of tiny droplets later, but the nature of the wood dictates how much this happens which you have no control over. The more open-grained the wood the more oil will come out later.

I have been sweeping the whole thing with a clean microfiber cloth but no use.

It's best to use something more absorbent than microfibre (a synthetic fabric). Cotton is good, or just use kitchen paper/paper towels.

Put beeswax polish?

Once you do get the surface to feel dry to the touch and remain that way I would actually recommend you apply a beeswax polish if that's convenient. Oiled wood, no matter what type of oil is used, is actually very poor at resisting liquid intrusion, as odd as this seems.

Waxing will create a wax surface layer which will greatly increase initial resistance to watery liquids — but note, not true waterproofing so you must wipe up condensation or spills quickly to prevent staining.

Wax will also give a slicker surface, which is good for helping to prevent minor scratching but the downside is it's a slicker surface, so keyboards, papers etc. can slide around more than you'd like.