Debunking Hardwax Oil Wood Finishes

today is a battle of the most popular category of wood finishes on the internet hard wax oils but is it all just hype I promise this video is going to completely change your perspective we're going to be comparing costs durability safety appearance and at the end we will award a winner so why are hardwax oils so popular on the internet there's a theory that permeates in the comments section about big Brands like Rubio Monaco sponsoring Woodworkers to use their products hence why they are showcased so often but I'm here to give the Skeptics a nice healthy drink of Lincoln Street honesty because that's not true at all the claim to fame for these finishes is ease of use you see the oil portion penetrates the surface and bonds with the wood fibers and then once it all dries the wax creates a nice smooth finish that offers a reasonable amount of protection it's as simple as buffing the product in and then buffing It Off there is no spraying generally very minimal to zero vocs so they say more on that later plus they dry fast now it's not ideal but you could theoretically handle and finish assembling a project the same day you buffed off your last coat and if that's not enough it's essentially idiot proof and you can get a perfect finish in a Dusty garage every time unlike traditional finishes like poly and lacquer and when you're filming a video or you're a weekend warrior it's all about the path of least resistance which is why most roads lead back to hard wax oils I've learned over the years it is very rare to have a finish that looks equally good on light and dark colored species and products that create a lot of contrast and bring a darker color wood like Walnut to life tend to significantly Amber the lighter color Woods in some cases making them appear yellow now appearances can be subjective you might prefer that your Maple is disguised as a lemon and someone else wants it to look more natural so with that being said this is how I would summarize the look of each finish starting with the letter colored maple first up Rubio Monaco in general finishes which we will call the holy what happened to my maple category I mean it's a noticeably different color and I found especially with Rubio that it gets more pronounced with time now above those two are what I would consider the middle of the road products that give a slight tint but it's clear there's something on the surface in order from darkest to lightest tried and true fitties Odis walrus oil Bumble shoots and osmo which leads us to the final category titled are you sure you even applied the finish and there is one standout performer Atomic finishes wood wax now you might be thinking you don't need to watch the Walnut breakdown because it's just the inverse but it's actually not starting with the lightest appearance on the darker Woods in order you have Atomic and osmo which kind of look like someone applied a lot of sunscreen to the Walnut and then you have these middle of the road products and you are really splitting hairs here but Bumble shoots fitties tried and true General Finishes Rubio and finally walrus oil leaving one lone finisher in the top category titled this is what social media photo filters convince us that Walnut should look like and that is odie's oil something to note about ODS that is really important right now this is almost too dark my friends Izzy and Maggie were over recently and Maggie summed it up perfectly without any prompting she said this almost looks stained however what I know about odie's from experience is that what you see initially is not what it's going to look like in the future in case in point are the sample board words from another video they're almost two years old and there was a noticeable difference between them at the time of filming but now they look almost identical and they were both stored in the same location I'm not alone in this my friends have had similar experiences that I've spoke with but none of that is meant to pick on the company I just felt like it was something that was worth sharing if I were basing my selection purely on looks my preference for the lighter Woods would be osmo Pollux and for the darker Woods either Rubio or general finishes again I can't tell much of a difference between the two but later in this video I'm going to throw a monkey wrench into this entire discussion because I'm certain that we have all been convincing ourselves that these look good enough even though that might not be true beauty pageant aside what if you're building something where durability really matters like a tabletop enter our liquids test and let's start by meeting the contestants a hot cup of coffee Gatorade an expired bottle of hot sauce a beautiful 2014 Pinot Noir and in the background a bun bunch of sweaty cups also for the parents at home it's not a liquid but you get why crayon is here doing my best scientist impersonation all these sample boards are getting two carefully measured doses of each contestant I'm going to let those sit in place for 30 minutes rather than trying to find the bottom of that 2014 Pinot I'm going to try and make myself useful while I wait and perform some long overdue table saw maintenance and by long overdue I mean I've owned the saw for three years and haven't done anything to it but I digress this is WD-40 specialist dry lube I'm going to hit the little spot between the bushing and the collar with said dry lube and then do the same for the trunions and gears this shouldn't be a shock to any of you but I am really bad at shop maintenance and probably need to put myself on some sort of a calendar I mean this is already making a huge difference remember all the old spray cans with the straws that you had to pop in place and then you would lose them I like this new smart straw system and aside from it being permanently attached which a forgetful person like me needs you can just flip it out of the way when you need a wider spray one of the big advantages for a dry lube is the Corrosion Protection which happens in a non-climate controlled garage like this one and it does not attract dirt or dust clearly an advantage for me based on my track record I might actually be able to use my table saw without fighting it now so if you're well behind on your own maintenance check out this dry lube for some Next Level lubrication with no mess there'll be a link below to purchase and a huge thanks to WD-40 brand for sponsoring today's video and making a big Endeavor like this possible all right let's go check on those liquids it smells like a night of really bad decisions in here or the morning after a night of bad decision do you know what I'm talking about it smells bad that's not good I ended up performing this test on both sides of the samples to keep this as Fair as possible and thankfully there was no variation between round one and round two but let's take a look at the results I'm going to start with the liquids because the crayon was shockingly enlightening for a different reason I absolutely hate declaring a loser because I consider these real people not just companies and products however Atomic finishes wood wax was quite underwhelming I mean they were very noticeable stains from all the liquids and it was the only sample where the sweaty cup left a water rain just barely above that while still falling into the category of very visible stains are tried and true and walrus oil before I continue I want to make this point very clear the results don't mean those are bad products for specific uses these can be good options my miter saw station has Atomic on it but for a table not ideal to take it a step further well yes these finishes have oil and wax in the name I don't think it's totally fair to classify them as traditional hard wax oils this next grouping has stains but you need to know where to look now tight at the bottom are general finishes and Rubio and take note of the coffee and wine stains on both are you starting to pick up that they tie in just about everything we're going to talk more about that in a bit and then you have odie's oil notice the 2014 pinot and the coffee fee damage overall for these three it's very difficult to see the stains on Walnut I mean it's no different than a white shirt showing more wear than a black shirt still there you just need to know to look for it the final group performed extremely well two of the products are not at all surprising fitties and osmo both long established brands in the hardwood flooring industry but there was a third that I was blown away by it's a new product from Bumble shoots called binoba wax I hope I'm saying that right each of the three had a liquid that showed up but again you really need to be looking for it fittings and osmo decided to be a lush and couldn't handle the wine whereas Bumble shoots had trouble with the coffee other than that these things are basically Flawless back to our Crayola nightmare I used a microfiber towel and warm soapy water to try and scrub these off and what's left basically mimics the liquids results but Rubio moves into the top performing categories however that's not the takeaway take a look at what happened on every sample board except one it's like the Finish was being rubbed away not burnish and to confirm it wasn't a fluke or the soap I repeated on the other side without even drawing a crayon line and the same thing now it's not noticeable on the maple Frost species but you can really see it on the darker wood the only product that showed no visible signs was Rubio I'm going to award Rubio the winner of the unexpected hard scrub test and then a three-way tie between Bumble shoots fitty and osmo for the liquids durability which I consider to be a more likely scenario we all encounter now I can already feel the keyboards starting to warm up asking if I prefer formed a scratch test and the answer is no because they will all scratch and don't listen to what any manufacturer tells you plus it's a very difficult test to standardize for this dummy in a garage if you've seen the Wood Whisperer video comparing a couple of these products you might be noticing that some of the results don't line up and no I didn't just rip off Mark's idea I actually started working on this at the same time and had conversations about our results now after a lot of back and forth our hunch is the particular piece of wood you're using likely plays a major role in how these finishes perform I mean there seems to be variations within species I still have an unbelievably revealing test to share with you that might even get me in trouble but before I do that let's review the comparisons for these products that can be standardized starting with cost now I broke this out in cents per milliliter to make the metric viewers feel important and from cheapest to most expensive tried and true osmo Pollux walrus oil General Finishes fitties Bumble shoots odies Rubio and atomic wood wax pretty significant difference between the bottom and top and more than three times the price per milliliter when it comes to applying they all excel at getting excellent looking results with minimal skill however I didn't notice some differences in the labor aspect try to ensure requires a very specific wiping procedure and I could see where it would be a bit of a pain on larger items Atomic Odis Bumble shoots and walrus oil require a decent amount of physical exertion because they need to be buffed in but if you have an old sander you can use that with a scotch fry pad instead of your own shoulder and back muscles and finally Rubio general finishes osmo and fitties fall into this oddly satisfying application process that you're accustomed to seeing on social media and these can be troweled or rolled onto your surface and if necessary depending on the Finish buffed off after it's pretty fun so for a small box none of this information will make a major difference but on big pieces of furniture you might offer something that is easier to spread around quickly as far as the number of coats many advertised just one but I'm not really buying that I noticed a pretty dramatic difference between the first and second round after it was applied the following day and that was with all the contestants my experience using these finishes on my own builds has been no different and every sample here was prepared as If This Were A commission piece oh yeah the raking light came out while sanding I have a no reputation to uphold here The Cure time of these products is equally varied and the advertised time from each manufacturer is shown on the side of the screen here and if you're wondering how long I let each of these samples cure before testing it was over four months so we're in the clear to make sure we're all on the same page all of these products are meant for indoor use only even if a company suggests otherwise like me they will all get torched in the sun yep earlier in the video I mentioned one of the reasons these finishes have gained favor is because they are marketed as low or zero percent VOC if you're unfamiliar VLC stands for volatile organic compounds and these are gases that are emitted into the air from a product or process now the bad news is some of these gases are known to cause cancer I am not a scientist and I don't feel qualified to test these claims out but thankfully my good friend sumon is hi I'm sulan and I am indeed a scientist and on my YouTube channel we test woodworking stuff in this test I'm taking a one inch by one inch sample piece of wood applying each of the hard wax oil finishes on it immediately wiping it off and placing that sample next to a sensor that is able to read total volatile organic compounds coming off of these finishes and because air movements can impact these readings I'm covering the entire apparatus with the Plexiglas box and taking the measurements over the course of 10 minutes let's start by clearing the metaphorical air as far as the real air sumans probably passed out in his garage now ideally products marketed as zero percent VOC would in fact register as such during the testing but it's not what we found however you might be thinking is there an acceptable percentage of exposure above zero and this is a gray area in the world of vocs ideally you aren't taking any chances but I'm a realist and understand we all can't live in a bubble even though California prop labels would lead you to believe everything you touch causes cancer it's an avocado look you gotta live your life without driving yourself mental there are vocs in just about everything from household cleaners to Hot Sauce the new car smell but for the sake of comparison and proper context Suman tested other common wood finishes to provide a Baseline now on the low end cutting board mineral oil clocks in at Point 192 milligrams per cubic meter a water-based polyacrylic 1.293 and yes there are vocs in that and on the high end lacquer instantly maxes out the reader for the hard wax oils here are the peak readings from low to high water soil tried and true Rubio Monaco yep a bit of a shocker and atomic now the rest of the contestants odie's osmo fitties general finishes and Bumble shoots max out the reader and some did it faster than others but you can see on this fancy graph they all hit 9.999 which results in a very sad face on the display some of this is a little nuanced and I'll explain in a moment but for a product like osmo it makes sense I mean they clearly State on the label less than 450 grams per liter which is crazy High I mean it's closer to the toxicity of lacquer than these other finishes and yet and the YouTube culture it's touted for its safety and I'm part of the problem too look at this footage from a recent video now osmo will continue to be one of my favorite products but it's clear that I need to be wearing a respirator and not doing the shirt over the face move also remember this test was performed on a tiny piece of wood with a very small amount of finish I mean we would be reading much higher vocs using more finish on something like a table but this is where it gets all nuanced because not all vlcs are harmful and unfortunately there isn't a great way for us to test that in each of these finishes but with that being said a little Common Sense can be applied for instance Bumble shoots is likely maxing out the reader because one of the ingredients is a citrus solvent which is primarily derived from Orange Peel oil I mean it sounds healthier but again you just don't know and even then something that is not considered to be carcinogenic today could be in 15 years remember lead paint and you can make the same assumption about tried and true walrus oil and atomic maybe even odie's oil but unlike the other four Odis does label their products as containing vocs so what does someone do with this information look if you choose to not wear a mask finishes on the low end of this test are a bit like not looking both ways at a stopped crosswalk it's unlikely it makes a major difference but it could help however on the high end of this test you are running a red light repeatedly and the odds are you get into an accident at some point and this segment isn't intended to put companies on blast but to remind you as the maker you are taking the brunt of the risk by putting yourself in a situation with continued exposure and often in an unventilated space now many of these products are labeled as zero percent VOC however it's clear that's not entirely true and it's best to not take their marketing pitches and legal jargon gymnastics at face value when it comes to your own health so when in doubt put on a proper respirator Suman also just released a video that does more testing on Sawdust exposure and other common finishes and I'll leave a link below so you can check it out I feel like I've been having all the fun in this video so it's time to let you in on a quick experiment on the screen or what I would consider to be the Front Runners for taking home the top prize and through my psychic powers I bet I can pick which one the majority of you prefer say it out loud actually that was dumb I can't hear you but it doesn't even matter because I already know what you're thinking and this entire thing was just a setup I already did the exact same test with my Instagram followers and the majority went with number four it's probably what you awkwardly blurted out a moment ago and that my friends is the monkey wrench and this entire conversation because well yes this is Rubio Monaco it's Rubio Monaco with a special ceramic coating applied to increase the Sheen in contrast I am more convinced than ever that we have been lying to ourselves that we like the matte and satin look of hard wax soils in order to justify the ease of application this is a bit of a Schrodinger's cat situation you don't know if the cat's dead or how ugly the Finish is until you look but for me the cat's out of the bag and he's not doing so hot in a future video I'm going to do a full breakdown of Ceramics so hang tight on that one I'll give you a quick teaser though they laughed at the liquids test hard wax oils are no doubt an incredible product for all the reasons I outlined earlier but the purpose of this video and that main trick that I just played on you is to remind everyone like other finishes they do have some major faults and if we're being honest the internet hype machine is likely to blame for glossing that over pun intended now with that being said I will continue to reach for hard wax soils for a lot of my projects because the pros still outweigh the cons but enough yapping let's hand out some prizes first up the new kid on the Block award you heard me mention General Finishes in Rubio in the same breath for nearly every comparison other than vocs and I found they even applied the same and yet General Finishes is about 40 percent less than Rubio now I still think Rubio is a slightly better product but that cost difference is really hard to ignore and if you're looking to try out hard wax oils but price has been a barrier to entry this is a fantastic option it's my lame attempt at a podium now taking home the Captain Planet award for not only loving the environment with its 100 all-natural ingredients but also providing a shocking amount of protection is Bumble shoots be Noble wax I was blown away by the performance and to be honest I had very low expectations this might be the best new product in quite some time the overall winner for hardwax oils which I don't have a stupid award name for goes to an unexpected participant now other than smelling horrible which shouldn't matter because you're going to be wearing a respirator this product applies super easy it looks good it's reasonably priced and is one of the most durable now overall fitties is an incredible value I would encourage you to experiment on your own find out what works in your own shop but as Miss clavel likes to say that's all there is there isn't any more we'll see ya

Channel: Lincoln St. Woodworks

Views: 217,460

Keywords: wood finishes, rubio monocoat, odies oil, wood finishing, wood working

Id: 6zpJJri1XOM

Length: 20min 47sec (1247 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 17 2023