It s a matter of personal style.
Best finish for a wood workbench. Most curing wipe on oil finishes are appropriate for a workbench. I have a bunch of questions. Wipe on oils will give some protection without having a film appearance to make the surface slick like a brushed applied varnish polyurethane would. For a shop workbench i would put on a thinned coat of polyurethane varnish.
Many are linseed oil or tung oil based. For others no workbench is complete until it sports a beautiful high gloss finish. Best finishes for outdoors. If he insists on applying a finish maybe for looks or to make the surface smoother a boat varnish from a marina would be best because it would hold up better against the sun s uv light.
If you have installed some big dents or surface distortions over time you can renew the surface by planing it flat provided the surface is thick enough then put the oil finish on once more. Not much will stick to poly and you will certainly have spilled glue oil nondescript goo and other things on the bench over the years. I have used watco danish oil natural color one some wood projects including my workbench base and i like it pretty well. Option 1 finish your workbench with polyurethane.
It s easy to apply and looks good. Option 2 finish your workbench with a high quality wax. You could also use boiled linseed oil. Hard woods such as oak and maple are more expensive but less easily damaged during the course of your work.
For a natural look penetrating oil finishes might be your best bet. Best finish for plywood workbench top. What is the best wood for workbench tops. For some woodworkers the term workbench refers to a set of sawhorses and a salvaged door slab.
High quality formulations have finely ground pigments that block uv rays while allowing the grain to show. Common brands include interlux epifanes pettit and z spar. For anyone out there wondering how to spiff up a workbench the right way here s a little advice from two expert woodworkers. Option 3 don t use anything to finish your workbenc.
They shed water for a year or so before requiring reapplication. In his article on flattening workbench tops chris schwarz mentions finishing them with a wipe on varnish and oil finish.