Do not allow wood finishing oil to dry before removing excess finishing oil.
Wood work bench oil. About once a month dampen a soft rag in boiled linseed oil or polymerized tung oil and wipe the workbench top making sure you get the oil everywhere it needs to be do the wipe down after cleaning off paint glue and similar debris. There are hide glue stains shellac stains chisel marks errant auger bits holes small saw kerfs and even a few drops of blood. When working with a softwood workbench top such as plywood many woodworkers find it important to add a finish to the workbench so it is easier to clean as well as help the plywood last longer. For a shop workbench i would put on a thinned coat of polyurethane varnish.
Best finish for plywood workbench top. The instructions recommend that the bench be finished with wood oil. Oil is a natural product. My roubo workbench does not have finish on it.
Oils cure slowly and penetrate into the surface of the wood. Rub hard to work the oil well into the wood. Take a stiff bristled brush and clean off the threads on the vise screw s. Multiple coatings can be applied until the wood is unable to absorb any more.
Rub the oil into the wood with a clean dry soft cloth. Additional coats can be applied if desired to create a surface build or coating of oil. Apply wood finishing oil liberally with a lint free cotton cloth and or brush to a clean surface. It is a badge of honor that this bench i worked for so.
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. But if you re looking for the best finish for a workbench here are my recommendations. Varnish is a synthetic product made by cooking a natural oil like linseed oil tung oil or. It has some tearout on the top.
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 m not that familiar with oil finishes and there are a lot of options including tung oil swedish oil and boiled or raw linseed oil to cite a few.