# Odie's Oil



## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

From the ad copy:
_Odie's Oil is a proprietary blend of oils and waxes that produces a lustrous sheen in just one coat, and the luster deepens and improves with age. It is great for all species of wood, exotic and domestic, and is formulated to work on even the oiliest of woods. It is food-safe, solvent-free, and completely non-toxic._

Odie's Oil has been all over my social media feed lately, and it looks amazing. Very simple buff on/buff off application. I would've ordered it already, but it has a hefty $50 price tag for a can about the size of paste wax. 

Has anyone tried this stuff?


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

I am watching this thread with interest. I wonder if the hype from all of these high-end specialty finishes like Odie's Oil matches the results.
https://www.odiesoil.com

I bought one can each of Tried and True original and Tried and True varnish oil. I heard similar things from other woodworkers about Tried and True finishes as our friend Amish heard about Odie's Oil. I decided to try the Tried and True products. Frankly, they were less expensive than Odie's Oil. 
https://www.triedandtruewoodfinish.com/products/original-wood-finish/
https://www.triedandtruewoodfinish.com/products/varnish-oil/
https://www.triedandtruewoodfinish.com

I was NOT impressed with the Tried and True original on poplar, but it was an experiment, and I learned later that I did not follow their instructions. Next time, I will follow them exactly.

One of the recent presentations at our local woodworking club was all about finishes. The speaker brought in pieces of crotch walnut with various finishes, including various oil finishes. The oil finishes included tung oil, walnut oil, boiled linseed oil (BLO), and the fancy finishes we discussed above. To everyone's surprise, there was little difference between them. I am pretty sure that the speaker did not follow special directions for the fancy oils. He just wiped on, soaked, wiped off, and allowed to dry with some post finish buffing. 

I admit, I am skeptical. There must be something more to the fancy finishes, like Odie's Oil and Tried and True products. I will report back when I finish the next project with Tried and True, following the directions. 

In the meantime, I look forward to reading about other people's experience with Odie's Oil (and hopefully Tried and True as well). I searched on the web, but found mostly marketing hype.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

From the lack of responses, I'm guessing no one has tried Odie's Oil. Guess I'll be the guinea pig and try it out on my console table project.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

I am still waiting for comments about Odie's Oil, too. I am concerned about hijacking your Odie's Oil thread. 

In the meantime, I started a pilot test of Tried and True original and varnish oil on mahogany. I am turning a baby rattle, and will probably use one of the Tried and True finishes on it. Both are food and baby safe. 

At this point, I am done with the first coat (as light as possible), waited 90 minutes, then wiped off until "dry." I must let it dry now. It should be ready for burnishing tomorrow or the next day.

What do you think, burnish with 0000 steel wool or gray Scotchbrite pads?


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

Update: 
I just finished applying the third and final coat of the two Tried and True finishes on the mahogany. I allowed it to dry several days between coats in moderately dry climate.

Photos:
~2x2 inch pieces of mahogany, sanded through all grits to 220 with Harbor Freight aluminum oxide paper (not recommended), then finished with Tried and True:

1. Burnished with 3M Gray 7448 pads between coats:
Left: Tried and True Original Wood Finish
Right: Tried and True Varnish Oil

2. Burnished with Liberon 0000 steel wool between coats:
Left: Tried and True Original Wood Finish
Right: Tried and True Varnish Oil

Conclusion: 
The finishes were nearly identical in appearance. There was a very subtle difference in texture, with the Original Wood Finish feeling slightly more "waxy." I do not know if I would see the same results with other woods.

I plan to finish the rattle with two coats of varnish oil and one final coat of original.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

P.S. Next up: I was offered a sample of Odie's Oil to do a comparison test. I hope to collect the Odie's Oil sample later today. 

I have a busy week ahead, but it doesn't take that much time to prepare the sample and apply the oil finish. I will cut off another piece of the mahogany and try the Odie's Oil on it. Stay tuned!


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## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

I haven't used Odie's oil, but I have used a product from Osmo that they call a hard wax oil. I don't know exactly what hard wax oil means, but it sounds similar to Odie's. 

I used it on a banjo neck for a slick surface and it worked well. Brush it on, let it soak in, wipe off the excess and away you go. It doesn't build much gloss, but it looks like a nice hand rubbed finish. The banjo neck does seem to be holding up to handling, so that's good!


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Got my hands on some Odie's Oil. $35 from a nearby online retailer...much better than the $50 MSRP. Just a quick project to test this stuff out. 

*Pic #1:*
On the right is my original cell phone holder for my nightstand. It's literally a scrap of 2x4 with a groove in it, painted black. We're all kinds of fancy here. On the left is New Hotness. I have a slab of curly maple that I'm holding onto for some chisel handles, so I stole a small piece and made some improvements.

*Pic #2:*
Sized up the blank with hand planes, then ran some grooves with the table saw. Finished it up by chamfering all the edges with a block plane. No sandpaper touched this project. Odie's Oil needs a very smooth finish, either 400 grit or straight off the plane. This is a pre-finish shot.

*Pic #3:*
Odie's Oil has the consistency of homemade apple sauce, and it smells *amazing*. Can't quite put my finger on it, definitely some pine and orange hints, but there's something else. Application is easy. This is a penetrating oil, so just use a small amount and rub it in. I used a little more than a teaspoon on this project. Let it soak for 30 minutes, buff with a cotton cloth, done. Pics don't do it justice. My LED shop lights wash out most of the detail. In better lighting, there's lots of depth and the maple ripples really pop. Color me impressed! Usually don't see this kind of depth without 4-5 coats of other finish. Plus, it still smells great. 

These results with a rub on/buff off finish that is non-toxic and food safe? Yes, please. Odie's Oil made a believer out of me. Can't wait to use it on the next project!


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## hawkeye10 (Feb 18, 2015)

I want to thank yall for a very informative post. This is what really helps us out.


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## hawkeye10 (Feb 18, 2015)

Here is a video on how to apply Odie's Oil. Just reading about Odie's products I am impressed but as they say "the proof is in the pudding".


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Tool Agnostic said:


> What do you think, burnish with 0000 steel wool or gray Scotchbrite pads?


Cant comment on the oil, but i can weigh in on this; scotchbrite all the way. Now, both scotchbrite and an equivalent grade of steel wool will produce a nearly identical finish on your workpiece, what differs is everything else they produce. With scotchbrite, thats nothing. You get a burnished finish, and thats about it. With steel wool, you get disintegrated bits of steel wool everywhere, bits of fuzz clinging to the wood, covering your workbench, jammed in your fingers. Cleanup is a PITA, and any bits that get missed and locked in the finish are prone to rusting over time. 

Scotchbrite is just cleaner to use, less futzing about with it. Miles better than steel wool for me


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## holtzdreher (Jul 20, 2016)

From my days of hobby long rifle building, I liked a product known as Linspeed. Rubbed it on with fingers until the grain stopped absorbing it and then wiped off and let it dry a day and then buffed off all the shine with oooo steel wool. Two coats was enough for most close grained woods like maple. More open grained woods got three or four coats. This was for gun stocks that would be subjected to moisture and even rain. Most woods came out very well, but I did have a few pieces that did not. But one thing I learned about the steel wool, was never use it on bare wood. The acid (nitric acid also known as Aqua Fortis) we used to color the wood reacted with the steel wool fibers on the wood and caused horrible unsightly speckles into the surface of the wood. I never had a problem using the steel wool after the first coat of finish was completely dry. 

epicfail: I see scotch brite is in two or three different grades. Do you use the one that is highly abrasive and can be used for scouring? 

A friend of mine had a book from the 1930's, that was the report of the drying times and application of various finishes used in traditional wood working at the time. A few of the finishes actually had dry times over a month. 

I once had some new unpainted wooden pine patio furniture that Mrs. wanted to look more like drift wood. I put the pieces out in the sun and painted them with raw linseed oil. The wood turned a nice silvery gray within a month. About the same time it took the raw linseed oil to dry.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

holtzdreher said:


> epicfail: I see scotch brite is in two or three different grades. Do you use the one that is highly abrasive and can be used for scouring?


For finished i use the grey or the white, the grey seems to be a good comparison to 0000 steel wool and the white is slightly finer. Only time i use anything rougher than that is when im going metalworking stuff and want a brushed finish, or when im cleaning metal. For that i reach for a green scotchbrite pad


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

I use green pads with 3-in-1 oil to remove rust from metal. I hope I never have to repeat that exercise. I wonder if it is the same as the green pads we use to clean dishes. Do the dish pads have embedded abrasive?

I bought some gray (7448) to clean the cast iron table on my table saw. (It worked very well for that job, and I had some leftover.) I believe it is comparable to 0000 steel wool. I bought the real 3M 7448 pads at Home Depot in the paint department. They were not easy to find, nearly hidden on the bottom shelf.

According to what I read, the green, red, and gray range from more course to more fine with embedded aluminum oxide abrasive. The white is the plain nylon with zero aluminum oxide abrasive. 

The Liberon steel wool is supposed to be a better quality steel wool. It shares some of the drawbacks of steel wool, but is advertised to contain no oils, has longer fibers, and more "crumble resistant." I bought it for this experiment. It seems okay, but it did shed small fibers as I scrubbed the wood with it.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

I sanded another piece of the same mahogany up to the same to 220 grit as the previous test (with Tried and True). Odie's Oil had recommended to use finer grits, so I sanded the other side with additional 500 and 1000 grit silicon carbide papers.

I applied the Odie's Oil once, per the instructions. I waited an hour, wiped it off thoroughly and let it cure for three days. After that I buffed it with a clean cloth. 

Here is my summary of the test results, based on these experiments with mahogany scraps with both Tried and True and Odie's Oil:

* I cannot tell the difference between the three finishes. 
* Others found a slight texture difference between the two Tried and True finishes. I have not yet shown them the Odie's Oil sample.
* I noticed a big difference in the feel of the 220 grit sanding versus the 1000 grit sanding. The improved smooth feel of the wood after the 1000 grit sanding was immediately apparent and quite pleasing to the touch. 

Photos:

The three mahogany pieces are arranged in this order:

Left: Tried and True Original
Center: Tried and True Varnish Oil
Right: Odie's Oil

About the photos with one piece of mahogany (Odie's Oil example):

One photo shows the Odie's Oil finish as applied after sanding to 220 grit, to match the Tried and True tests. The other photo shows the Odie's Oil finish after sanding to 1000 grit. The look was essentially the same, but the texture was much nicer and smoother on the 1000 grit side.

P.S. 
Last night, I attended a presentation on finishes. The presenter is an expert on finishing with decades of experience. I asked him, "What is the secret sauce that makes Tried and True and Odie's Oil so special and expensive? Are they worth the high cost?" The answer was "I wish I knew." and "No, I can't tell the difference between those expensive finishes and the common, ordinary oil finishes that we use." According to the presenter, the major difference in _appearance_ between oil finishes is how much they darken the wood. (There are other differences, like drying time, hardness of cure/polymerization, etc.)


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## NoThankyou (Mar 21, 2018)

Did anybody try Odie's vs. Minwax Antique Oil Finish?

It's not available in California because of the idiots at CARB.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

NoThankyou said:


> Did anybody try Odie's vs. Minwax Antique Oil Finish?
> 
> It's not available in California because of the idiots at CARB.


Is it CARB (all of California)? Could it be SCAQMD, where it might be available in San Diego or Ventura counties?

-> Do you have some Minwax Antique Oil Finish stashed away that I could try on that same mahogany? 

I would be happy to test it for you, but my prediction is that it will look and feel the same as the others. When I find time, I plan to test the same mahogany with boiled linseed oil (BLO) and tung oil for comparison.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO). Not really "boiled" but with metal additives that help it dry in a reasonable time. Here we go again, one last time.

Process:
Sand through the grits up to 220 with Harbor Freight Aluminum Oxide sandpaper (NOT recommended). Apply the BLO to coat well. Leave the BLO on for 5-10 minutes, then wipe off with a clean rag. Let cure 24 hours. Repeat for two additional coats. 

Photos:

* BLO 220 1 and 2: Sanded through the grits to 220.

* BLO 1000 1 and 2: Sanded through the grits to 220. Sanded with 500 and 1000 grit Silicon Carbide paper. Rub with 0000 steel wool. Steel wool, then coat, wipe, cure with BLO as above. No steel wool after final coat.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

Here is the full set of tests. Sorry, but I looked in my cabinet and did not find any tung oil. Someday I want to try tung oil and walnut oil.

Final Results for Tried and True Original, Tried and True Varnish Oil, Odie's Oil, and BLO:

Any of the finishes will do fine. The finishes looked almost identical. They were all easy to apply and use, although some had more complex instructions than others. The Odie's Oil is slightly lighter than the others, but I did not use a 3M gray pad or steel wool on it. The Odie's Oil instructions did not call for it. The BLO looked much darker when applied, but after wiping and curing, it is essentially the same as the others. 

In my opinion, the very expensive Odie's Oil is not worth the cost. You can easily argue the same for the Tried and True finishes, which are expensive, but cost half as much as the Odie's Oil. 

One factor I like about Odie's Oil and Tried and True is that they claim to be totally safe for food and baby contact. The BLO has metallic driers. The Odie's and Tried and True had a nicer smell. I did not like the smell of the BLO.

I will continue to use the Tried and True finishes for most projects, especially the ones that get baby or food contact. When I run out, I will give Tung Oil and maybe Walnut Oil a try when I want more oil finishes.

I hope this helps!

Photo 1 in order:
Tried and True Original, sanded through 220 grit, 3M gray pad
Tried and True Varnish Oil, sanded through 220 grit, 3M gray pad
Odie's Oil, sanded through 220 grit, no other treatment.
Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO), sanded through 220 grit, no other treatment.

Photo 2 in order:
Tried and True Original, sanded through 220 grit, 0000 steel wool
Tried and True Varnish Oil, sanded through 220 grit, 0000 steel wool
Odie's Oil, sanded through 1000 grit, no other treatment.
Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO), sanded through 1000 grit, 0000 steel wool before each application.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

P.S.

Q: Why all the oil finish testing?
A: See the attached photo. 

For way too many details, see this post: 
https://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f2/what-did-you-do-today-127682/index142/#post2075793


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## ceanderson (Nov 28, 2016)

I greatly appreciate your review and examples of these finishes. I've been using Odies Oil occasionally on smaller projects, and I've been happy with the results. But now I'm considering using it on a Sapele desk top, but was curious about some of the other finishes you tested. I think I'm going to stick with Odies for this project.


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## robbie7176 (Dec 11, 2019)

This is an old post but I use Odie's oil all the time and it is the simplest finish I have ever used. It seem like it will last forever. I have done 3 bread boxes and some coffee tables and can even tell any is gone out of the jar.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

robbie7176 said:


> This is an old post but I use Odie's oil all the time and it is the simplest finish I have ever used. It seem like it will last forever. I have done 3 bread boxes and some coffee tables and can even tell any is gone out of the jar.


We have had the same experience with the Tried and True finishes as well. After quite a few small projects, the cans still seem full. Those premium finishes are expensive, but you don't use much, so you should have them for a long time. 

At the same time, I stand by my conclusion that expensive "fancy" oil finishes are not that special compared with inexpensive ordinary oil finishes. One differentiator is toxicity. We are still making toys for the young members of our family. I am not "married" to Tried and True. Having bought it, we might as well use it. There is no reason for us to switch to Odie's Oil (which is also baby-safe) when we have so much Tried and True on hand.

The inexpensive can of Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) sits unused on our shelf. Because of the metallic driers, I do not consider BLO a good choice for a baby-safe finish. I will probably give it away when I get a chance, rather than waiting for the can to rust and leak all over the cabinet. 

I reach for the Tried and True rather than the BLO for psychological reasons, even when I don't need a baby-safe finish. I "feel" like I am making something special when I use it. As I said, our two cans (original and varnish oil) still seem full, and I wonder whether we will make enough projects in our lifetimes to use it up.


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## ceanderson (Nov 28, 2016)

All righty, one Sapele desk sanded up to 1K and a coat of Odies Oil, then Odies wax. I'm pretty pleased with the results, it turned out really well for this project. (Not a fan of hairpin legs, but that was the request )


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