Waterlox Original Sealer and Finish, 1 Quart

This is an interesting product that you may find has a place in your woodworking arsenal. I tried this after reading a review of a different product on Amazon that touted this as superior. I had been using mostly oil finishes such as tung oil, danish oil and linseed oil based finishes for a satin, natural finish on the boxes I make. And I still love the finish those products create, along with their ease of application. I gave up on high gloss products like polyurethane, because they are fussy to apply (visible brush strokes, runs, drips, clouding, plastic look, long drying time etc.) This product says "medium sheen" on the can, but I consider it to be high gloss, though I'm not an expert by any means. It does require some care when applying. I recommend using thin coats and keeping an eye to head off runs. Definitely use a tack cloth prior to applying to ensure there is no dust for your brush to pick up. I pour a small amount into a small container (I find that the little cans from cat food work well after they are washed and dried), and I discard the leftover product at the end of a coat. I recommend at least 2 coats and sanding in between coats with a very fine paper such as #1500. I was able to achieve a nice glossy finish that seemed to be a hit with my customers. I still prefer the satin finish of oil products, but some people like high gloss and this definitely provides superior protection against water. One addendum: approximately the last quarter of the can was unusable because it turned into a thick, blobby mess, as if all the solvent had evaporated out of it, which shouldn't have happened because I kept the can closed when not in use. I wasn't sure if adding some mineral spirits would have restored it to usability but I wasn't willing to take a chance on it. One more addendum: the number of coats will ultimately be determined by the type of wood and the amount of moisture in the wood. I had one maple burl that was very old and dry. I kept applying coats to the bowl I made from it, but there were several stubborn dry spots that were very thirsty. Eventually, I think I ended up applying about 5 or 6 coats (allowing proper drying time and sanding lightly between coats). The results were well worth it and the multiple coats imparted a beautiful glossy shine.

I don’t usually wait this long to leave a review, but I wanted to make sure this stuff actually held up. About a year ago, I had some leftover butcherblock from a home project and decided to make a custom dog bowl stand for my golden retriever, Luna. I finished it with Waterlox Original, and honestly, it turned out perfect. She uses it every day — spills water, drools, knocks the bowls around — and a full year later, the finish still looks great. No peeling, no dulling, no water damage. I just wipe it down and it cleans up like nothing happened. Application takes patience, and it’s not the cheapest, but if you’re building something you want to last — especially something functional — this is 100% worth it. Definitely using it again on future wood projects.

I used Waterlox original finish and sealer on my IKEA Hammarp oak butcher block counters. I first sanded the counters with 220 till they were very smooth. Cleaned with tack cloth. Used a Shur-line pad painter to apply the product. It is very thin, not like paint. (I dripped a bit of Waterlox in my new stainless steel sink and am not sure how to remove it. I think you can use mineral spirits but I was worried about using that on my new sink.) Per the instructions on their website, I applied a liberal amount of Waterlox to the countertops with the pad painter using long smooth strokes. It was easy to apply and not at all fussy, there were small air bubbles and brush strokes, but they all disappeared. I wasn't sure how perfect it needed to be, I watched many videos of other people applying it, and some people were careful while others just slapped it on with an old rag. It seems to be very forgiving. I sanded very lightly with 220 after the first coat since it seemed to raise the grain up a little. I also sanded a bit after the second coat, but skipped the sanding after the third coat since it was really smooth. (Waterlox website says that sanding is not necessary for adhesion between coats.) I applied 4 coats in total, waiting 24 hours between applications. I'm not going to lie, the waiting was a real pain. My kitchen was out of commission for almost a week. But with each coat, you could see the finish building up to a nice sheen. It also darkened the wood and brought out the grain. I didn't use any stain on the counters beforehand since I was counting on the Waterlox to darken it a bit. The Waterlox sinks into the wood as it cures, and at first I wasn't sure how I would be able to tell when I had enough coats. But I just kept applying it until the sheen looked nice and even. Now for the warning-WEAR A RESPIRATOR! The solvents that evaporate right after application are strong and you don't want to breathe them. I made the mistake of not wearing a respirator during the first application and I was dizzy for half a day. Learn from my stupidity! I bought a 3M respirator with the pink cartridges suitable for organic vapors, it was like $30 but worth it. The vapors won't bother you at all if you wear it. (I also wore safety glasses and gloves.) Ventilating the space properly really seems to help the curing process. Luckily I live in Georgia and it's August, so I had no problem keeping the temps over 70 degrees. I opened all the windows in the house to vent, but I did not open the kitchen window or turn on the ceiling fan since I didn't want bugs or dust settling into my finish. Note that I finished the counters after they were installed. If I had to do it again, I would have finished them in my garage before installation. I have read complaints from other folks about the smell. I did find the initial smell to be pretty overwhelming, but that is to be expected, no surprise there. The solvents evaporate about 2-4 hours after application, then you are left with the smell of tung oil, which is strong but not entirely revolting. I am willing to deal with it since the end result is worth it and I did not feel any ill effects from the tung smell. Not sure how long that will linger, I will monitor it and update later. The photos show before and after, you can really see how the Waterlox changes the color and adds sheen. I like the semi gloss sheen and since my cabinets and backsplash will be refinished in a dark navy, I planned on having the shinier counters to break up the dark colored cabinets. I haven't tested it for water resistance, I will have to update that after I use the counters for awhile. I bought 1 quart of the original and had enough to do 4 coats on my counters in my smallish kitchen, with a small amount of product left over. It doesn't keep though, unless you somehow squeeze or displace all the oxygen out of the container. When applying the finish, I only poured out small amounts into my paint tray since you can't put the unused product back in the can. Good luck, be patient, ventilate your space and, wear your respirator!

Waterlox Original Sealer/Finish works well for furniture and items that will likely be in a high use environment. I found that 3 brushed-on coats both sealed and provided a medium to high gloss sheen, and made a good base for a final Waterlox "high gloss" (separate product) finish coat, as shown in the 3rd picture. For this particular project and surface (African Mahogany and Walnut), sanding was down to 320 grit. I also used a grain and pore filler (Aquacoat transparent) on a sealing coat of clear waxless shellac 1 lb cut. Unfortunately, the shellac caused some unacceptable discoloration under the grain filler, and had to be removed through extensive sanding after the 1st coat of Waterlox sealer. Quite laborsome, but the Waterlox sanded out relatively easily. The pore filler was quite tough to sand out. Also, I should have thoroughly tested this approach before applying. Waterlox on the pore filler would have been fine without the shellac base, I believe. Nevertheless, once the surface was again prepared, I used just the Waterlox Original Sealer/ Finish in 3 coats. Out of a fresh can, Waterlox spread quite liberally with a brush, and I had to pay close attention to under-runs along the edges of the work surface, and showed some slumping on the edges as it cured - about a 24 hour period in a well ventilated area. Where there were runs and slumps, I used a 320 grit sandpaper back to a smooth surface after a minimal 24 hour drying time. It is very important to keep the can of Waterlox sealed away from any oxygen to prevent gelling or skimming. I used "bloxygen" (inert gas) sprayed into the can to prevent gelling and skimming, but noted that it did appear a bit more viscous out of the can in the second and third coat applications. Also noted that the applied material tended to pick up anything and everything dust-wise that might be floating in the air, and created "nibbs" over the surface. I worked some of this out with a 1000 grit paper and dry. Although doing so tended to leave some tells within the surface and needed a little extra work with a 3000 grit paper to conceal them. It is also worth mentioning that Waterlox should not be brushed multiple times during an application as it tends to start tacking within a few minutes of exposure to air, and will leave brush marks. Best brush approach I found was to follow the product application directions closely, use a good brush, and only brush-on with two moves - apply once against the grain, then pull with brush tip with the grain one end to other in a single motion. The Waterlox does a good job of flowing and filling to a smooth finish. I would also suggest taking as much time as necessary practicing on culls with this material to assure few mistakes and problems in a keeper piece! Waterlox is an excellent tung oil based finish that I'll use many times on future projects!

Elected to create a custom shelf for my RecTeq pellet smoker (RT-590) rather than install a smaller stock metal shelf. The Waterlox Stain finish has proven to be an outstanding finish option for the grill shelf project. Waterlox Stain (though I find “stain” to be a bit of a misnomer – it only adds a very small amount of “yellowish warmth” color) is an ol’school tung oil finish and requires a touch of user detail for proper use. All the usage information you may require is easily available on your well-known “YOU-video” site with a simple search. Additional Shelf Production Info (all products available on Amazon): The hardware is simply a 36”x11.5”x1” Solid Builder Grade Red Oak Stair Tread and 12” Toirxarn Folding Shelf Brackets. The board was lightly sanded, stained with Minwax Golden Pecan, then it received five coats of Waterlox Original (amazing stuff!) on both sides prior to laser engraving. I created the art design on Photoshop and handed the laser engraving work off to a local small business. Following the engraving process, the art design was filled-in using black acrylic latex paint, then another five coats of Waterlox applied only on the design side. I probably over did it with the coats of Waterlox, but the wood shelf should be well-protected from the elements and inevitable hot grease spills. The advantage of the Waterlox product over polyurethane (a hard plastic coating) is that it remains pliable when cured and the fix for serious staining is simply a little sandpaper and a couple more coats.

Very good results. This is a traditional oil finish. The label on the container notes that it contains mineral spirits, tung oil, linseed oil, ester gum, olefin resin, and phenolic resin; about 60% volatile and 40% non-volatile (the last 4 ingredients). It is the mineral spirits that provide its principle odor when you apply it, and the smell is not unlike Minwax poly, Watco, Formby's, or other oil-based finishes. The label contains appropriate instructions for ventilation. Like other such oil-based finishes, it will change the color of the wood to a warmer tone. The liquid is a light brown color. I've observed that most of the VOCs flash off within about the first hour. The finish "dries" through a combination of the VOCs evaporating and the oils oxidizing to form a film with the resins. Moving the air with a fan will aid in setting up the finish. I've only used this on freshly machined wood, so while I cannot comment on how well it works on refinished wood, I've always had success with it setting up within the advertised 24 hours (usually less, but I wait for the full 24 before recoating). Key here is to use thin coats, and I've never had to thin it to apply it. No sanding is needed between coats. After the prescribed 24 hours, there is a very faint oil smell (probably the tung and linseed oils) that fades as the finish completely cures over a couple of days. No special techniques needed to apply the finish. Depending on the project, I've used a brush, lint free cloth, or hand rubbed it. Typically, I use a lint free cloth and wipe off the excess to a uniform film, and I wear nitrile gloves more to keep my hands clean than anything else. /// IMPORTANT - dispose of oily rags properly. Like with all oil finishes, oily rags can spontaneously ignite especially if wadded up or left in a pile. /// The label says it produces a "medium sheen" that fades to a less glossy sheen over 3-4 months. I've found that to be accurate. A distinct advantage over this oil finish compared to polyurethane is that repairs are easy. Polyurethane does not like to adhere to old polyurethane which is why you need to roughen the surface by sanding it. This Waterlox finish provides good protection to the wood, but you can also reapply the finish to it over time as long as it is clean. /// The only down side to this stuff is that it is roughly twice as expensive as other finishes, so I use it on special projects. Approx street prices: Waterlox ($43/quart = $1.34/ounce compared to Watco Danish Oil ($8/pint = $0.50/ounce), Minwax Antique Oil Finish ($14/pint = $0.88/ounce), Minwax Tung Oil Finish ($20/quart = $0.63/ounce), Formby's Traditional Tung Oil Finish ($10/pint = $0.63/ounce). So, others are less expensive and work very well too. The sheen is different between them, though. A gallon is more cost effective ($90/gallon = $0.70/ounce), but unless you have use a LOT of finish, it will go bad once opened and oxygen repeatedly gets to it. You may be able to find it cheaper from other places as noted in other reviews; for me as a Prime member, the difference in shipping costs made it less of an issue for me. /// PERFORMANCE = 5 STARS but COST brings it down to 4 STARS. Bottom line: I like it and will continue to use it. /// My solution to extend shelf life is to remove the oxygen .... Ok, so I'm eccentric. ... to save the finish, I decant only what I need using a cooking syringe into a small mason jar and replace air with nitrogen in the finish's original container as I seal it up..... ( air is 71% nitrogen and 21% oxygen) .... I have a tank of pressurized nitrogen for welding and use a regulator to reduce pressure to a couple of psi, throttled through a ball valve and tygon tubing... This really works very well for me. Other, less nutty methods are out there to do the same thing, and there are some consumer products like "Bloxygen," but they're expensive too. ///

I purchased this quart of Waterlox Original Sealer/Finish as well as the quart of Waterlox Original Satin Finish ( Waterlox Original Satin Finish, Quart ) to seal and finish freshly installed butcher block counters from IKEA. I followed the instruction guide provided on Waterlox's website as well as I could and to date (having been finished about a month) the finish looks great. In order to achieve the satin finish, Waterlox recommends applying 3 coats of the Original Sealer/Finish followed by a single coat of the Original Satin Finish. The Original Sealer/Finish itself was incredibly straight-forward to apply, providing fantastic results while using cheap $1 foam brushes from a hardware store. While the foam brushes were the one item I skimped on from Waterlox's instructions, I would definitely heed their warning to wait at least 24 hours between coats and to provide constant cross-ventilation during the applying/curing period. In my instance I kept our kitchen hood running on high 24 hours a day and opened the sliding glass door as frequently as I could bear (applied the coats during winter here in NY). I hope to update my review after we've put the counters and finish through the motions for a longer period of time, but I would definitely recommend Waterlox's products based on the initial results. PS: Make sure to purchase an inexpensive respirator and filters such as these below. You will not regret it. 3M Half Facepiece Reusable Respirator 6300/07026(AAD), Respiratory Protection, Large (Pack of 1) 3M Multi Gas/Vapor Cartridge/Filter 60926, P100 Respiratory Protection (Pack of 2)

Easy to apply