Problems with oil finish on Spotted Gum

A friend of mine recently made a table from some Spotted Gum slabs, and finished it with a Feast Watson exterior grade oil finish. He had some problems with the finish not drying, leaving sticky patches, even after a few days. I got some of his offcuts and made a new handle for an old hammer, and used some Feast Watson Scandinavian Oil on it, and had the same issue - even after a week of drying in decent weather, the finish was still tacky. I ended up wiping it down with turps to remove the tackiness, and put some oil-based poly on top, and it is now fine, but I'm curious as to why the oil finishes are not drying on this timber.

I've used the Scandi Oil plenty of times of various projects on many types of wood and never had the finish not dry before. The timber was from a tree in my friend's yard, and was milled than then left in separated stacks to dry for a year after milling.

Any ideas on what I can do with this timber to assist the oil finishes? I'm wanting to build a couple of wooden mallets, and would like to finish them with oil, but if it's not going to dry, then I'll need to change my plans.

I have used Rustins Danish oil on Spotted Gum mallet handles without any issues at all, but, apart from that I have little experience with the timber. I know that it has long fibres and is 'springy'. Keith Bootle ​Wood in Australia 1983, states "Slightly greasy in nature" "The high extractives content can be a problem with phenoloic-type adhesives" "not easy to impregnate with preservatives" so that would seem to imply it will be a fussy timber to finish. Also, interestingly, the timber is corrosive to aluminium!

I hope this helps at least a little. Hopefully someone who has more practical experience with the timber will respond.

David

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Originally Posted by surfdabbler

Any ideas on what I can do with this timber to assist the oil finishes? I'm wanting to build a couple of wooden mallets, and would like to finish them with oil, but if it's not going to dry, then I'll need to change my plans.

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I would try a wipe down with acetone prior to puting your finish on. See how this works.

I've used several danish oils (Haymes, Watco, Feast Watson) and Cabots decking oil on spotted gum without issue. The decking oil was on a fence built using the spotted gum timber for decking from Bunnings and the Danish oils on boards from a timber merchant. No special surface prep, just sanding. Was the first coat of danish oil wiped off within a few minutes? When the decking oil wore away after about 6 months, I did a light sand and finished with Feast Watson gloss exterior varnish. No adhesion problems and no issues applying 3 coats.