Osmo Polyx -- not the answer to my finishing prayers

Encouraged by John TenEyck's recent thread about testing Rubio Monocoat, I ran some tests on a different hardwax oil, Osmo Polyx in the matte sheen.

I tested two samples. One, with big pores, was white oak. The other, with small pores, was hard maple. I sanded to 320 and applied three finish coats, waiting a day between the coats. The finish went on easily, looked great, and felt terrific. Then I waited ten days before doing any testing.

I tested with quarter-sized puddles of: water, Windex, and denatured alcohol. (That's not my usual full collection of fluids, just what I had on hand at the time.) The Windex penetrated through the finish on the oak in less than ten seconds, and changed the color of the wood. The water soaked into both samples within ten minutes, raising the grain quite noticeably. The alcohol almost completely disappeared in that same ten minutes. I think it mostly soaked into the wood. It changed the sheen of the finish, but didn't raise the grain as noticeably as the water.

For a furniture maker, this performance is a big fail. I could not use this finish anyplace there might be water.

Osmo says to sand to 180 - 240 grit for furniture, and I think only 2 coats of finish. A friend of mine used Polyox on a walnut live edge coffee table. Cold water and Bourbon did nothing to it. I don't know how fine he sanded it, but suspect he stayed within the recommended grit range. There was an article in FWW a few years ago from a guy who uses Polyox on dining tables. He described his process in the article. You might want to check that, too, before giving up on it.

John

I'm following these discussions because I've been considering trying them out. Thanks to both John & Jamie for testing & posting the results. It's a big help.

This is disappointing to hear. I use Odies oil often on turned pieces and have not tried any rigorous testing, but properly applied it does seem to be quite protective against water, even when sanding up to pretty high grits (800).