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Originally Posted by Sohei
Vance, I am curious about using lemon oil for wood products if you don't know the finish. Is it good, bad or make any difference at all? I use lemon oil mainly to prevent cracking in the winter when my house is dry. Is this necessary or not?
Thanking you in advance for your input.
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Lemon oil generally will not harm a finish. The problem arises when you are using it on an open pored wood with little finish on it like Oak. It will penetrate into the wood, which is not so bad unless you at some point want to have the piece refinished. Then it is a nightmare because most lacquers will not tolerate the presence of this oil in the wood. The only way to get around this problem outside of a real industrial strength stripper would be to French Polish the piece.
The use of lemon oil is not necessary but it wont hurt anything as long as you don't get carried away and soak the piece in the stuff. If you are doing something like a table top I would suggest you don't use the oil on the top but climb under the table and apply it to the underside of the table where it really needs it. The underside is generally never finished outside of some stain and the oil can be beneficial in these locations. Most warpage and cracking is caused by the unequal surfaces absorbing or releasing moisture at different rates. The oil helps to stabilize the unfinished surface and lessen the uneven response to temperature and humidity.