treating a new staircase

[Araucaria]

We have a substantial new Ash staircase. The wood at present is a natural blonde colour, and looks very good the way it is.

I know we have to treat it with something. But I'm not too sure about using a vitrificateur (OK, varnish). We treated a floor with three coats of vitrificateur, doing it exactly as it said on the tins, and it has scratched in a way that I had hoped it wouldn't. It was also very expensive.

Subsequently we have treated some other wood around the house (inside as well as outside) with linseed oil. We've put it on diluted with turps, and added a siccatif. The result looks good, smells fine, and is easy to maintain: just slap a bit more on. But on a staircase?

Has anyone else used linseed oil on a floor? Is it a bad idea? And will it in time make the wood go much darker?

We've noticed that putting it on new oak makes the wood just a little darker, but on old oak, even though before treatment it is a light colour, it makes it practically black.

[Jonzjob]

Almost anything that you put on such a pale wood as ash will make it slightly darker. Just try a damp cloth for instance.

One of the things that would go well in my opinion would be a clear Danish oil. It is so much more than linseed and builds up a lovely finish, but it will need 'refreshing' once a year and possibly more on the treads. Nothing that I can think of will stand up to a lot of scratching by shoes and it may be an idea to put some kind of tread on the steps. That would also take any sliperyness away too and improve the safety angle?

Ash is such a lovely wood and you must be very pleased with the staircase. Any chance of a photo?

[DerekJ]

We used Danish Oil on ours. We weren't sure if it would be suitable but we did call the manufacturer to get their opinion. We're very pleased. It seems to war very well and isn't slippy.

[IMG]http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e170/DerekJordan/Sandbox/stairs1.jpg[/IMG]

We top it up on a reasonably regular basis which is very quick to do.

[Araucaria]

The stairs look like this:

[IMG]http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss293/Vanman15/stairs.jpg[/IMG]

The floor in front is oak and was treated with a glossy varnish.

As there is quite an area to be treated, the linseed oil/turps mix seemed attractive as it is a lot cheaper than most proprietary oils.

Wikipedia says that danish oil may contain tung oil, or may be polymerised linseed oil. And this link suggested that you might be getting any one of a number of different things in a can of danish oil.

Could either of you say what your danish oil actually contains?

I hope I am not beginning to sound like the type of forum-person who asks a question but has already made up his mind what to do, and will ignore the answers, but I don't want to spoil the wood and I am interested in alternative options. But also I don't like paying fancy prices for simple products, and the (linseed/turps/dryer) mix I've used elsewhere seems to work quite well. But so far I haven't used it anywhere underfoot.

[DerekJ]

I used Liberon Superior Danish Oil which contains Tung oil.

Info sheet here.  Note, it says "A wet surface will be an indication of the final colour".

[Jonzjob]

If you use linseed it will coat the wood and will look good while it protects, but if you use Danish oil it will also soak into the wood and protect it but it will also put a hard coat onto it and build up a lovely sheen. More expensive, yes, but you have a lovely staircase and it will almost certainly be worth it.

The choice is up to you and you pays yer money, etc?

What ever you choose, don't leave it too long or the wood will get stained and marked in use.