French Polishing Oil

[Tom West]

For those who are French Polishers..........I wonder what type of oil you use? I see a few different types mentioned, mineral ,olive , walnut etc. Is there any down side to using any of these and what are the advantages of one over the others?
Tom

[Craig Bumgarner]

I use cold pressed walnut oil, but have used olive oil. I switched to walnut oil because it is supposed to set up over time which olive oil does not. I've never seen any real evidence of this in my walnut oil. That said, over time, you learn to use less and less oil so that eventually I don't think it matters much. I build up with no oil at all. Once I get in to the final stages, I touch the end of my finger on the upturned oil bottle cap and transfer just a tiny bit of oil. Much less than a drop. I just looked at the three year old bottle of oil I have and it looks like it is just as full now as when I bought it. I probably haven't used 10 grams in three years. That's all it takes and it does make a significant difference in the application, but it doesn't take much. I find with less oil, I get a quicker dry time and a harder finish.

[Michael Lewis]

On a tip from an expert I started using some Formby's lemon oil furniture polish. It is very thin, like kerosene, but oily plus it smells very nice. One thing I prefer about it is there is very little drag from it's viscosity like you can get with olive or nut oils.