Wood care

Choosing a wood finish

Oil, wax, varnish, lacquer or French polish: six questions to find the right one

Six questions Finish finder Types of finish

Before you choose

Six questions to ask

What is it?
Floors need a tough, foot-traffic finish. Worktops and chopping boards need something safe around food. Furniture can have a softer, more beautiful finish that you refresh now and then.
Indoors or outdoors?
Outdoor wood faces rain, frost and sun, so it needs a finish made for the job and more regular care. Most Mylands finishes are for interior use. For garden furniture in teak, iroko and other hardwoods, choose Durax Teak Oil.
Is the wood really bare?
Old wax, oil, lacquer or polish can stop a new finish from soaking in or sticking. If water beads on the surface, or a scratch looks lighter than the surface around it, there is probably something on it already.
What was used on it before?
If you know the existing finish, you can often refresh it rather than strip it: re-oil an oiled table, rewax a waxed chest, revive French polish. If you don’t know, always test first on your own timber, or ask the Mylands Experts.
What colour and sheen do you want?
Oils warm and deepen wood, water-based finishes keep it lighter, and sheen runs from a barely-there matt to a mirror gloss. To change the colour, a stain goes on first.
How much looking after will you do?
Oils and waxes are easy to refresh in patches but need regular care. Varnishes and lacquers need less day-to-day attention, but are harder to repair invisibly when they finally wear.

Martin’s advice

Explain the maintenance at the start, not after the finish has failed.

Find your finish

Continue

Finish finder

Which finish for which job?

I want to finish…	Our starting recommendation	Why
A wooden floor, natural look	Hard Wax Oil	Durable, natural, and easy to repair in patches
A wooden floor, tough sealed finish	MyLac (homes) or MyLac Extra (busy and commercial floors)	Hard-wearing water-based floor lacquer in Matt, Satin or Gloss
A dining or coffee table	Wood Finishing Oil or Danish Oil, or Hard Wax Oil for a tougher finish	A natural, tactile finish that is easy to refresh
A chopping board, butcher’s block or food-prep surface	Food Safe Oil	Made for surfaces that touch food
Kitchen cabinets and bathroom woodwork	Quick Dry Kitchen and Bathroom Varnish	Clear, wipeable and quick drying
Antique or fine furniture	French Polish or Wax Polish	Traditional finishes that can be repaired and revived
Teak and hardwood garden furniture	Durax Teak Oil	Replaces natural oils lost through weathering
Doors, skirting, handrails and turned work	Melamine Lacquer	A hard, heat- and water-resistant clear finish
Wooden toys	Acrylic Sealer under a water-based topcoat	Water-based; Acrylic Sealer complies with EN71 for toys
Guitars, violins and other instruments	Citrus Oil	A gentle, low-build oil for instrument care
Bowls and pens on the lathe	Cellulose Sanding Sealer and High Build Friction Polish	A fast, glossy finish on the lathe

The types of finish

Continue

Compare

Choosing by type of finish

Finish	How it works	Look and feel	Protection	Upkeep
Oil	Sinks in, feeds the wood and hardens inside the grain	Natural, warm, low sheen	Moderate	Re-oil when it looks dry
Hard Wax Oil	Oils that sink in, feed the wood and harden within the grain, and waxes	Natural with a soft sheen	Good	Clean, then refresh worn areas
Wax	Sits on top and is buffed	Soft, warm lustre	Hard-wearing when maintained	Buff often, rewax when dull
Varnish	A surface coating that builds a clear film	Matt to Gloss	High	Wipe clean, recoat when worn
Lacquer	A surface coating that builds a hard clear film	Matt to Gloss	High to very high	Clean, recoat when worn
French polish	Thin shellac layers built up by hand	Deep, glowing shine	Light to moderate	Careful use, revive or repolish

Colour

Want to change the colour?

Stain first, then finish. Earth Stains, Light Fast Stains, Nitrostains and Water Stains each suit different finishes, so choose the stain and the topcoat together. Only Water Stains and Nitrostains go under French polish, and Water Stains need a coat of Shellac Barrier Seal before any water-based lacquer or varnish. Nitrostains are for furniture only, not floors.

Always test first on your own timber, with a test board taken all the way through to the final coat.

Read the wood stain guide

From the Mylands Experts

The floor that should not have been sanded

Martin remembers a floor that had always responded beautifully to a good clean and a fresh coat of wax. Years later, wear led the owner to have it sanded back to bare wood, and then they could not get back the colour they had loved. Decades of patina had gone in an afternoon.

Before you strip or sand anything, clean a small area, let it dry and look again. You may find far more good finish, and far more character, than you expected.

Martin’s advice: do not assume sanding is automatically the best restoration method. Once the colour and character have gone, they are very hard to bring back.

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