Odies vs Osmo vs Rubio - Search for the ULTIMATE WOODWORKING FINISH

Hey what's up guys, thanks for tuning in to Drew Build Stuff. In this video I'm going to be testing out three of the most popular woodworking finishes. So that's Odie's Oil, Osmo 3043 and Rubio Monocoat. I'm finishing up three black walnut and black epoxy charcuterie boards and I'm going to try to apply the finishes exactly how the manufacturers suggest. And then we're going to test their durability including their resistance to liquids and scratch resistance. So let's get into it. So starting off with Odie's Oil. For sanding I work my way up to 320 grit while water popping in between each grit. Odie's Oil says you can sand to whatever grit you want and the higher you go the more sheen you'll get. So I like a kind of moderate satin sheen so I thought I'd try 320. So the first step is to stir it up until it has a honey-like consistency. I should also note this one easily smells the best of the three. You'll notice it right away and it's not bad having it stuck on your clothes for the rest of the day. Next step is to put a few drops on the board. This stuff really goes a long way so start out with a little bit and you can always add more if you need it. To apply I'm using one of these white non-abrasive pads. And in circular motions I'm just going to work this oil into the grain of the wood. So the idea with Odie's Oil is that you're going to leave a little bit of extra on and after anywhere from 40 minutes to 20 hours you're going to come back and with a white terry cloth take off all of the excess until there's nothing left to wipe off. You're also going to want to finish both sides at the same time. That goes for all three of these finishes so that you don't get any cupping or bowing that you could if you leave one side unfinished overnight. So that's how I'm going to leave it and now with the magic of video editing 40 minutes later I'm going to come back with a clean terry cloth and just take off as much as I possibly can. So that's it for Odie's. I'm just going to leave it with this one coat. You can do as many as you want but I'm just going to leave it with one. It's already fully protected and I like the way it looks already. Now for Osmo Polyx 3043 I'm starting off by sanding up to 180 and once I'm finished I'm getting the piece as dust free as possible just with some microfiber rags. So after giving it a good stir I'm just going to drizzle a little bit onto the board and then just like last time I'm going to use a white applicator pad and work this into the grains of the wood as much as possible. After letting the board sit for about 5 minutes I just came back with a brand new white applicator pad and just took off any of the excess Osmo. A day later I just took a fresh maroon pad or you can use 320 grit and sanded down the piece. And after getting the piece as dust free as possible it's ready for another coat of Osmo. On this coat and the next coat I'm just using a rag to apply mainly because I just don't like the way the Scotch Brite pads make the black epoxy look. The pads just don't leave a perfectly even finish which you need when working with all black epoxy. On the wood it's not that big a deal because the grain kind of covers up any of the slight imperfection but with the all black epoxy I've just found the rag works better with Osmo for those finishing coats. And again after about 5 minutes I came back with a clean shop towel and just took off any remaining Osmo. The next day I also did one more coat like this until I was happy with the final look. Now for Rubio Monocoat. I started off by sanding up to 180 while water popping in between grits. So with Rubio you want to get the board as dust free as possible. First I'm wiping it off with a microfiber rag and then I'm going to damp a rag with mineral spirits and wipe down the board. You can also use the raw wood cleaner from Rubio, it's just about 10 times the price and does the same job. Then you have to wait for it to completely dry and that can take up to an hour. And then we're good to start mixing up some Rubio. So this is Rubio Oil Plus 2C which comes in two parts, the base and the accelerator. And we're just going to mix it at a 3 to 1 ratio. So for this little board I'm just mixing up a little bit, I'll use 15ml of base and 5ml of accelerator. Which is more than enough, you could probably use half of this amount. The accelerator basically just makes it cure faster so this piece will be ready for full use in about a week. So for application I'm just going to drizzle a little on and use a white applicator pad to work it into the grains as much as possible. Again I'm doing both sides at the same time so there's no risk of any cupping or bowing overnight. And once the board is fully saturated we're going to let it sit for about 3 to 5 minutes. And then come back with a clean terry cloth and take off as much of the finish as possible. You want to do this by hand instead of using a buffer and I know I like to use power tools most of the time too. But this you really want to make sure you get off as much finish as possible. Rubio always says you can't take too much off but you can leave too much on. So a day later I'm going to come back with a maroon pad and lightly scuff up the surface. Then we're going to get as dust free as possible and apply another coat the same as the first. I know it's called Rubio Monocoat and they love to pride themselves on being one coat but with black walnut and black epoxy especially I just like to do two coats because I think it evens out the sheen a little bit. Though I do trust the board is fully protected after one coat unlike Osmo that needs at least two or three. And again after 3 to 5 minutes I just come back with a clean terry towel and take off as much of the finish as possible. So it's been about two weeks since these boards were finished and they're now all fully cured and ready for use. They all look great but they each have a kind of distinct feel and look to them. This is Rubio, it turned out as kind of a low satin in sheen and you can still see a lot of the pores of the grain coming through the finish which I personally like. This is Osmo, it's got the smoothest feel out of any of them and probably is sitting more of a semi-gloss than a satin. It does have a great high end shiny look to it though. And the Otis is the most matte out of all of them even though it was sanded the highest up to 320. It does have a glass like feel to it and it looks great though it is a little more matte than my taste and since we're sanding so high it doesn't have that feel of the grain like the other two have. So now we're going to do a liquid test. I'm going to put a glass of ice water, some coke and some rum on each one of these boards and let it sit for an hour. So first up is Rubio. It cleaned off pretty nicely. The coke didn't leave any mark at all but the ice water and the rum did leave a little bit of a spot. You could feel it with your hand but after about 20 minutes you couldn't feel it anymore though it was still slightly visible. Next up is Osmo. All three of these liquids absolutely ate through the Osmo finish. I know a lot of people use Osmo and I used to a lot up until recently but I've had this happen a bunch on a bunch of pieces I've finished and just cannot seem to get this to work any better. This sucks because of the three I probably like the looks of this one the best. So I don't know if this is a problem with Osmo or me. If you see something I'm doing wrong definitely leave it in the comments below and tell me how dumb I am. But I just can't get this to work for me and I don't know why it's such a popular option for dining room tables let alone hardwood floors that seem like they'd be ruined in like a month. Next up is Odi's Oil. Watching me remove it here you can noticeably see a difference on how much the liquid beads up compared to the other two finishes. It doesn't look like anything saturated into the wood at all. After removing the liquid it had the least damage of all three and it only had one coat. I would say it's just slightly better than Rubio. The only thing that really seemed to leave a mark was the water and rum. It is still noticeable from the right angle but you can't really feel it with your hands similar to Rubio. I'm confident that both Odi's and Rubio you could take a maroon pad to and just reapply the finish and it would probably look good as new. Osmo on the other hand I'm not sure how to fix that. So now we're going to do a little scratch testing. I'm just using a bottle of rum, a steel aerosol can and this plastic container that has some little gritty plasticky feet on them. So I'm just doing some simple and consistent movements with each of the objects without pressing down. I'm only using the weight of the object itself and then repeating the same thing on all three boards. And after giving them a quick wipe down we can check out the damage. With Rubio you can see some light surface scratches that seem pretty consistent over both the epoxy and the wood. I tried buffing with a microfiber towel for a couple minutes and still didn't really take them out. But they aren't overly deep and I'm going to guess that another coat of Rubio would probably take these away. Osmo also showed some scratches but they seem to show up more prominently on the black epoxy than the wood. In fact you can't even really find them on the wood but it definitely is noticeable on the black epoxy more than the other two I would say. But that's a big thumbs up on the wood if you aren't planning to have much liquid around it. Up next is Odi's oil and it once again performed the best out of the three even though it was sanded to the highest grit. There is definitely still some scratches but they're less noticeable than the other two and seem to be just really light surface scratches. So that's going to do it for this comparison video. I tried to keep everything as unbiased as possible. I don't have any affiliation with any three of these companies nor have I talked to any of their owners or anything. I have used all three in the past and if you want my opinion I just like the Rubio Monocoat because of its ease of application and look how good it looks on this raw walnut. I love how the grain still pops through the finish and you can still lightly feel it yet it gives that high dollar perfect walnut look. So thanks a ton for watching this video. If you made it this far leave me a comment below on which one you prefer or give me a recommendation for another product as I'm always looking for more. And maybe one day in the future I'll do a video about it. If you haven't already check out my channel I do a bunch of builds not just woodworking, a whole bunch of random stuff like this CO2 powered rocket.