Rustins Danish Oil

In the blog we posted yesterday we focussed on the Rustins brand which is available from PagesDIY.com and our brick and mortar store in Port Talbot, South Wales.

Today we're continuing with the Rustins theme and looking more specifically at one of the products from the Rustins range.

Rustins Danish Oil is one of the most famous and popular products in the range. In fact Rustins was the first to manufacture Danish Oil. Danish Oil is an easy wipe-on low lustre finish for all types of wood. On all interior and exterior wooden surfaces including...doors, dressers, cladding, garden and indoor furniture, window frames, turned woodwork etc. Apply liberally with a clean rag or brush and wipe off the surplus oil after a few minutes for a natural low lustre finish.

Danish Oil is a special formulation developed by Rustins Ltd. based on Tung Oil, also known as Chinese Wood Oil. The oil is extracted from nuts, similar in size to a Brazil nut, growing on species of trees found mainly in China and some areas of South America. After processing the oil is blended with synthetic resins to improve hardness, and other vegetable oils. Driers and solvents are added to improve the performance and application properties, so that Danish Oil may be applied with a rag or brush.

The special ingredients used in the manufacture of Danish Oil penetrate deep into all types of timber, drying to a hard, durable and water resistant seal. Unlike varnishes it does not leave a thick film on the surface which may peel, chip or craze on ageing. The oil dries quickly in 4 to 6 hours, depending on ambient temperature and humidity, producing a non tacky surface. It does not, therefore pick up dust as will wood treated with linseed oil. As it is a hard drying oil, it may be used as a primer or sealer on bare wood before applying other finishes, if required. Danish Oil may be used on interior and exterior woodwork and can be over-coated with a varnish or paint at any time, if it is desired to alter the appearance.

 It's so easy to use

• Apply liberally with a clean rag or brush and wipe off the surplus oil after a few minutes.
• Allow to dry and repeat. New wood generally requires 3 applications.

Absolutely no skill is required for application, as even when the oil is applied with a brush, it does not have to be brushed out in the same way as a varnish. The brush is merely used to spread the oil liberally over the surface. For an outstanding finish the last coat of Danish Oil may be applied by rubbing over the surface with fine steel wool 000 grade, or a scouring pad, such as Scotchbrite. Then wiping off the surplus with a soft cloth. This will remove any "nibs" on the surface and leave the surface with a silky-smooth finish.

Danish Oil will bring out the beauty of all timbers and give a natural open-grained soft lustrous finish. The natural colour of the wood may be altered by staining with Rustin's Wood Dye before applying Danish Oil. The Wood Dye can also be added to Danish Oil to make a tinted oil.

Danish Oil may be applied to surfaces that have been treated with other oils, provided the surfaces are clean. Surfaces that have been wax polished however, must be cleaned first with steel wool, white spirit and clean rag.

The finish is easily maintained by re-oiling as required once the surface has been cleaned with a mild detergent solution, rinsed and dried. Alternatively, the surface may be cleaned with steel wool, white spirit and clean rag. Exterior woodwork,will require re-oiling annually or more frequently. For instance, oily hardwoods tend to be more resistant than softwoods and oak which may need more attention. The durability on exterior woodwork can be improved by diluting Danish Oil with equal parts of White Spirit for the first application. This will improve the penetration. Three undiluted coats should then be applied. When applied to previously oiled, or varnished surfaces, or after repeated oiling of new wood, the surface may develop a slight gloss. This can be removed by rubbing with the grain with 00 or 000 steel wool and wax polish, finishing off with a soft cloth.

Rustin's Danish Oil is used extensively by woodturners worldwide to obtain a superb satin finish.

You'll find Rustin's Danish Oil both in our store in Port Talbot and at PagesDIY.com.

Rustins Products

You'll find a huge range of Rustins Products available from our online store PagesDIY.com and our physical store in Port Talbot, South Wales.

Rustins produce a massive range of quality products starting out as a small shop in London in 1924. Sidney Rustin opened his first shop in London's Shoreditch district where he sold wood finishing products to local residents and trades people.

Sidney's father was a cabinetmaker and his mother funded the business venture with £50. During the second world war the first night raid destroyed the original 1932 factory and the business moved to its present location in Cricklewood, London.

Ronnie Rustin, Sidney's son, took over the business and ran it until his death in 2008. He drove the growth of Rustin's to be one of the best brands in the industry with focus on wood finishing products, speciality paints and decorating sundries. Rustin's products sell throughout the UK to home DIY enthusiasts and professionals who want quality and innovative products.

Rustins also exports to more than 20 countries.

Rustins formulated its Strypit paint remover in 1947 and demand remains high. Rustins was the first manufacturer of Danish Oil which remains a famous and popular product.

In 2004 a fire from a nearby warehouse spread out of control and destroyed the Rustin's warehouse and six other properties. Production ceased briefly while a new warehouse was rented. A new state-of-the-art warehouse was built adjacent to the manufacturing site. During this time the passion and commitment of employees for Rustin's shined through as stocks were replenished to service customers.

Today Rustins continues its research and development efforts on its core markets of wood finishing, speciality paint and decorating. Rustins produce a huge range of products available to order online at PagesDIY.com. The product range includes: decking products; floorcare products; garden furniture oils; paints; polishes; primers and undercoats; teak, danish, tung and linseed oils; varnishes; wax; wood dyes and woodcare renovators.

Why buy from Page's DIY?

We thought we'd just do a brief post since our very first blog post which gave a bit of our company history and background and use it to answer the question in the title.

Basically as our very first blog post makes clear we are a family business with a long history. We're not an internet business run by a 14 year old boy from his dad's garage. In fact our ecommerce division which includes our online DIY store PagesDIY.com has been trading online since 2007 and was set up and is run by Chris Page (The 4th generation of the family to be involved with the business since it was founded in 1918). Our online store has continued in the long standing tradition of our business in providing excellent customer service as the online reviews we're getting shows.

When you buy from Page's DIY Ltd. either from our online DIY store or our brick and mortar store in Port Talbot you can be reassured that you are buying from a long running independent family business now in it's 4th generation of the same family.

The picture to the left shows where the business began in 1918 in metal roofed workshops to the rear of 5 Grove Place. You can also see our first DIY / ironmongery and hardware shop where the blue car is parked outside which opened in 1960.

Today the business has grown and in 1990 moved to larger premises in Talbot Road, Port Talbot where we're still based today. If you want to take a look around our physical store you can take a 360 degree look around here.

So when you buy from us you can be rest assured that you're buying from a business that is almost 100 years old, safe in the knowledge that we have an excellent reputation both locally and now nationally though our ecommerce division.

Christmas & Cold Weather

After a very mild autumn the temperature and weather is far more winter like. We haven't had any snow yet where our store is based in Port Talbot but there is snow a short drive from us in the Brecon Beacons.

With the winter weather you'll find our Port Talbot brick and mortar store Page's DIY Ltd. well stocked with many things you're likely to need as the mercury plummets. We currently hold good levels of stock of snow shovels, paraffin, de-icer and rock salt. So don't get caught out by snow or the icy conditions and make sure you stock up before hand!

If you're at a slight loss as to what to get someone who likes to induldge themselves doing DIY you'll find a huge range of tools etc. available to purchase online from PagesDIY.com The site stocks tools to suit most trades whether you're looking for a gift for someone interested in woodworking, engineering & metalworking, building work etc. there's a good chance we'll be able to supply the tool needed which could double as a Christmas present.

We have many tools available in sets which make great presents. Such as screwdriver sets, chisel sets, spanner sets, socket sets etc.

Don't delay if you want to buy an item from PagesDIY.com as an xmas present as orders placed after Tuesday 20/12/11 probably won't arrive in time for Christmas.

Dale Designer Door Lever Handles

There's a brand new range of door handles on PagesDIY.com of Dale Designer Door Handles. With 22 handles in the range you're sure to find a handle that suits your project.

The handles feature varying different styles and finishes and unique combinations. For example the Arc designer handle (right) combines satin nickel and polished chrome finishes.

The orbit designer handle (left) combines polished electro brass and polished chrome plate finishes.

The dale range includes handles with a scroll type handle like the venus designer levers (right). The venus comes in both polished chrome plated and satin chrome plated finishes allowing you to choose the finish to match your room.

As well as scroll design handles there are handles with a slight curve and contemporary type design handles which are completely straight in design like the sultan designer levers (left).

With 22 designs to choose from at PagesDIY.com you are sure to find a style and finish to suit your room. All the handles featured in the dale designer lever handle section on PagesDIY.com are also available from our high street store in Talbot Road, Port Talbot.

Patifix/Fablon Self Adhesive Films / Sticky Back Plastic / Fablon

For some time there have been supply issues with the fablon range of sticky back plastic / self adhesive films. It was unclear what the issue was but it turns out the company that manufactured it (H & A) was in financial difficulty and has since gone into administration.

We have therefore had difficulties supplying any of the fablon range and were only able to get hold of selected products for the last 12 months or so.

We are pleased to advise that an alternate range is now available manufactured by a company called Patifix. The Patifix range is very extensive and now available to order from PagesDIY.com. We suspect that people will continue to call the sticky back plastic range by the brand name fablon for some time, a bit like the word hoover with regard to vacuuming. We do still have a few fablon products available, although most the products available on our site are from the new Patifix range of self adhesive films. The Patifx products are identical in quality to the old fablon range and offer very similar patterns to the ones we used to sell in fablon as well as several new ones. One example of the marble grey is shown to the left.

The Patifix range is available in plains and prints, woodgrains, marbles, a huge range of window films, new metallic range, new white / black board film range as well as velours.

The new patifix range features a fairly extensive new offering of window films including mosaics, water droplets and stained glass window style patterns. Other all new sticky back plastic products available since we've introduced the patifix product range are the metallics available in criss cross (shown right), metallic squares and brushed silver. These are all welcome additions to the self adhesive films offered by PagesDIY.com. Patifix also produce a white board film and black board film allowing surfaces to be easily converted into surfaces suitable for dry wipe pens or chalk.

E-commerce manager at PagesDIY.com, Chris Page said, "I'm delighted to be able to offer a range of self adhesive films or sticky back plastic (as some people like to call it) once again. It was real shame to see a long standing product like fablon go but I'm glad we can offer our customers a very similar product with an extensive range offering once more."

Well travelled Gainsborough Door Knobs

We had an enquiry last week from a customer who lived in Melbourne Australia. He was looking for some Gainsborough Door Knobs that were listed on our online store PagesDIY.com.

Conscious of the cost to the customer I initially advised him to contact Gainsborough directly as the HQ of Gainsborough Door Knobs is in Melbourne Australia. However it seems the specific version of the knobs in ebony with bright chrome backplate were no longer available in Australia, hence his request asking if we could supply them.

We were more than happy to oblige. We've previously shipped Gainsborough Door Knobs to the United States but this was the first time we'd sent a large order to Australia! It seemed a bit bizzare that these knobs were manufactured in Melbourne, had travelled to the UK by ship and were now heading back to Melbourne in an aeroplane and to a customer who lived not far from Gainsborough HQ!

So the door knobs were packaged up and sent last Thursday by Fedex. The service provided was fantastic and were delivered to the customer on Monday safe and sound.

We received confirmation from the customer that they were pleased with the service and the speed they had been delivered.

We were delighted we were able to help this customer out as they already had these knobs within their home and needed to match them up.

For those not familiar with the Gainsborough range they are a high quality door knob range available in passage, privacy, wardrobe and cupboard door functions. They come in a wide variety of finishes including ceramic / porcelain, brass, chrome, satin chrome and crystal glass effect. Please browse the pages on our site PagesDIY.com to find out more about Gainsborough Door Knobs and the styles available.