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I have the open pore black ash wood trim in my C400 and the wood looked a little thirsty to me so I decided to try some conditioner. I looked online for what MB recommends, but nothing jumped out at me. Admittedly I didn't look too hard. Anyway, happen to have a product lying around that I'd had great success with on wood furniture. This product is called "Howard's Feed N Wax wood conditioner". I gave it a try and wow, major improvement. Wood looks amazing!!! I was careful to only get the stuff on the wood and not anything else which does take some care. Then I let it sit for 20 minutes as directed and wiped off. Very pleased with the results. Highly recommended for open pore trim.
Natural (i.e. unsealed) wood always looks amazing when you put oil on it - to me, that's the ultimate finish you can give to fine timber. Having said that though - you need to be careful with putting soft oils such as that onto surfaces that may be exposed to moisture. This type of oil will not cure (i.e. harden) and seal. It only provides a short term surface barrier. If you get water onto the wood you've treated with furniture polish type oils - and you let it sit, the water will start to penetrate under the oil (i.e. through natural separation) lifting the oil out of the grain and trapping the water underneath. This is what causes those tell tale water marks, which can be tricky to remove.
I have no idea how the MB open pore timber has been treated, but I would be very surprised if it has not already been sealed in some way. A soft waxy oil such as the OP posted should be fine if that's the case, but I would advise that you test small patches first to check how the treatment affects the wood. Just be very diligent about resident moisture once you've used the wood polish.
For a more resilient oil based finish, check out some hard oils (e.g. tung nut), which will cure and bond to the timber thereby guarding a lot better against moisture.
I have the open pore black ash wood trim in my C400 and the wood looked a little thirsty to me so I decided to try some conditioner. I looked online for what MB recommends, but nothing jumped out at me. Admittedly I didn't look too hard. Anyway, happen to have a product lying around that I'd had great success with on wood furniture. This product is called "Howard's Feed N Wax wood conditioner". I gave it a try and wow, major improvement. Wood looks amazing!!! I was careful to only get the stuff on the wood and not anything else which does take some care. Then I let it sit for 20 minutes as directed and wiped off. Very pleased with the results. Highly recommended for open pore trim.
I use this stuff on all our wood cabinets and stained wood trim throughout the house ... Works great and shine lasts a long time... Fragrant too.
Last edited by PeterUbers; Jan 25, 2015 at 07:55 PM.
Hi Jax - do you have any pictures of how the trim looks with the conditioner? I also had the impression that the wood felt brittle.. that it could flake off or something. I'm also worried about putting anything on that would ruin the matte look of the wood or have any potential negative effects as DBOC205 posted.
I don't have a pic to post right now and I understand your concern, but you've really got nothing to worry about. This stuff makes the ash look gorgeous. It does not leave the wood looking or feeling greasy or oily. When you first put it on, of course it will be shiny and wet, but once you buff it off as directed, it leaves the wood looking fresh and new. The wood pops more. And it does not look brittle or dry anymore. It's really the perfect treatment for this trim IMO. If your worried, do a small test on the back door trim first. But you need not be worried. My only caveat, is apply carefully to avoid getting the conditioner on the non-wood parts. If you do, it should just wipe off, but I thought it best to avoid that.
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