What these pages are
Honest, like for like comparisons between Oslek LED Hardwax Oil and the finishes most people are already using. Every figure comes from the other maker's own published technical or safety data sheet, quoted with the date we read it. Where a competitor beats us, we say so on the page rather than leaving it out. Some of these pages compare two other brands with each other, because that is what people search for. Those answer the question on its own terms first and declare our interest.
Most people arrive at LED curing already loyal to something. That is reasonable, and the question worth answering is not whether the finish you use is any good. It is what it costs you in time, in coats and in what ends up in the air, and whether changing that is worth the price of a lamp.
Everything in one chart
The chart is only half the story, and deliberately so. VOC is one measure and the finishes above differ just as much in how long they take to harden, how many coats they need and how far a litre goes. Each page below works through all of that for one competitor. If you want the VOC figure itself explained, including what the law allows and why the number is already printed on the tin in front of you, that is what 6.4 grams per litre actually means.
Oslek against each of them
Oslek vs Osmo Polyx-Oil
Osmo's own data sheet gives 8 to 10 hours to touch dry and two to three weeks to full cure, two coats on new timber, and a VOC content up to 500 grams per litre. The page covers what the waiting actually costs on a live job, and where Osmo is still the sensible choice.
Oslek vs Bona Craft Oil 2K and Traffic HD
Craft Oil 2K publishes 19 grams per litre against our 6.4, so the air quality gap is real but modest. Their 15 to 30 minutes between coats is genuinely quick, but the floor still waits 8 to 12 hours for foot traffic, a day or two for washing and about a week for rugs. Traffic HD is a lacquer rather than an oil and is handled separately.
Oslek vs Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C
The closest comparison we have, and the one where we lose a round. Rubio publish zero VOC, which beats our 6.4 grams per litre outright, and like us they are a single coat. Where we pull ahead is the five day cure, the five day wait before the floor can be washed, and the fact that Rubio has a pot life and a temperature and humidity window.
Oslek vs WOCA Hardwax Oil Extreme
The one page where the VOC argument does not help us. WOCA publish 8 grams per litre against our 6.4, which is close enough that nobody would notice, and if clean air is all you need then WOCA gets you there without buying a lamp. Where it turns is time: 24 hours of drying, usable with caution the next day, fully hardened at 7 days, and not to be washed during them.
Oslek vs Fiddes and Treatex
Two traditional solvent carried hardwax oils, both specified at two coats, both covering 20 to 24 square metres a litre, and neither publishing a full cure time at all. Treatex state 492 grams per litre of VOC, Fiddes a maximum of 500. Roughly half of each tin is designed to leave the room.
If you are choosing between two other brands
These pages answer that question on its own terms first, on both makers' published figures, and keep our own product in a clearly marked third column.
Osmo vs Treatex
Closer than the price difference suggests. Effectively identical on VOC at 500 and 492 grams per litre, and both specified at two coats. Osmo covers roughly three times the area per litre by machine. Treatex is clearer about when the floor goes back into use.
Osmo vs Fiddes
Both publish a maximum of 500 grams of VOC per litre and both want two coats, so the separation is coverage and documentation. Osmo goes more than twice as far per litre by machine and publishes a full cure time. Fiddes publishes neither a cure time nor a back-in-use figure.
Rubio Monocoat vs Osmo
The widest gap in the set. Rubio publishes zero VOC against Osmo's 500, and one coat against two, but asks for a five day cure, five days before the floor can be washed, a pot life and a humidity window. The coverage comparison is the one most people get wrong.
How we write these
Naming a competitor is allowed in the UK as long as the comparison is accurate, verifiable, compares like with like and does not denigrate. We hold these pages to that standard deliberately, because a comparison page is the first thing a rival will screenshot.
- Every competitor figure is taken from their own published data sheet, never from a reseller or a review.
- Each page names the document and the date it was read, so you can check it.
- Each page has a section on where the other product is the better buy. Those are not hedges, they are real. On the Rubio and WOCA pages it is the headline.
- Where we compare two other brands with each other, we answer that question properly and declare that we compete with both.
- Where a comparison would not be like for like, we say so instead of making it. Bona Traffic HD is a lacquer, not an oil, so we do not put its coverage next to ours.
- If a maker revises their data sheet, we revise the page.
If you think we have a figure wrong, tell us and we will correct it. That includes the makers themselves.
Before you read any of them
None of this is much use without the underlying detail on how curing works and what a job actually needs. If you are new to LED curing, start with the timber coatings guide, which puts the whole subject in one place.
Two pages sit underneath every comparison here. What 6.4 grams per litre actually means explains the VOC figure itself, what the law allows, and why the number is already printed on the tin in front of you. Is hardwax oil safe for children and pets covers the EN 71-3 toy safety test, what it measures and what it deliberately does not.