Can I protect my deck with vegetable oil?

I would think that vegetable oil would get rancid. I know you don’t plan on licking your deck, but won’t it eventually stink?

Food grade oil, when it dries out and gets hard is sticky. Perhaps you need to have something that will alter it so it won’t be sticky. And I agree about the smell. Unless of course you don’t have a sense of smell.

I accidentally waterproofed small portions of my driveway with some spray-bottle Armor All tire shine. That could work.

Linseed oil is still one of the best concrete sealers and outperforms all the latest fancy chemicals on the market. You can try cutting the oil 50/50 with a solvent like kerosene or mineral spirits to help the oil penetrate. This will help you avoid a thick sticky layer of goo. I would even try a 25% oil with 75% blend and reapply as needed. IMO should work fine as a sealer. Of course test it out on a section first.

All nice answers, but the OP said she wants to use recycled fryer oil.

@snowberry & @divalicious: thank you. Yes, I would like to kill 2 birds with eight 5-gallon jugs of filtered fryer oil. I think it’s corn oil. And no, I don’t want sticky, or smelly. I’ll try your ideas along with Cruiser’s.
@Cruiser: these particular decks are made of wood. But I do some work with concrete sometimes and I’ll keep this in mind for that.

You can also fry an egg on it in the summertime! lol!

No, but you can protect it with linseed oil.

I wouldn’t recommend it. I think you will be building a new deck soon if you do.

I can see it soaking in nicely and you’ll never be able to get it out if it does stink. Try one plank off in the corner. I don’t see why it would be sticky. I used olive oil on my woodblock dishwasher top and it was great.

I have noticed that over time, oil will get sticky, especially over time, and in the sun and heat. It gets thick, hard, and often gooey, or sticky. Best to start small, so you know what you’re getting into. Be sure to see what it does in the above conditions before you fully commit

a drizzle of cooking oil went all across our deck during moving-in to the house – it looked rubbish, so I brushed cooking oil over the rest of it. Looked just like a newly oiled deck after that. That was 6 months ago and it’s still fine. I’m sure it won’t last as long as real decking oil, and maybe doesn’t protect etc, but as a quick cosmetic make-over it works. And no smell or stickiness or any other downside.

I have applied waste grease left from oil filtering for fuel production to an oak conservatory and to oak and Iroko on a sailing ship, in small test sections in last couple of months, all looking good so far. Why would one veg seed oil be any stickier than any other?

I have just sanded my back deck it is about 14 years old. I an looking for someone who has deck knowledge. I stained it last year and the stain looked terrible this spring so I sanded it all down. I need to know if an oil base preservative will adhere and penetrate the wood. I am an old dude and I do not have the strength to strip the deck every year. I would appreciate all input when it comes to this question. My buddy told me I should put on synthetic car oil on my deck to preserve it. At this point I am totally lost. I need help. Can someone please assist me. Thanks

I found this.

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/best-deck-stain/

I would consider whether your deck is going to be getting extremes in heat and sun damage, or will it be wet a lot? Then pick the right one for your situation.