Tung Oil?? How & When ???

[Joseph E. Shea, Jr.]

What is Tung oil used for and when should / would you use it as a finish.

Is it difficult to use??

Thank You in advance for your advice.

[Keith Piercey]

I just finished looking at a Taunton (Fine Woodworking) tape from our
library by Frank Klause on finishing wood and there was a section in there
on Tung oil fishes. I watched the tape four times it was so interesting.
After viewing it and seeing what a finish you can get with it I'm anxious to
try it. (I have Tung oil and used it but never to the following details.
It leaves a beautiful finish and brings our the character of the wood very
well.

Frank used Polymerized Tung Oil (Lee Valley sells it). I'm using natural
Tung oil. Most hardware places sell it - like Lowe's, Home Depot, Canadian
Tire, Castle Building, Kent, etc.

Takes days to do it right but here's the gist of it:

Assuming you are starting with finished wood (i.e. ready to put the Tung oil
on)

1st coat -Spread a thin layer of the oil on and leave 24 hrs to dry
2nd coat - ditto
3 rd coat - ditto
4th coat - sand lightly with 220 sandpaper...wipe with a cloth - wipe with a
tack cloth - leave 24 hrs.
5th coat - sand lightly with 320 sandpaper - buff lightly with 0000 steel
wool - wipe with a cloth - wipe with a tack cloth - apply a light layer of
Tung oil using a lint free cloth.
6th and final coat - buff with 000 steel wool - wipe with cloth - wipe with
tack cloth - apply last layer of Tung oil.

Man what a finish!!

There's a section on the tape following this on "finishing the finish" using
a couple of waxes...one for low luster finish and another that leaves a high
gloss.

Hope this helps.

Keith Piercey

[Andy Dingley]

On Tue, 12 Nov 2002 23:40:07 GMT, "Joseph E. Shea, Jr."
<jes...@attbi.com> wrote:

>What is Tung oil used for

Wood finishing, either on it own, thinned with white spirit (mineral
spirits), or as a component in a commercial "cocktail" finishing oil
or japan recipe.

> when should / would you use it as a finish.

Whenever you want an oiled finish, or shellac over oil

Tung oil dries without further processing, unlike linseed oil that
must be either cooked or have chemical additions. Linseed also turns
bright yellow with age, whereas tung only goes beige or pale yellow.

Pure tung oil (and most is) is safe for food items or childrens toys.
Boiled linseed isn't, and commercial blends may vary (check the tin)

>Is it difficult to use??

It's harder to use than a commercial blend, so it's best to start with
that. I recommend Liberon. The commercial blend is thinned and has
metallic driers added.

Tung oil is too thick to apply to bare wood, so the first couple of
coats should be thinned first - 50/50 or 70/30 with white spirit.
Apply it on a rag or paper towel and rub by hand until the piece is
thinly coated. After a few minutes, polish it again. with the same
rag, used dry. You don't want to leave any loose oil on the surface,
as it will turn sticky. A perfectly judged application won't need any
of the excess polishing off.

After an hour or two (depending on temperature, but not before the
surface feels dry) apply another coat.

Try to avoid excess humidity, but it's not over-sensitive.

Commercial oil is exactly the same, just easier to get right. I
usually use commercial oil for the first couple of coats (to save
thinning it myself), then switch to pure tung.

If you find a sticky residue on the surface, clean that coat with
whitespirit on a clean rag. Allow to dry, then don't be so heavy with
the oil in the future.

A safety note (taps glasses in that Norm manner). Most oils generate
heat when they cure. If you do this on a crumpled rag in warm weather,
it may get hot enough to ignite ! Dispose of the used rag carefully,
especially when finishing for the day - this process may take some
hours and you might not be there to see it.

I have a dedicated bucket (old paint tin) for finish rags alone, kept
empty and stored somewhere it can burn out safely. Others spread the
rags out and lay them flat on concrete, dump them in water or simply
burn them immediately.

[Doug Preece]

What Andy said only really make sure that you remove any excess oil. And
check for seepage every once in a while after appying and wipe it off. If
you leave excess oil to dry it creates these awful patches that you have to
sand off. Also, I'd suggest leaving a bit longer than 2 hours before
applying another coat (unless you are using polymerized which dries faster).
I like tung oil but on some woods, Butternut for example, it becomes too
orangy for my liking. I use polymerized linseed on butternut.

-Doug

"Andy Dingley" <din...@codesmiths.com> wrote in message
news:k463tuoogdib858fd...@4ax.com...

[Dave Bennett]

I use tung oil on 90% of my projects. I use spar polyurethane on the
other 10% that are going to be treated "not so nicely". With tung oil, I
usually sand everything down to 220 grit (CAMI) then add the first coating
of tung oil. I smear it on liberally, then use 220 grit sandpaper to rub
it into the wood. After several minutes, I wipe off the excess and go
away for 24 hours.

The next day I smear tung oil all over the project and this time use 320
grit sandpaper to work it into the pores. I go away for another 24 hours.

I keep this up each day using the following sandpaper grits (all CAMI):
400, 600, 800. After 800, it's so smooth that nothing else will make it
penetrate any further. You could use your hand, but you'll just be
wearing it out. :) This leaves a glass-like surface on the wood while
displaying what I believe is the best grain pattern.

[A.I.]

Can you claridy step 4, do you do the sanding 24 hours after the 3rd coat,
then wait another 24 hours after sanding? If I read correctly step 4 you
apply no tung oil?
"Keith Piercey" <sa...@nf.sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:XBgA9.5804$wy.6...@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...