# Tung Oil Mixture



## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Kind of curious on a good mixture utilizing 100% Tung Oil.

Reason for it was my wife had purchase a bottle of Hope Tung Oil for me. I do know it has a real long curing time to it and the online instruction say for the first coat mix the oil and mineral spirits 50 50, to aid in penetration.

What is a good blend to use with this oil, will be using it on the plane totes, knobs and maybe saw handles.


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## Carvel Loafer (Dec 31, 2011)

I thought tung oil was good for food contact such as cutting boards, salad bowls, etc. ??? That might be why the mixture with mineral oil was recommended. I'm sure it has uses beyond food contacting wood.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

If it were me I wouldn't thin it unless you were using it on a wood that was really dense. I would use it at 100%. The best way to tell if a coat of tung oil is dry enough for another coat is to briskly rub the surface with a clean dry cloth and see if it has a tung oil smell. When there is no smell, it is ready.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Thanks Steve,
But the Tung oil will be applied on Rosewood Tote and Knob of a hand plane.
A mixture of Tung oil and Paint thinner 50 50 is recommended by the manufacture to aid in the penetration of the oil.
I am very well aware of the long curing time of Tung, and was wondering if anybody uses a mixture or recipe for the follow up applications.


 Spar Varnish, Tung oil, Naphtha or paint thinner in equal amounts
Couple of coats of Tung oil followed up True Oil as the final coating
Same as number2 except using a wipe on poly for the final coats.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

acowboy said:


> Thanks Steve,
> But the Tung oil will be applied on Rosewood Tote and Knob of a hand plane.
> A mixture of Tung oil and Paint thinner 50 50 is recommended by the manufacture to aid in the penetration of the oil.
> I am very well aware of the long curing time of Tung, and was wondering if anybody uses a mixture or recipe for the follow up applications.
> ...


I mix it 50/50 with mineral spirits. You get better penetration, and not that long of a dry time. You might use that mix for several applications. You'll tell on how it builds. Using full strength gets pasty, and a magnet for dust. When changing the ratios, I still use a small percentage of MS...depending on the project.

Depending on the look I'm after, I may use a 50/50 mix of BLO and MS just to bring out the grain. Then follow with a wipe on oil base poly. But if you want the Tung (which is more clear than BLO), you can follow with a wipe on OB poly. I wouldn't use any spar.

















.


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## Bastien (Apr 3, 2013)

I don't mean to hijack, but I recently saw a video where the Woodsmith guy mixes tung oil 50/50 with varnish. He applies it with 400grit sandpaper,creating a slurry, which he says really smoothes the finish of some open grain wood (such as oak). I went to Home Depot, but wasn't able to find varnish. Am I just old school? Do they still make varnish, or does everyone just use poly?


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Bastien said:


> I don't mean to hijack, but I recently saw a video where the Woodsmith guy mixes tung oil 50/50 with varnish. He applies it with 400grit sandpaper,creating a slurry, which he says really smoothes the finish of some open grain wood (such as oak). I went to Home Depot, but wasn't able to find varnish. Am I just old school? Do they still make varnish, or does everyone just use poly?


Sure they sell varnish. Minwax makes it. I never use poly for anything. Any of the Watco products that don't say poly are varnish. Formbys is a varnish.

I use 320 most of the time. The key to getting the sand paper to work well and actually sand the wood as you apply it. Is to flood the surface and keep it wet. If I'm working on a table top it's really wet and sloppy. 

Al

Nails only hold themselves.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

acowboy said:


> Thanks Steve,
> But the Tung oil will be applied on Rosewood Tote and Knob of a hand plane.
> A mixture of Tung oil and Paint thinner 50 50 is recommended by the manufacture to aid in the penetration of the oil.
> I am very well aware of the long curing time of Tung, and was wondering if anybody uses a mixture or recipe for the follow up applications.
> ...


Try turpentine it will also leave solids that aid in making the finish more durable. Turp is the wonder drug of finish solvents. Makes many paints and finishes lay down much better. I learned the benefits of turp from my grandmother who used it on everything. 

Turp soaked rag with a dollop of Johnson's past wax will finish a piece of wood in a matter of minutes. Best off if you sand out every imperfection before hand because it will show.

I'm hearing wipe on poly only has a trace of poly so they can easily sell it to the poly croud. Does it work as well as wipe on varnish?

Al

Nails only hold themselves.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Well I ended up doing 1 coat of a Tung oil mix with paint thinner 50/50.
Prep the wood before applying the mixture with 1200 grit paper.

Was a little disappointed after rubbing that mixture in with 0000 steel wool as it only darken the wood and left rather a dull finish. Had wiped of any residual remaining oil after 30 minutes. Well I let it dried for 30 hours.

Ready to apply the next coat I proceeded to wipe the Tote with a old T-shirt and a nice sheen had developed. My next concern was that a wipe on poly would not stick as a final coat, mixed in a little wipe on poly to the mixture. Applied that mixture with 1200 grit sandpaper, and wiped the slurry off...was setting up to fast.

26 hours later applied another coat of just wipe on poly.

Did not take any pictures of just the tung oil mixture, was to excited about how it turned out. 

Here is a link of a tutorial about finishes, the site also has a lot of useful woodworking how too's also.
http://www.woodworkingonline.com/2007/11/12/podcast-28-oils-and-varnishes/
Here are some pics.
Before and after.
Hairline crack was repaired with Cyanoacrylate glue will being clamped.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I doubt if the super glue would hold if the crack was soaked with tung oil. If you find a place like that again it would be better to work wood glue into the crack and clamp it. You can put a bead of glue on top of a crack like that and rub it with your thumb and eventually it will come out the other side.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

What type would you use in that kind of circumstance..?
Heard Titebond III is real good.
Used the Super Glue before the finish, hope it holds, anyways do not even see the crack now.
Thank you for the heads up on that one.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

acowboy said:


> Well I ended up doing 1 coat of a Tung oil mix with paint thinner 50/50.
> Prep the wood before applying the mixture with 1200 grit paper.
> 
> Was a little disappointed after rubbing that mixture in with 0000 steel wool as it only darken the wood and left rather a dull finish. Had wiped of any residual remaining oil after 30 minutes. Well I let it dried for 30 hours.
> ...


Very nice. Are you hanging out in the hand tools forum? Their word is gospel. I enjoy reading their posts in hope of not making the wrong choice when renovating a hand tool.

Al

Nails only hold themselves.


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Hello Al,
Yes hang out there in hand tools mostly, there is a bunch of great people there, but this whole forum is great.

Usually take old rust bucket planes and bring them back to a good user again.


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