# finishing a roubo bench, tung oil?



## Domenic Dinezio (Aug 5, 2014)

Hey guys, I'm finishing up my first project, me and my old man are in the process of finishing up building a split top roubo bench and I could use any suggestions on a finishing product. I have very limited knowledge when it comes to these things. I went to my local woodcraft and one of the guys there suggested a Waterlox sealer/finish tung oil. Has anyone used this stuff before or have any suggestions that would be better than tung oil finish, or maybe this is the way the go? any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks guys.


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## RandyReed (Jul 30, 2014)

Tung oil or Danish oil will work.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

The Waterlox finish would work fine. It's waterproof when you get enough coats on. A pure tung oil finish would do better but is a pain to apply. It is a very slow drying finish and may take a week or more for a coat to dry. You could also use boiled linseed oil. All you really need for a finish is something to prevent glue from sticking.


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## HowardAcheson (Nov 25, 2011)

A film finish (lacquer, shellac, varnish, poly varnish) is not the way to finish a workbench top. A workbench is going to get dinged and film finishes will crack or craze or be otherwise damaged. Once a film finish is penetrated, it looses its effectiveness and adjacent areas begin to fail. No treatment is going to make a soft wood benchtop harder. I much favor an "in the wood finish". Here are two that lots of folks find effective.

First, is an boiled linseed oil and wax finish. Sand the surface to 180 grit. Mix paraffin or bees wax into heated boiled linseed oil. USE A DOUBLE BOILER TO HEAT THE OIL. The ratio is not critical but about 5-6 parts of boiled linseed oil in a double boiler with one part paraffin or beeswax shaved in. Take it off the stove. Thin this mixture about 50/50 with mineral spirits to make a heavy cream like liquid. Apply this mixture to the benchtop liberally and allow to set overnight. Do it again the next day and again the following day if the top continues to absorb it. After a final overnight, lightly scrape off any excess wax and buff. This finish will minimize the absorption of any water and you can use a damp rag to wipe up any glue excess. Dried glue will pop right off the surface. Renewal or repair is easy. Just use a scraper to remove and hardened stuff, wipe down with mineral spirits using a 3/0 steel wool pad (a non-woven green or gray abrasive pad is better), wipe off the gunk and apply another coat of boiled linseed oil/wax mixture.

My personal preference is for an oil/varnish mixture treatment. Either use Minwax Tung Oil Finish, Minwax Antique oil or a homebrew of equal parts of boiled linseed oil, your favorite varnish or poly varnish and mineral spirits. Sand the benchtop up to 180 grit. Apply the mixture heavily and keep it wet for 15-30 minutes. Wipe off any excess completely. Let it dry overnight and the next day, apply another coat using a gray non-woven abrasive pad. Let it set and then wipe off any excess. Let this dry 48-72 hours. To prevent glue from sticking apply a coat of furniture paste wax and you're done. This treatment is somewhat more protective than the wax and mineral oil as the varnish component adds some protection from not only water both some other chemicals also. The waxing makes the surface a little more impervious to water so you can wipe up any liquid adhesive. It also allows hardened adhesive to be scraped off. Repair and renewal is easy. Just go throught the same scraping, wiping down with mineral spirits and reapplication of the BLO/varnish/mineral spirits mixture and an application of paste wax.

Both of the above treatments are quite protective but are easy to maintain and renew. They do not fail when the surface takes a ding.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

I'm with Howard on this. I have been using Minwax wiping varnish on my benches for 30 years. After 20 years of use I cleaned up the tops with a router on a sled and reapplied the wiping varnish. 

Al


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## RandyReed (Jul 30, 2014)

Im with everybody.......as long as the finish doesnt have a build.


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## Domenic Dinezio (Aug 5, 2014)

thanks guys, I paid $37 for a quart waterlox tung oil sealer/finish, I just looked on homedepot.com to check out minwax finishes and they have one quart of the minwax tung oil for $19 and four quarts of watco tung oil for $71. Seems like theres a huge price difference between them, have you guys had better luck with a particular one or know if one is much better than the other? thanks again


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Domenic Dinezio said:


> thanks guys, I paid $37 for a quart waterlox tung oil sealer/finish, I just looked on homedepot.com to check out minwax finishes and they have one quart of the minwax tung oil for $19 and four quarts of watco tung oil for $71. Seems like theres a huge price difference between them, have you guys had better luck with a particular one or know if one is much better than the other? thanks again


Dom the Waterlox is an excellent product and probably best of the bunch. $37 better, I don't know. Try your best to find out what's actually in the can and hope for applications sake it's a blend. I'm pleased someone out there has the sense to use something other than puke poly. Make up a square sanded with the same care as your piece and lay on a coat and see what you think.

Al


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## HowardAcheson (Nov 25, 2011)

Let me make this point. Waterlox Sealer/Finish is not an oil finish. Waterlox is a oil based varnish made with tung oil. It dries to a film finish so is subject to cracking and peeling as described in my posting above. IMO, it is not a good finish for a workbench.

Another point regarding Minwax Tung Oil Finish. In spite of its name, Minwax Tung Oil Finish contains no real tung oil. The oil in the product is a linseed oil. That said, it's fine for use on a workbench as I noted in my above posting.


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## RandyReed (Jul 30, 2014)

Thats correct, Minwax Tung oil is similar to Watco Danish Oil.

Waterlox Original Sealer / Finish IS made from Tung Oil, but also contains resins, comes in different sheen levels, and will produce a build. Therefore, I would not use it on a workbench.

Try Old Masters Tung oil......its 100% tung oil.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

If you already have the waterlox I would go ahead and use it. It will only make a thick varnish finish if you keep applying it. A single thin coat will do as much as several coats as the other oil finishes.


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## Domenic Dinezio (Aug 5, 2014)

okay awesome, thanks for the information, looks like im not going to go with the waterlox tung oil. Do you guys think that the linseed oil, Danish oil, or 100% tung oil would be the best? im sure I had a lot of research to do about all of these, but it would great to get some first hand experience from you guys. have you guys finished your benches in any of these? or maybe different? 

thanks again

dom


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Domenic Dinezio said:


> okay awesome, thanks for the information, looks like im not going to go with the waterlox tung oil. Do you guys think that the linseed oil, Danish oil, or 100% tung oil would be the best? im sure I had a lot of research to do about all of these, but it would great to get some first hand experience from you guys. have you guys finished your benches in any of these? or maybe different?
> 
> thanks again
> 
> dom


I'm very happy I used Minwax Tung oil finish and Danish oil finish. (I know it's not Tung oil) I put on 4 coats the first time. Then every so often I sand the surface and give it a coat and call it a day. I don't wipe any off like the back of the can says. If you stay with it and just keep wiping with your bare hand it will be very level and you leave more material on the wood. I do that until it starts to dry and the wet spots are leveled. Glue wipes off easy and doesn't stick. Keeps the bench from looking like crap. I never understood those that don't put a finish on their benches.

Al


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## Domenic Dinezio (Aug 5, 2014)

thanks Al, you've been a great help in narrowing down the finish, but one last question, howard mentioned that the minwax tung oil isn't actually tung oil, he mentions that it is boiled linseed oil. Do you think I go with the minwax version or buy actual 100% tung oil. 

thanks again, hopefully going to purchase the finish on Friday.

Dom


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## RandyReed (Jul 30, 2014)

Domenic Dinezio said:


> thanks Al, you've been a great help in narrowing down the finish, but one last question, howard mentioned that the minwax tung oil isn't actually tung oil, he mentions that it is boiled linseed oil. Do you think I go with the minwax version or buy actual 100% tung oil.
> 
> thanks again, hopefully going to purchase the finish on Friday.
> 
> Dom


Old masters is 100% tung oil. You cant go wrong with it.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Domenic Dinezio said:


> thanks Al, you've been a great help in narrowing down the finish, but one last question, howard mentioned that the minwax tung oil isn't actually tung oil, he mentions that it is boiled linseed oil. Do you think I go with the minwax version or buy actual 100% tung oil.
> 
> thanks again, hopefully going to purchase the finish on Friday.
> 
> Dom


Well I'm with Howard on the bench finish. Your Waterlox sealer/ finish contains mineral spirits, Tung oil, ester gun, phenolic resin and linseed oil. I believe the tung oil is the reason the finish costs more. But not sure why Howard calls this a film finish. Maybe the phenolic resin is a major ingredient that puts it in the film Qfinish category. 

I've used Minwax Tung oil finish more than any other. Because its easy to apply and can be done with about anything including your bare hand. Watco and Formbys and the rest follow in line. All are easy to apply and for good reason. No need to make the process difficult. The 100% Tung oil would be okay but may prove to be more trouble than it's worth. Seems either the market left the Tung oil or tung oil left the market. My guess is with cheap to manufacture poly on the market and the ability of suppliers to say its the toughest finish leave products like tung oil and wiping varnish to take a back seat to a finish touted as harder and more protective. As if these were the only paramount concerns when finishing wood. Instructions on the back of the can aren't any help either. They serve as a 101 finishing class and provide a CYA for the manufacturer. As if this product will react and apply the same in the far north as it does in the sub tropics. And then there's California. Surprised to see they are driving out all finishes except waterborne. Even water may be on the chopping lock out there.

One thing I'd like to add. The first time I finished my bench it was well made and sanded smooth but it wasn't flat. I didn't know how what I was missing until 25 years later when I took a router on a sled to the top and removed some old stains and refinished. Working with a flat bench has greatly improved every aspect of working with wood on the bench. Get it flat first, you won't be sorry

al


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