The LIES and confusion of Tung Oil wood finish

when i was growing up my grandparents owned a small country hardware store i worked there through my teens in my 20s of course i have a lot of memories from those old days including an old woodworker who used to come in to buy tung oil he spoke of it like it was the elixir of the gods the perfect finish even today i hear folks speak with reverence about using tongue oil what they don't realize is they've been lied to we didn't sell tongue oil in our hardware store the bottle may have said tung oil but it was full of more marketing than pure oil just as our bottles of danish oil had no connection to denmark of course we didn't know it at the time we'd been lied to as well we've all been duped there is more nonsense and confusion surrounding tongue oil finishes than perhaps any other finish out there this matters because tung oil can be one of the most beautiful natural wood finishes around but slick marketing has confused people you hear wildly contradictory claims about the proper way to apply it how long you must wait between codes whether it's even the right finish for your project today i'll sort through the myths in the marketing i'll help you identify what is actually in your can if it's the right finish for your project and how to properly apply it first let's identify what tung oil actually is pure tongue oil is made from the nuts of the tongue tree which doesn't hurt at all tongue trees are found in asia and south america and the oil has been used as a wood finish for thousands of years it remains popular today because in its pure form tung oil is more durable than some other natural finishes such as linseed oil it does add a slight amber hue to light colored wood but it doesn't darken over time or go rancid like linseed oil might it's food safe it's water resistant it's eco-friendly and it doesn't put out harmful fumes when you apply it pure tung oil is one of the most beautiful natural wood finishes around no wonder it's a favor of old timers and new woodworkers alike but there are some downsides to pure tongue oil finishes for one thing it's pretty thick almost like honey it soaks into the wood fibers very slowly it also dries very slowly requiring a great deal of time between coats like linseed oil a pure tung oil finish also must be maintained through regular application every few months or it'll begin to look dull and dingy if you think this sounds like a lot of work you're not alone that's why many tongue oil products contain only some tongue oil perhaps as little as five percent by volume the rest of the can is a blend of solvents that make it easier to apply drying agents to reduce the time between coats and resins to make it more durable more glossy and easier to maintain some tung oil blends don't even actually have tongue oil in them now most of these blends are still labeled tongue oil as if that's the majority of the makeup of what's in the can so one person's tongue oil finish may be different from another person's even though they're generally referred to by the same name this causes a lot of confusion and contradictory information how can you make sense of what you have well pure tongue oil will say it's pure right on the label it won't have a bunch of mystery ingredients the label won't same things like it contains petroleum distillates or aliphatic hydrocarbons it won't come in different glosses high medium low because pure tongue oil is just low glass don't get me wrong i'm not saying these blends aren't good finishes petroleum distillates are thinners they make the finish easier to wipe on help it to soak in better metal or chemical dryers or partial polymerization will help it dry faster resins can provide a higher luster if that's what you're looking for they also may make the finish more durable a better choice for projects that will see where such as table tops but some feel that those resins mute the beauty and figure of the wood so it's sort of a matter of personal opinion the bottom line is you just need to know what's in your can so you can make an informed decision about whether you want to use it in your next project and how you must apply it because that's the subject of confusion as well one person may tell you to wipe it on right from the can another may tell you you have to thin it with mineral spirits first you may be told you can re-coat after an hour or so or you might be told you have to wait several days between coats some claim you can't build up a tongue oil finish through many layers others say you can why so much confusion again it comes down to what's in the can everyone thinks they're applying the same tongue oil finish as the next guy but his methods are wrong the truth may be that you're applying totally different finishes with totally different requirements and you're both right so to sort this out let's put some finish on some wood first i like to raise the grain by wiping it with a damp cloth when it's dry i lightly sand it smooth again i'm going to be applying pure tongue oil because that's the most challenging variety but i'll explain the differences in application between this and various other blends as i go all tongue oil finishes can be applied with a brush or a cloth since pure tongue oil is so thick i think a brush is less messy whether it's pure or a blend you want to flood it on liberally and give it time to soak into the wood i watch for dry spots to appear and i add a little more this first coat may take several minutes to fully saturate the wood when it doesn't appear to be soaking in anymore i wipe off the excess with a towel and i let it sit blended tongue oil finishes are much thinner so they soak in faster and perhaps go deeper into the surface fibers this is a good thing because the deeper the penetration the better the protection you get the same effect from the pure stuff by thinning it about 50 with turpentine or mineral spirits or white spirits some people call them or even pure orange oil if you don't have access to petroleum-based solvents how long should you wait to recoat well that depends on the blend again this can get confusing many blends say on the can that you can re-coat in about 12 hours they actually contain as much as 80 percent mineral spirits and that evaporates very quickly those 12 hours are required for the added varnish resins to dry not for the tongue oil which may make up only about five percent of what's in the can anyway pure tung oil dries very slowly because it must react to the oxygen in the air and harden rather than evaporating when i learned to use pure tongue oil i was taught to keep flooding it on until it wouldn't take anymore wipe off the excess and then wait at least three days for it to harden before adding a second coat so why does this bottle of tung oil say that you can re-coat in just one hour because they aren't talking about adding coats in layers to build up a protective film they're talking about waiting an hour for that first coat to soak in then adding some more of it until the fibers are fully saturated it's not contradictory to what i learned it's just confusing this bottle describes essentially a multi-step process of applying what really should just be called the first coat if you apply after just an hour you're merely adding to that first coat you're not adding a second one on top of it the new oil will just mix with your hour old oil that's already in the fibers think of it as sprinkling some water on a sponge you sprinkle some on top and you let that soak in then you sprinkle on some more and then you sprinkle on some more and the sponge gets more and more saturated you wouldn't call that adding three coats of water to the sponge you're merely incrementally soaking the sponge with water this bottle makes it seem like a similar process is layering on coats when it's actually incrementally saturating the fibers or adding to the first coat see what i mean about confusing so let's get back to the actual real world of applying it i took some time to make sure that first coat was fully soaked in i didn't come back every hour and add a little more i just took 5 or 10 minutes watch for the dry spots and added as needed once i was sure it was soaked in i wiped off the excess and now let's let it sit overnight the next day it's still not fully dry not the side that was pure tongue oil not the side that i thinned 50 percent it looks mostly dry it even kind of feels dry but it's not dry it's just fully soaked into the wood i know this hasn't dried because my cloth which i hung up overnight is still just as damp as when i hung it up tung oil does not dry in one hour or two hours or 12 hours or even 24 hours it will take days how many days depends on how thin the coat was thinner coats dry faster because the oxygen in the air can permeate through it more quickly you may be able to re-coat after three or four days if you applied a 50-50 mix of oil and thinner it may take as long as a week for a thick coat of pure oil to dry if this were a blended finish out of a can then you'd be ready for a new coat in just a few hours because there's very little tongue oil in it whatever you're using when it's finally time to recoat you should first lightly sand with about 300 grit this will smooth out any surface imperfections and create a mechanical bond between this layer and the next that you put on top after the first coat each successive coat won't soak in nearly as much because most of the pores were filled during that first coat keep repeating the process for as many coats as you wish to apply wipe weight sand wipe weight sand and so on don't rush it if your sandpaper gums up it isn't ready to recoat rushing a pure tongue oil finish will lead to something that looks like wrinkles in the finish as it puckers and raises how many coats do you need i like a lot of them perhaps five to seven or even more so is a pure tongue oil finish worth the effort maybe maybe not some people aren't in a hurry they like all natural finishes they see a special beauty in a well built up pure tongue oil finish others are eager to get things done and the latter greatly outnumber the former which is why there are so many blended tongue oil finishes available it's up to you to decide which is best for your project i hope this video clears up some of the confusion you might have for more videos about wood finishing visit stumpydubs.com and select the finishing link from the home page see you there mywoodcutters.com is the sort of small business i like to support stefan is a great guy and he can find you knives and cutters for almost any joiner planer shaper or molding machine and his are the best prices if you're planning to upgrade to a helical carbide cutter head please use the link below this video to check with him before you buy somewhere else some small businesses are just worth supporting wait don't go yet if you're new here please subscribe and remember to ring the bell i would really appreciate that give us a thumbs up or better yet leave us a comment i always read them and be sure to check out the latest issue of stumpy nubs woodworking journal it's always packed with tips tricks and tutorials designed to make you a better woodworker

Channel: Stumpy Nubs

Views: 464,465

Rating: 4.9655437 out of 5

Keywords: woodworking, stumpy nubs, tips, workbench, table saw, scroll saw, drill press, quick tip, band saw, bandsaw, lumber, hack, hand plane, sharpening, tormek, worksharp, diamond stone, water stone, wood turning, bowls, lathe

Id: bsjnRcmC840

Length: 11min 38sec (698 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 04 2021