• It's time to cast your vote in the January 2025 Turning Challenge. (click here for details)
  • Conversations are now Direct Messages (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Alan Weinberg for "Elm Burl Bowl" being selected as Turning of the Week for January 27, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Lost article. Tung oil, poly,thinner

Joined
Jul 10, 2017
Messages
831
Likes
689
Location
Windermere, British Columbia
:) I recently received an article, which I'm going to assume from aaw or fine woodworking in mailbox.,it was about professional quality woodturning finishes. A mix of tung oil, poly and oderless thinner. Put on with a red pad. Didn't save as was in mailbox but now can't find. Did anyone else recall seeing a recipe for this finish and application techniques.

Purchased ingredients but no recipe!:(:(
 
Danish oil is just linseed oil, varnish, and thinner. No Danes were actually harmed to make Danish oil. Many tung oil finishes, most notably Formby's Tung Oil Finish contains no tung oil whatsoever. I have a can of pure tung oil that I bought several years ago. It sure is expensive, but I think that it looks a lot nicer than linseed oil. A product that confuses some people is Teak Oil Finish. Some people mistakenly assume that the name means that it is an oil derived from teak. It's actually an oil varnish blend designed to be used on teak wood. The oil in Teak oil finish is linseed oil.
 
Last AAW Journal had an article about it... Look it up online if you lost the magazine. I used it, but switched the Tung oil for oil for Danish oil ...
Thks so much. Dementia at 57. I could not for the life of me fiqure out where I saw that. Checked every email, trash etc. And the magazine was on coffee table. Haha. I did remember ingredients though .
 
OK back to the topic of the thread. When i mix this up does tung oil like air in the top of container. In other words do I have to do anything special with my tung oil in remaining container when it is half full for long term storage?
 
Glenn, I have been storing General Salad Bowl finish in the can upside down and it has helped preserve. It likes hardening up pretty fast. My theory is that it stops oxygen from getting in the can during temperature cycling in my shop. Lee valley do sell collapsable plastic containers I think. The homebrew Danish Oil is often referred to on flat forums as Maloof's brew. I made some when I first got back to turning twenty years ago but switched to Watco Danish Oil. My favorite round and bown finish. Reread your original post - formula I know of is 1/3 of each by volume. I use it or Boiled Linseed Oil hot on wet wood sometimes too. Woods that tend to crack like fruit wood. Turn green to final thickness, wet sand and seal. Slows down drying and do final rubbing with 0000 steel wool when dry and buff.
 
Last edited:
I've got a can of Old Masters Pure Tung Oil that it least a dozen years old. It is starting to get thick. I don't mix up varnish and oil concoctions. I prefer to let the oil cure for a few weeks and then apply a varnish topcoat.
 
Got a bottle of Tung oil maybe 9 years ago and I would squeeze the plastic bottle to get air out. Bottle finally cracked so I poured the remaining into several 2 ounce bottles (the stock bottles that drugs come in from manufacturer) because these are very heavy and resistant to air leakage. I filled then to the top. Have not used any in a good while so cannot vouch for what condition it is in. The stuff is normally so thick the directions say to thin 50/50 with turpentine or mineral spirits, and this was getting thicker.
 
Tung oil will polymerize if in contact with air, if no air contact it will keep forever (kind of) in a partial filled can there is only a relative small amount of oxygen present that can react with the oil.

Opening and closing the can every time some is used will of course bring new air/oxygen into he container, if you have a container that you can close and open reliable then adding things like glass marbles or water to keep the container full is the way to go.

The problem (or not) is that the polymerizing can not be undone, as with some finishes adding a thinner will bring it back to original, however if your Tung is only a little thickened it probably can still be used by thinning it with terpentine.

tung oil.jpg

I use a re-closable glass bottle and add water to keep the bottle full, it stays in perfect condition that way and I am able to use it to the last drop.

As for General Salad Bowl Finish, there isn’t much more than hazardous thinners and Urethane oil in it, though it is hard to get any hard info on it, they will not spell out the amount of the thinners but give it 30 to 60 procent, so if we take the halfway point it would be 90 procent, so for what you really get, it is some expensive thinners and a bit of varnish.

2 parts of the MSDS sheets with me adding the urethane as an ingredient in between.

General salad bowl finish.jpg
 
Back
Top