Tung Oil Finish?

[cdogg]

I bought a bottle of Formby's Tung Oil finish yesterday at the store to try on some shelves for the new basement shipyard.  

 

Anyone ever use this on their builds?  I have zero experience with it and the guys at Menards didn't have much to offer.

 

Thanks!

[Keith_W]

Quite a few people here use Tung Oil. Wipe it on, then leave it for 10 minutes, then wipe off the excess. Leave it for 24 hours to "cure", then give it another coat. You will get a beautiful matt finish and it deepens the colour of the wood. 

 

Make sure you don't plan to glue anything on afterwards, because most glues have trouble sticking on to the oiled surface. 

 

As always, experiment on some scrap wood before applying it to your model!

[cdogg]

Thanks Keith, I am going to try it out tonight.

[dgbot]

You should make up several test pieces that way you can test it on different woods and conditons.

David B

Edited February 13, 2014 by dgbot

[SGraham]

Casey,

A tung oil finish can be slightly uneven after it dries. It can be buffed out after it cures with #0000 steel wool. It evens out the luster very nicely.

 

Steve

[cdogg]

Thanks Steve

 

Quick quesiton-

Do I put a layer on to dry, then use 0000, and then put another on?  Or just buff out the initial coat?

[SGraham]

Hi Casey, it's really up to you how many coats you put on. It sort of depends too on how thirsty the wood is. On a hard wood like walnut, boxwood, ebony, or mahogany I like one coat and then buffing out with the steel wool afterward. I'm not sure how many coats you'd need on basswood. On a softer wood like spruce it takes at least two coats to get an even finish. If I'm doing more than one coat, I like to buff out in between coats. I use the high gloss tung oil. Even though it's called high gloss it needs several coats before it reaches a high gloss luster. With only one or two coats and the buffing, it gives a wonderful satin luster.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Steve

Edited February 21, 2014 by SGraham

[grsjax]

If the humidity is high it may take awhile for the oil to get hard enough to buff.  When I lived in Florida I did some walnut gunstocks with tung oil and it would stay tacky for a couple of days.  Trying to buff it before it hardens up enough will only result in a poor finish.

[SGraham]

You know, Casey, another product that dries hard enough to buff out in a few hours is True Oil. It's a linseed oil based wipe on gunstock finish. Beautiful stuff and you can control the luster with the amount you buff. Smells good too.

 

Steve

[Kerry]

Hi Casey

could you put up some pic's before and after then after you buff ?

cheers

Kerry

[cdogg]

I am trying this on a pine board first.  I will put up some pics tonight.  Looks like it will work well on a ship so far.

[Jaxboat]

The problem with tongue oil is that you can end up with too much lapping.

[SGraham]

In the immortal words of Stephen Maturin, "he who would pun would pick a pocket!"

[Jaxboat]

Very true. I couldn't help myself. I am checking into Betty Ford tomorrow.

Best

JAXBOAT

[cdogg]

well here are the results, I may have to do more coats as the wood is pretty soft.  I used low gloss.

 

Here is the board after prep

 

Here is after the first coat

 

Here is after the second coat

 

The wood definitely has smoothness to it a better color but it hasn't really changed too much.    

[Sonofagun]

Sorry for the late entry into this thread. Just wanted to say that Formby's tung oil is not pure tung oil. I believe it contains some shellac.

With pure tung oil, if the finish begins to thin or dull with time, you simply can add more tung oil. Don't know if this would be the case with Formby's.

You may have to take additional steps. This may or may not be a concern. Also, to aid absorption of the tung oil into the wood, try heating the tung oil

By placing a container of it in a hot water bath.

[rtropp]

I have been reading about using pure tung oil. I wonder if it is really a good idea on model ships. I suspect it would dry faster on the thin wood but not sure how long it would actually take to dry or how well other items would glue to it, for instance, deck structures on tung oiled deck.

 

Richard