Slip of the tung - woodchuck question

[Mr.BadExample]

I just picked up some tung oil and thinner. I know you woodchucks are fond of making alchemical brews of tung, linseed, thinner, and unobtainium, but will it work well if I just cut it with thinner 2:1 or use it straight up?
I've got some walking sticks I've let dry for a long time, I'm going to practice on them first.
Lemme know what you recommend.
Thanks !

 

[BruiseLeee]

I use plain ol' tung oil on some handles. It's sort of semi gloss after about a zillion coats. The stuff I got was kinda thick and I was advised to use some thinner to thin down the first couple of coats.

I've found it to be less sticky than finished linseed oil but the finish was not as durable.

Plus the stuff with no additives is non-toxic. So I guess if you're bored, you can take a swig from the bottle.

 

[Mr.BadExample]

I"ll let you know what happens

 

[ferguson]

The Minwax Tung Oil Finish that I use has a bunch of mineral spirits (thinner) in it. Helps penetration and drying time I think. Pure tung oil would take a while to dry I've heard.

Steve

 

[Daniel Koster]

my favorite mix so far on raw wood is this:

1 part Tung Oil
1 part Boiled Linseed Oil
1 part Acetone/spirits/thinner/whatever

Like Steve said, thinning helps penetration. Think of it this way........thick syrup on pancakes doesn't soak in anywhere near as fast as thinned down syrup.

The deeper the finish, the more durable it will be.

The other benefit is curing time. You will be able to go through quite a few more coats, more quickly than with just plain tung oil - which gums up with only 3 coats (depending on the wood). This way you can fine-tune how many coats you want to put on it. Don't bother with sanding or steel-wooling between the first 10 coats or so. Then, when it takes a day to dry, you can gently rub it with a fine steel wool to remove bumps, dust, etc. (assuming, of course, that after each coat, you are wiping the finish clean with a lint-free cloth).

Lastly, tung oil has quite a bit of amber color to it, so I like to thin it with clear boiled linseed oil as well (hence the mixture above). You end up with a 2:1 oil-to-thinner ratio which is just right.

Best of luck!