Tung Oil, smell...

[timos-]

Ive got some minwax Tung oil for finishing up a natural rockmaple handle on a gyuto I am doing. The Tung oil stinks , much worse than I would have thought. Its very disgusting for a knife that is used in food preperation. Will the smell fade over time or am I going to have a hell of a time getting that smell to go away? Any suggestions would be fantastic, I am at a bit of a loss.

 

[Alan G.]

Unfortunately minwax tung oil finish is mostly just solvents (65% per MSDS), not actual tung oil. So you are at the mercy of how long the solvents will smell.

 

[timos-]

Ahhh, so does pure tung oil have an unpleasant smell or?

 

[Alan G.]

The pure tung oil I have smells smiliar to cooking oil. Maybe a little stronger smelling but not unpleasant at all.

 

[tinkerer]

I would not call it a stink, but not a smell I would want in my house all the time. Slightly solvent smell, but not really bad.

Sometimes anything hydrocarbon can go bad, excessively sure, get hot, on and on.

Maybe dispose of that and get a new container. Just set it outside with the cap off and eventually it will dry and harden.

Larry
Tinkerer

 

[Mike Gesualdo]

I may be strange, but I love the smell of pure Tung Oil. Can't speak for the Minwax stuff, though.

I'd just order up some of the pure stuff. That's what I use for my kitchen knife handles... I believe it is FDA approved for surfaces that come into contact with food.

 

[middleofsomewhere]

I don't think PURE tung oil smells. On axe handles I use a start with a few coats of half turpentine and half tung oil. Which smells...until its super dry. After the final couple of coats of tung it has no smell and no smell in transferred to the user hands. Like someone else said the minwax has alot of additives to make it dry faster wouldn't use in on things that touch food.

 

[Alberta Ed]

Once it dries there's no unpleasant odor. I use it on all my wooden handled knives and don't notice any smell when doing food prep with them.

 

[Tx Bass Tech]

I use a Tung oil/citrus mix from The Real Milk Paint Co. It's food safe and smells like oranges for about a week after you apply it. I like the finish but it does need to be renewed once n a while.

 

[godogs57]

For "pure" tung oil, Hope's brand is about as good as it gets. Even then it's not pure 100%, as driers have to be mixed in...much better than anything Mimwax ever put out. Best of luck with your project.

 

[MT Borg]

A furniture restorer from England just did a presentation locally and he mentioned that you can wax over oil finishes. He said it only took a small amount of wax, but it could seal out the smell. Not sure the complications for washing tho or rewaxing.