Finishing question...

[Dean Matthews]

So.. I have been using Tung Oil on a lot of my stuff. My latest bowl I have done a couple of coats of tung with using steel wool between the coats.

Is this the point where I can use a buffing wheel on my bench grinder? or even use a buffing attachment on a drill? Do you need to use a compound or will the high speed of the cloth warming the wood bring out a nice effect?

I am not used to actually finishing woods... I normally leave them bare or just poly coat them.

[David Newson]

What I do Dean - After applying tung oil with brush or cloth I generally leave it soak 10 - 15 minutes and then wipe the excess of and then leave it 24 hours to dry, it depends on the wood how many coats you give it, a between coats use 0000 steel wool or webrax along the grain and that's it, forgot to mention you can use the lathe running with a safety cloth or paper towelling to wipe excess of this causes friction which aids oil penetrating the wood further and speeds up the drying, don't forget tung oil is not grain filling so items will always have a more tactile feel to them, hope this helps there may be other methods but that's what I do, its a great durable finish.

[Paul Andrews]

Dean,

After your last coat of tung oil I usually let the finish cure for a week or until I get around to buffing several pieces. Some only wait 24 hours.

Yes, you need buffing compound. There are numerous levels of compound, but for what you are after you only need tripolli and white diamond. You will need a seperate buffing wheel for each compound and remember to use a light touch or you might build up excessive heat and burn through the finish. Start with the tripolli, then finish with the white diamond. Some like to apply a carnuaba wax after the white diamond, I usually do not.

[Paul Heely]

One thing I can add is be careful with dark open grain woods and white diamond. You can really make a mess of piece when the open grain fills up with little white specks of the white diamond. Not that I've actually done but I did read it in a book one time .


--
Paul

[Jim Becker]

Are you using real (100%) tung oil or "Tung Oil Finish"? The first requires full curing between coats (up to a week) and can be buffed a week or two after your last coat. The second is just a wiping varnish and likely contains no tung oil. Treat it like any varnish...you can buff after about a week or so.

[Dean Matthews]

Are you using real (100%) tung oil or "Tung Oil Finish"? The first requires full curing between coats (up to a week) and can be buffed a week or two after your last coat. The second is just a wiping varnish and likely contains no tung oil. Treat it like any varnish...you can buff after about a week or so.

I need to go look in the garage but I BELIEVE it is the first one... All I recall is that it is the "Safe" tung oil and not the one that is toxic... if there is such a thing. I seem to recall someone telling me Tung is not food safe unless you get the "pure" stuff and that conversation came up while I was buying the stuff. (not that i plan on using this for food)

I use Tung oil mainly because it applies VERY easily and the smell is not horrible.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

"Unsafe" is an old wive's tale or advertising scam. All finishes sold today are "food safe" once they completely cure. There was a recent article by Bob Flexner about this. The only real difference is cure time, hardness and number of coats requred to provide protection.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dean - as a general rule of thumb, at least for me, if you can still smell the finish - it's not dry enough to buff out. Depending on type of finish, temperature and humidity you may have to wait anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks - but the sniff test works for me!

[Dean Matthews]

Dean - as a general rule of thumb, at least for me, if you can still smell the finish - it's not dry enough to buff out. Depending on type of finish, temperature and humidity you may have to wait anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks - but the sniff test works for me!

Good Golly... either I have a strong nose or Tung Oil has a strong scent... I have a bowl that has been finished well over a year and I can still smell the Tung on it.

[Prashun Patel]

Too bad it's a bowl. If it's not gonna get wet, you can probably seal in a lot of the odor with a couple thin coats of shellac.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ditto what Ken said. "Food Safe" is a advertising gimmick. Behlen with their food safe finish even admitted it was for advertising. They said they sell a lot of it because new comers don't know any better. All finishes today are food safe if cure properly.