When applying by hand you generally get a rather thin coat. But, as I and others have posted in this thread, a heavy coat or series of coats (there was a post where it was sprayed on then once tacky more coats were sprayed on) can and have been applied. I have never had what you describe as “a maple syrup varnish”.
I like reading how others apply TruOil but from what I have read it appears that lots of people apply it as one would BLO, to the point, with TruOil that technique is not necessary.
As others have also noted, if you have a relatively thin coating (even after several coats) you will very likely rub through the finish in spots should you rub out the finish using rotten stone or whatever.
But whatever works for whoever is fine with me. I have no intention of changing how I use the product.
This is a walnut stock that I finished with TruOil using an airbrush. At times in the finishing process I added an oil based stain to the TruOil. No knocking down of the finish was done on this stock, the non-shiny effect was achieved by adding something to the TruOil for the final coat.
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