Tung oil storage

[Norskie]

Hey, folks.
I just salvaged a qt can of tung oil from an old house. The oil's good, but the can has seen its last days. Is this stuff photo-reactive to the point where I need to put it in an opaque container to keep it from forming a lump?
Thx,
Moose

 

[walruskid1]

i may be wrong (like its the first time!), but i think it just has to be kept sealed. i think it skins over with exposure to air.

 

[Vaino]

Been thinking of using tung oil on my next LR, but was wondering just what is being used. Some of the "so called " tung oil finishes are similar to a blended varnish {Formby's} and I really don't know if "pure" tung oil is even used. Any brand name recommendations as to what some of you are using and what are the particulars of application? Any info would be greatly appreciated.....Fred

 

[Norskie]

Do a search on tung oil on this forum. That's what I did before I posted my query. Folks here have a lot of experience (and opinions) about use of tung oil. I haven't used it yet, so I'm no expert.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

In my experience, once opened, pure tung oil goes on death watch, has always set up on me, and sooner rather than later. But, this is a high heat area of Az.

I have put it into smaller containers to minimize air space, nada, made no dif, it died.

 

[Swampman]

Formby's or Minwax Tung Oil Finish, actually drys and it's superior to (and cheaper) than pure tung oil. None are historically correct unless you're building a Japanese Matchlock I suppose. I've used the tung oil finishes with great sucess lately. I gave up on linseed oil after 30 years of waiting for it to dry. I recently tried the Linseed oil sold in the artist section at Walmart. It dries in 24 hours.

 

[navaho]

There are two types of oil. The Min-Wax kind and true tung oil. Min-wax has driers in it so it dries, however, true tung oil is very slow to dry. When I am using true tung oil I mix 50/50 with mineral spirts. I then sand the finish in using using 600 grade wet & try sandpaper. The mineral spirts help the oil to dry and also thins it so you can sand it in. I do this until I get a nice smooth finish, the pores are now filled. I then start building body with Tung oil. The finish normally come out pretty good.

 

[Russianblood]

My all time favorite is Behr Scandinavian 600 Tung Oil finish. It is a combination of Tung Oil, BLO and Japan dryer and it gives excellent results in 1/2 the time of plain BLO and it's a leaves the wood much more water resistant.

As for storage, I'd put the tung oil in an opaque container with as little air in it as possible. Some people add marbles to their containers as they use it up to fill up space.

 

[Zonie]

When storing oils that have a habit of forming a hard layer while still in the bottle, try storing the bottle upside down.
That way, there will always be fresh oil available when you open the bottle/jar. :grin:

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Very good advice Zonie, book marked in my feeble upper appendage.

 

[WRussell]

Isn't oxygen the culprit? There's a manual vacuum pump made for keeping opened bottles of wine - a rubber cork with a "one way valve" goes in the bottle, then you pump the air out. Works real well on wine, seems like it would help with tung oil - provided you could fit the rubber stopper.

What about CO2? Readily available. You could flow it into the can and displace the air. That should help. (Been meaning to try that - maybe I can get someone else to try it :grin: )