Tru-oil or Tung Oil?

After years of refinishing stocks, starting in 1961 , trying many on the market, True-Oil being the most popular and I've used it often ,I was never that enamored with linseed oil's protection and feel to the hand. Our weather is hot and humid and True oil can get tacky to the touch. I have discovered a product that , to my mind is the best. After refinishing an antique golden oak dining room table and 6 chairs with Minwax Tung Oil Finish , and being extremely pleased with the results , I started using it on stocks, several rifle and many handgun grips both old and new.
I know it's not "pure" tung oil...but like True Oil the Tung Oil Finish has a film enhancing additive and dryers ...it puts down a thin hard finish that doesn't take a week to dry. True Oil is linseed oil based...Tung Oil Finish is much the same but Tung oil based.
Pure tung oil is thin , takes many hand rubbed coats to build up a durable film and here in Louisiana's hot humid cliamate sometimes takes extended drying time between coats.
The Minwax Tung Oil Finish eliminates those negatives and provides a nice durable tung oil finish. Best of all it never gets that tacky feeling on hot humid days and it looks great .
 
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Formsby tung oil wipe on finish. Comes is low and high gloss. Early grips, use low gloss. Later grips high gloss. Add Japan drier to speed up the drying process. try it, you'll like it.
Use a very light coat in the checkering, brushed out with an old tooth brush.

charlie
 
I have never used tung oil, and the current tru oil is more of a thick very fast drying varnish to me. I used tru oil some 40-50 years ago, but the last 15-20 my experience has not been good.

A few years back I found a old British formula called Slackum oil that I like, it's slow, but gives a nice finish. I don't remember the proportions but it contains turpentine, venetian turpentine, boiled linseed oil and carnauba wax. I have finished some old shotgun stocks, usually 1-2 coats a day for a week or so, wiping down between coats, then a coat a week for a month or so, then every month until it looks right.
 
arjay said:
Pure tung oil can take a lifetime to dry.Thats the reason for the blends.Ive used them in the past with good results and Ive used tru-oil with good results too.Anymore I go with an oil based stain followed by several coats of wax.Simple and fast.
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You can add a dryer to pure Tung oil (not fake Tung oil as most is) and I have done that to get rapid drying. Places like Hobby Lobby sell small bottles of dryer for use with oil-based artist paints. I normally use something like Tru-Oil thinned a little with mineral spirits and applied with a small wide brush, not with my fingers. It flows better if diluted. I have also used the Minwax Tung Oil (which is fake Tung oil), and it is OK. Another product which works well is Watco (I think that is the brand) Danish Oil Finish. I formerly used it for refinishing clock cases, and it works very well. I no longer have any of that so I am not sure of the brand name.

"Butchers Bowling Alley Wax. I've used on gun stocks, on wood tables, etc with great results. Leaves a semi water resistant, semi hard coating (it was made for bowling allies after all) that is durable and shines nicely."

Where does one get small quantities of that? I don't need a 5 gallon bucket. Might be very good on gun metal also. I normally use Johnson's Paste Wax for both gunstocks and gun metal. It is as good as, if not better than, the highly touted Renaissance Wax, and a great deal less expensive.
 
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What to do ?

Would you put some Tru Oil on a new set of Nill grips or a new set of Ahrends Maple's ? I just want to create a little more brilliance .

Or, just leave a sleeping dog lie ?
 
Shooter Mike said:
What to do ?

Would you put some Tru Oil on a new set of Nill grips or a new set of Ahrends Maple's ? I just want to create a little more brilliance .

Or, just leave a sleeping dog lie ?
Click to expand...
I don't know much about the Nills except they are expensive, so I'd probably leave them be.

I buy Ahrends unfinished and finish them myself. I have a couple I bought second hand (I like Ahrends grips a lot), that I stripped the polyurethane off and refinished in a tung oil varnish (my preferred brand is Waterlox, but TruOil is good too).

As others have said, tung oil take a long time to finish, and the tung oil varnishes do not. Again, I prefer Waterlox, but you cannot buy it in a small jar, so the first can is expensive, but will last you forever if you store it right (have to get all the air out of the can--I use glass aquarium stones).
 
The key to a good oil finish is to take your time. Very light applications, rubbed into the wood, allowed to set completely, then 0000-grade steel wool before the next application. When the finish shows the desirable egg shell luster (more of a glow than a gloss) you are getting there (usually about 8 to 10 applications, applied 24-48 hours apart), and it is time to apply the paste wax, again in multiple light applications, buffed out with an old towel or T-shirt between coats.

None of the "hurry up" or "overnight" finishes will ever compare. Small scratches or abrasions occur, just rub them out with 0000 steel wool, then apply a bit of oil, rub it in thoroughly, re-wax the stock. Dings and dents, apply a water-soaked cloth, then heat (I use a torch) to infuse the water into the wood, watch it expand and the dent disappear, then 0000 steel wool followed by oiling, steel wool, and re-waxing the stock.

I've used tung oil and I've used linseed oil. I prefer pure boiled linseed oil.
 
For 40 years I was an R&D chemist. My major hobby and semi-pro endeavor during that 40 years was making custom stocks for rifles, shotguns and handguns. I've finished entire guns in just about every commercial finish you can imagine as long as it could be applied by hand. That is to say I have no experience with spraying 2-part synthetic finishes. And, being trained as an organic chemist, any number of homemade, blood of toad/eye of newt concoctions.

I've used those on the absolute never-again list...boiled linseed oil and pure tung oil....and many popular urethane-modified linseed products ... Tru Oil, Linspeed, ProCustom, etc ....as well as popular urethane-modified tung oil products ... Deft & Watco Danish oils, Formby's, Permalyn, etc.

A few things I've learned ...

1) science will tell you that tung oil is a bit better than linseed oil for water repellency and both will pass water like an old sock

2) for maximum protection from water and abrasion, polyurethane is hard to beat

3) for only a little less durability with that "in-the-wood" look and minimal built -up "plastic" effect, Waterlox is, IMO, the best of the oil/urethane blends. The majority of my stocks have been finished with
Waterlox Sealer.

4) ANY finishing product can yield ANY level of gloss you desire ... BLO can be buffed to a mirror shine; polyurethane can be rubbed to a satin sheen.

5) wax is unnecessary at best...if your finish benefits from wax, you need a new finish. Wax can be an abomination to the re-finisher. Wax is what you use the night before you take a gun to the gunshow to sell it.
 
Tru oil is the way to go if you have the time.

Way back in the 60's I did my stocks with Linseed oil.
Many coats and warm hand friction was needed but it paid off
in the end with a fabulous looking stock.

Being in the service, I had lots of spare time to put into my M-14 stock. I took this learning back home when I was discharged, for my civilian weapons, that needed stock repair.

You just have to be a little easier on the thin pistol grips.
 
I'm a big fan of Formby's Tung Oil Finish and have used for decades but only on Mesquite where with multiple coats and sun it is incredible. I have read articles by experts that say it contains no tung oil and is just another wiping varnish. The can says it does contain tung oil-your choice. It's OK on woods other than Mesquite but I find other things work better. To some degree it depends on what wood you're finishing.

For Walnut I often use the old standby Lin Speed and have been very happy with the result.
 
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After application of thinned Tru-Oil, I alway set stocks in direct sunlight (if it is a sunny day). It seems to set up more quickly so I can apply additional coats faster. I recently finished a scratched-up Remington 550-1 walnut stock with thinned Tru-Oil, and after 4 coats, it looks like new. Maybe better.

BTW - "Boiled" linseed oil is not boiled at all. That term merely means that the linseed oil contains a dryer (drying agent). A dryer is essentially a catalyst which speeds up the polymerization and curing of the linseed molecules in the presence of air. That is what Tru-Oil and similar finishes are. Oil based paints are also essentially "boiled" oils with colored pigments added. You can make your own version for Tru-Oil by buying plain linseed oil and adding a dryer, but that is not worthwhile unless you need to do a LOT of finishing.
 
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The chemical interaction that cures tung oil is, I think, an interaction with oxygen. That's why high humidity slows the process. I don't think heat or sunlight speeds up the process. An oxygen tent maybe? Now a varnish like truoil, I don't know.
 
Using the following method (using tung), I re-finised a beatup surplus wood stock - on an FN FAL. Worked out well (although a little glossy) - at least for a first time project. Not sure I'd use the same process, for a worn set of factory N frame cokes though... Intesting article - give it a look:

Arizona Response Systems, LLC. Notes. Wood Refinishing


More recently, I did a quick tru-oil re-finish on a rather worn set of vintage (20 years +) Ahrends 1911 stocks. The old, flaking finish was removed w/ steel wool, & I'm pretty sure I lightly cleaned the checkering first, w/ a small stainless steel brush. Dry time was reasonable, & the finish was satin - as I prefer.

If I have a complaint about tru-oil (based on this experience at least), it's that the finish is a bit darker, then I like. That said, the stocks were a bit on the dark side - to begin with.
 

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I refinished my grips with 10 coats of Hope's 100% pure tung oil and a coat of Renaissance micro-crystalline wax.
 

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I like Lin-Speed boiled linseed oil. Makes a nice, hard, shiny finish. Brownell's and places like that sell it.
 
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