Tung Oil
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TAROMAN
US Veteran
In the M1 Garand world there are many who insist on only using pure tung oil for originality (I guess?)
Anyhow, the brand most often praised is Real Milk Tung Oil
Anyhow, the brand most often praised is Real Milk Tung Oil
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I have a quart can of HOPE'S 100% Pure Tung Oil that I still use for refinishing stocks - purchased in 1982. There is nothing to go bad since it is not diluted with any solvents and it still works perfectly. I recently refinished my Dad's Marlin 39-A from 1946 which I inherited a couple of years ago. I wound up putting on about 6 or 7 coats and it came out just terrific! As far as I know they are still in business.
jepp2
Member
I have used both Tung Oil finish and pure Tung Oil. I got my pure Tung Oil from WoodCraft and you can find the link here.
I finished a set of grips for a S&W revolver using the pure Tung Oil. 5 coats of 50/50 pure Tung Oil and mineral spirits. 5 coats of 100% pure Tung Oil. Used paste wax afterwards.
I finished a set of grips for a S&W revolver using the pure Tung Oil. 5 coats of 50/50 pure Tung Oil and mineral spirits. 5 coats of 100% pure Tung Oil. Used paste wax afterwards.
I've refinished several sets of grips and a rifle stock with Formby's "Tung oil". I really like their low gloss "tung oil" as it has a nice sheen.
Stripped and lightly sanded this rifle stock. Finished with four coats of Formby's low gloss"tung oil' with light sanding between the first two coats. I didn't use wood filler on the grain, so it is not ultra smooth, but neither is the metal on the 50 year old .22.
These started out as horribly over-sized Jay Scott grips. I contoured and sanded them applying Low gloss "tung oil" to finish.
Heavily re-worked set of Herrett's target grips which I finished with Formby's low gloss "tung oil".
Another badly shaped set of grips I rescued. After sanding the horrid pressed checkering away, stippling the formerly checkered areas and re-shaping the lower front contours, these Taurus grips received several coats of Formby's.
Stripped and lightly sanded this rifle stock. Finished with four coats of Formby's low gloss"tung oil' with light sanding between the first two coats. I didn't use wood filler on the grain, so it is not ultra smooth, but neither is the metal on the 50 year old .22.
These started out as horribly over-sized Jay Scott grips. I contoured and sanded them applying Low gloss "tung oil" to finish.
Heavily re-worked set of Herrett's target grips which I finished with Formby's low gloss "tung oil".
Another badly shaped set of grips I rescued. After sanding the horrid pressed checkering away, stippling the formerly checkered areas and re-shaping the lower front contours, these Taurus grips received several coats of Formby's.
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Tung oil finish products often have no tung oil in them. Look for a book called Flexner on Finishing, or Google that title. He gives good info on tung oil finishes and explodes many myths. One is that Formby's has no tung oil in it. Tung oil can be thinned with mineral spirits [already mentioned] or with turpentine [which smells better than mineral spirits]. Woodcraft is a good source.
Formby's Tung Oil Finish, according to Bob Flexner, is actually a "wiping varnish". Quoting Flexner: "Wiping varnish is simply varnish (any type, including polyurethane varnish) thinned with enough mineral spirits (paint thinner) so it is easy to wipe on the wood." This is taken from page 78 of Understanding Wood Finishing by Bob Flexner. It's not a bad finish, but it is not tung oil.
Formby's Tung Oil Finish, according to Bob Flexner, is actually a "wiping varnish". Quoting Flexner: "Wiping varnish is simply varnish (any type, including polyurethane varnish) thinned with enough mineral spirits (paint thinner) so it is easy to wipe on the wood." This is taken from page 78 of Understanding Wood Finishing by Bob Flexner. It's not a bad finish, but it is not tung oil.
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corgiS&W-
Well, so far the Formby's finish, even though it apparently is not tung oil, has worked well and held up quite nicely.
Well, so far the Formby's finish, even though it apparently is not tung oil, has worked well and held up quite nicely.
Pisgah
Member
There are probably 100 products available that are suitable for finishing stocks and grips. Tung oil is a good one, but the real secret with any of them is proper prep and application.
Homer's works good. It's the prep and application that matters as Pisgah points out. You can make a beautiful finish with nothing but shellac and people have been doing so for centuries.
When you're all done and they all look great because of all your attention and labor,,some will withstand handling and wear better than others,,some will resist moisture better than others. Some will turn colors over time and change the look,,sometimes for the better,,usually not unless you like yellow or black.
Formbys Tung Oil finish is approx 70% thinner (min spirits). They adv the rest is a blend of different 'oils' including Tung oil.
The MSDS rules don't require them to disclose what the oils are, just the solvent and all it's properties.
I have no reason to doubt there isn't any Tung oil in it. It sure isn't linseed like in Tru-Oil and the stuff actually dries within 12hrs or so.
I'll go with Homer on this one instead of Bob,,but what does it really matter,,it works well and is readily available.
Everyone has a favorite wood finish and way of applying it. It's the results and the finishes characteristics that count.
When you're all done and they all look great because of all your attention and labor,,some will withstand handling and wear better than others,,some will resist moisture better than others. Some will turn colors over time and change the look,,sometimes for the better,,usually not unless you like yellow or black.
Formbys Tung Oil finish is approx 70% thinner (min spirits). They adv the rest is a blend of different 'oils' including Tung oil.
The MSDS rules don't require them to disclose what the oils are, just the solvent and all it's properties.
I have no reason to doubt there isn't any Tung oil in it. It sure isn't linseed like in Tru-Oil and the stuff actually dries within 12hrs or so.
I'll go with Homer on this one instead of Bob,,but what does it really matter,,it works well and is readily available.
Everyone has a favorite wood finish and way of applying it. It's the results and the finishes characteristics that count.
MichiganScott
Member
You can usually find pure Tung oil at boating accessory stores. It's used to rejuvenate teak decks.
If you can't find Tung oil and don't wan't to order any from an online source, most hardware stores have boiled linseed oil. Cut it 50:50 with mineral spirits and apply. Let it soak in for about 30 minutes and wipe off any excess. Repeat the process when the wood is dry, usually in 12-24 hours. The project is done when no more soaks in. It will take an additional 1-2 weeks to dry completely.
This usually takes 6-8 coats, sometimes less, sometimes more. An old wood finishers saying is to "apply once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, and once a year for life". Stocks done this way are truly spectacular. I collect Garand rifles and my shooters all get this treatment.
One thing I did not notice in any of the above posts is the necessity of discarding rags used by soaking them in water and discarding in a air tight can. Spontaneous combustion does truly happen.
If you can't find Tung oil and don't wan't to order any from an online source, most hardware stores have boiled linseed oil. Cut it 50:50 with mineral spirits and apply. Let it soak in for about 30 minutes and wipe off any excess. Repeat the process when the wood is dry, usually in 12-24 hours. The project is done when no more soaks in. It will take an additional 1-2 weeks to dry completely.
This usually takes 6-8 coats, sometimes less, sometimes more. An old wood finishers saying is to "apply once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, and once a year for life". Stocks done this way are truly spectacular. I collect Garand rifles and my shooters all get this treatment.
One thing I did not notice in any of the above posts is the necessity of discarding rags used by soaking them in water and discarding in a air tight can. Spontaneous combustion does truly happen.
Very good point. Another option I have often seen is to let the rags dry in the open air before discarding them. The solvents will evaporate and the oils will polymerize.
I never meant to imply that it wouldn't work well. There are many excellent products available, but being a woodworker in my retirement I have made an effort to understand the various finishes. Here is an excellent description of the differences:
Oil Finishes: Their History and Use - Popular Woodworking Magazine
EDIT...
Spent an hour with Flexner's book today trying to get a better understanding of this topic. He actually coined the phrase "wiping varnish" in 1990 when he wrote an article for a woodworking magazine. He mentions "polymerized oil" as either linseed or tung oil being cooked in an inert gas environment at 500F to speed up curing. One such product is Tru Oil, specifically made as a gunstock finish.
He says. "When oil and resin are cooked together, they combine chemically to form varnish." This is where he gets his bread and yeast metaphor. As a metallurgist I would say that combining copper and zinc [in the molten state] gives you brass. It is no longer copper and zinc, just as varnish is no longer resin and oil. [Even if the starting oil was tung oil, it is no longer tung oil.]
I find the oil/varnish blends, followed by a topcoat of paste wax [Johnson's floor wax is fine] gives a wonderful, deep finish on cherry, maple, and walnut. Other exotic hardwoods used for handgun stocks would also look great. If you want a bit more protection and/or a bit more build to the finish, then move to the wiping varnish finishes. It's really a personal preference.
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It would be nice if products were named correctly. You would think something called tung oil, should at least have some tung oil in it. Live and Learn. Good linked article by the way.
What I like about the Formby's is the fact it actually dries in a reasonable amount of time on very hard, dense woods. I made the mistake of using Tru-Oil on a stripped set of Ahrend's cocobolo wood grips. A year later and they still get tacky when I handle them due to the natural oil in the wood.
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Timely thread...I have a few Marlin rifles and I decided one of them needed refinishing, and now I'm leaning toward doing all of them and I'm using real tung oil. I have two of them sitting in the cellar now waiting for a third coat, and I'm planning on disassembling and stripping another two this week. I really like the look and feel of the tung oil finish, and I admit I like the nostalgia of a hand-rubbed pure oil finish. I have a bottle of Hope's I bought years ago and its still fine. Some internet experts will say that tung oil is more trouble, but I think the only real difference is waiting a little longer between coats. I've also used Fornby's Tung oil Finish (a wiping varnish, as discussed) and I like the finish it provides.
I really need to strip the thick, yellowish, dull 'Mar-Shield' varnish off my late 1980's Marlin 39A and refinish. The plastic look to that finish ruins the classiness of an otherwise fantastic rifle. Why Marlin started to use 'Mar-Shield' is a great mystery.
I'd agree with the Bob Flexner article in his explanations of what varnishes, oils, wiping varnishes, ect are.
Yes Formbys is a 'wiping varnish' (thinned varnish) by his definition.
No one said it was a bottle of 100% tung oil. If you thought that, you didn't read the label.
As to why he believes there is no tung oil at all in it,,he doesn't say where he got that info from in that article.
Maybe it's in the book...
It is a varnish,,by his definition which is correct.
,,a blend of an oil (linseed, tung, most any plant based oil) and a resin (alkyd, phenolic, poly) mixed under controlled condition and heat. Sometimes modified further for different conditions and use.
It's already thinned with min spirits to a 'wiping varnish'. That's how the bottle tells the DIY to apply it.
It drys in a few hours, it drys hard, water resistant (unlike anything linseed based I've used).
So if it isn't inexpensive linseed based thinned out varnish,,and it isn't thinned out tung oil based varnish,,what oil base varnish is it Bob.
added..re: Marlin finish...
Marlin went to the poly-based finish because of EPA problems with their previous finish.
The older lacquer based finish didn't go well with the newer rules of air quality coming along at the time.
They were using a positive/neg charge type spray operation from the start at NorthHaven, so overspray was very minimal. But it still didn't satisfy the greenies.
The newer finish was a poly spray on and it dried nearly as fast. They both went through a drying oven of sorts on hangers to cure the finish so production was never slowed down on them.
It was a much tougher finish from to older lacquer based.
Yellowing of a built up layer of polyurethane is just one of the down sides of that finish from that era.
New blends seem to have eliminated that for the most part.
Yes Formbys is a 'wiping varnish' (thinned varnish) by his definition.
No one said it was a bottle of 100% tung oil. If you thought that, you didn't read the label.
As to why he believes there is no tung oil at all in it,,he doesn't say where he got that info from in that article.
Maybe it's in the book...
It is a varnish,,by his definition which is correct.
,,a blend of an oil (linseed, tung, most any plant based oil) and a resin (alkyd, phenolic, poly) mixed under controlled condition and heat. Sometimes modified further for different conditions and use.
It's already thinned with min spirits to a 'wiping varnish'. That's how the bottle tells the DIY to apply it.
It drys in a few hours, it drys hard, water resistant (unlike anything linseed based I've used).
So if it isn't inexpensive linseed based thinned out varnish,,and it isn't thinned out tung oil based varnish,,what oil base varnish is it Bob.
added..re: Marlin finish...
Marlin went to the poly-based finish because of EPA problems with their previous finish.
The older lacquer based finish didn't go well with the newer rules of air quality coming along at the time.
They were using a positive/neg charge type spray operation from the start at NorthHaven, so overspray was very minimal. But it still didn't satisfy the greenies.
The newer finish was a poly spray on and it dried nearly as fast. They both went through a drying oven of sorts on hangers to cure the finish so production was never slowed down on them.
It was a much tougher finish from to older lacquer based.
Yellowing of a built up layer of polyurethane is just one of the down sides of that finish from that era.
New blends seem to have eliminated that for the most part.
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I have only one thing to add.
Spontaneous combustion does happen.
A painter was working at my home, my wife and I were at work.
He should have known better, he was an old family friend, he left a pile of rags with varnish on them in my garage, fortunately on the floor.
Door was open , so neighbor was able to see the huge blaze...
It is a real problem, I just never believed it before this happened, or thought it was a ultra rare issue, but apparently not.
Chris
Spontaneous combustion does happen.
A painter was working at my home, my wife and I were at work.
He should have known better, he was an old family friend, he left a pile of rags with varnish on them in my garage, fortunately on the floor.
Door was open , so neighbor was able to see the huge blaze...
It is a real problem, I just never believed it before this happened, or thought it was a ultra rare issue, but apparently not.
Chris
