How to get Tru Oil to dry?

[snowman]

I'm working on a pair of stocks I bought from a member here recently, and am finishing them in Tru Oil. The stuff is easy to apply and looks nice, but I'm finding it difficult to get it to cure. It dries to touch soon enough, but getting it to harden seems to take far longer than I feel that it should. One of the pros here told me that he will set his grips on his furnace in the winter to help it along, and I've been setting mine under a clamp light for around half an hour at a time, which heats the grip to probably a hundred degrees or so.

I thought I would see if there were other ideas from those of you who are experienced with the stuff. I may just be too impatient; but I have to use the reloading bench to do this job, and I need that space to begin loading again soon. At the rate things are going, it will be May before that happens.

Thanks for your time and contributions, as always.
Andy

 

[8emem]

I put a couple of drops of japan drier in each ounce of boiled linseed oil that I use for oiling stocks. It dries completely in a day or two as opposed to a week or more without it. I don't see why it would not work with just about any other finish oil.

 

[dlbx2]

Hello. I use a hair dryer to help things along. It takes about three or four days to be useable as a grip safely. I now use Formby's tung oil, which involves several coats to get exactly the shine that you want. Sitting them on a window ledge in the direct sunlight will also help. the main thing is don't get in a hurry, and find an out-of-the-way place to let them cure. Window ledges are the best for me, particularly if there are drapes or some other window treatments that will hold the heat, and not hold humidity. Now, put 98 cents with what I just told you and you will have a dollar!
Good Luck!
David

 

[rck281]

I never could get Tru Oil to dry on a pair of rosewood grips I was making from a blank. I finally stripped off the Tru Oil and wiped the wood surface with paint thinner to get rid of the surface oil. After reapplying the TruOil, it dryed in a short time. I really don't know much about wood refinishing, so not sure this is a really good thing to do. It just worked for me on the one pair of rosewood grips.

 

[socal s&w]

I usually wait until the weather has very low humidity then apply the Tru-Oil and set the item under a light as you are doing. It does take a few days, even with low humidity, but I think that low humidity is the key.

 

[dkees]

I no longer use Tru-Oil. Don't like the "plastic" finish although I never had any problem with it drying.

 

[tdan]

Are you trying to put Tru-oil on cocobolo or some other type of rosewood? Wood in this tropical hardwood family is very oily. My experience is that Tru-oil remains a bit tacky when applied to these woods for a long time. You can try soaking the grips in acetone to remove all of the original finish and leech out as much of the natural oil as you can. Better yet is to seal the wood with a clear shellac. This seals in the oil and the Tru-oil will dry properly. Cocobolo and the like are usually finished with lacquer. Lacquer dries fast, but is not a very durable finish.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Are you using a very thin coat? I generally apply with my index finger, almost rubbing it in, and it takes about a day to dry, maybe occasionally a little longer. I use only enough so that my finger can slide, rather than stick to the grip while applying. To give some indication, I can apply nearly half a dozen coats before the finish even approaches glossy (which may be farther than you or I would want to go, anyway).

 

[msinc]

I put a couple of drops of japan drier in each ounce of boiled linseed oil that I use for oiling stocks. It dries completely in a day or two as opposed to a week or more without it. I don't see why it would not work with just about any other finish oil.

Had this same problem and this is exactly what Birchwood-Casey told me to do over the phone. I did just that and it worked perfectly. They said that after it sits a while the drier kinda leaves it and is not as effective. Or he said it never got quiet enough added during manufacturing. Japan Drier is the key and you should be able to finish the stocks in a day or so if the Tru-Oil is right.

 

[snowman]

Are you trying to put Tru-oil on cocobolo or some other type of rosewood? Wood in this tropical hardwood family is very oily. My experience is that Tru-oil remains a bit tacky when applied to these woods for a long time. You can try soaking the grips in acetone to remove all of the original finish and leech out as much of the natural oil as you can. Better yet is to seal the wood with a clear shellac. This seals in the oil and the Tru-oil will dry properly. Cocobolo and the like are usually finished with lacquer. Lacquer dries fast, but is not a very durable finish.

I'm virtually certain that this wood is American Black Walnut.

 

[snowman]

Had this same problem and this is exactly what Birchwood-Casey told me to do over the phone. I did just that and it worked perfectly. They said that after it sits a while the drier kinda leaves it and is not as effective. Or he said it never got quiet enough added during manufacturing. Japan Drier is the key and you should be able to finish the stocks in a day or so if the Tru-Oil is right.

I've not heard of Japan Drier before. Where can I get some?

 

[snowman]

The light is helping to some degree. On the previous coat I didn't use it, and it took nearly a week before I could no longer smell the Tru Oil on the stock. On this coat I used the light treatment, and the smell is gone after a day and a half or so.

Andy

 

[8emem]

You can get Japan drier at Home Depot in the paint department.

 

[Pisgah]

Put the stock in the sun. The UV light hardens up Tru Oil very quickly.

 

[Gunhacker]

I never could get Tru Oil to dry on a pair of rosewood grips I was making from a blank. I finally stripped off the Tru Oil and wiped the wood surface with paint thinner to get rid of the surface oil. After reapplying the TruOil, it dryed in a short time. I really don't know much about wood refinishing, so not sure this is a really good thing to do. It just worked for me on the one pair of rosewood grips.

Rosewood and Cocobolo are problematic for taking top coat finishes period, as are other tropical woods.

As mentioned previously, they are naturally oily and will prohibit most finishes from setting up. You either have to put on a barrier coat of Shellac or Lacquer or degrease the surface with acetone and then quickly apply the finish.

I don't use an oil finish on the those woods, I prefer to wax them after polishing out the wood on a soft buffing wheel at a medium/low speed.

The rule of thumb for any Linseed based oil finish is you can't be in a hurry. I've had a set of grips take 3 weeks for the oil to fully harden, heat lamp and all... seems like the stuff will dry/harden only when it's good and ready.

Adding a few drops of Japan Drier does improve matters, it's also helpful to thin out the Tru-oil just a bit so it is easier to put on thin coats, which is the key, applying a thin coat after the previous one has dried completely.

You keep adding coats until you get the depth of finish that you want.

It's time consuming as all get out, but that is just the nature of a Linseed based oil.

A finish that I just tried out on a laminated rifle stock and a set of old style Herrett grips I'm refinishing is Minwax Wipe-On Poly.

It is a really thinned out mixture containing Polyurethane that is applied the same way as wipe on oil finish.

Polyurethane requires moisture in the air to cure, so it's great for areas with humidity.

I'm still making my mind up how I like it, it's only available in gloss or satin and I wish there was a middle of the road semi-gloss available.

 

[2152hq]

I never had good luck with that stuff and gave up on it years ago. There's so many other good finishes out there now I don't even consider try it again.
But if you can get it to dry, it certainly is convenient and more than a few people have used with excellent results.

The original Japan Drier had a heavy metal in it (lead or maybe cobalt?) and that was taken off the market. I don't know what the stuff now labled as Japan Drier has in it but it seems to work well w/some of the linseed top coatings I've used.

 

[snowman]

I appreciate all the replies and helpful hints. I have a question and a mini-rant:

Question: How do you mix in the Japan Drier with the Tru-Oil? Shake the bottle?

Mini-rant: From the instructions on the bottle: "Allow to dry thoroughly -at least 2 hours." Whom do they think they're kidding?

Andy

 

[PhilOhio]

Snowman, first thing you need to do is switch to Formby's "Traditional Tung Oil Finish", available in 16 oz. metal cans (or bigger), easily and securely resealable, and in "gloss" or "low gloss" finish. It is the same thing as TrueOil, but with fewer of these drying problems, and at a fraction of the price. You can also greatly vary the surface result by playing with the way you put it on. Wal-Mart always has it on hand. I've been using it for years now, and am totally pleased with it.

As for drying problems, they can also arise if you have not thoroughly cleaned your wood surface. Residual oil in an old surface can really louse the works up. Sometimes, even with a clean and fresh surface, the first coat needs to dry overnight or perhaps as long as 24 hours. After that, all coats dry fast.

I've found I can recoat in as little as 30 minutes, if I am trying to build it up. And if you do it this quickly, you can get by without roughening the surface. Otherwise, for the very smoothest finish, let each coat dry well, very lightly dull the surface with fine steel wool, and put on the next coat. Do not roughen it so much that you remove all of what you just put on.

To get the most dull possible finish, for the last coat, wipe on a thin coat with firm pressure. For glossy, wipe it on evenly but heavy. You can play with it this way and get all sorts of effects. I stick with Formby's, but I expect there are a number of furniture finishes which do the same thing.

40 years ago, in the ship building area of Hong Kong on the island below Victoria Peak, you should have seen all the traditional wooden Chinese sailing junks being built; some nearly 100 feet long and diesel powered hot rods. The finish being brushed on was always tung oil, hundreds of gallons of it. It's a great waterproofing sealer. Walking among 50 or 100 junks being built or just serviced, the smell was wonderful. Except for the occasional dead animal floating nearby. But believe me, they were not paying Birchwood Casey prices for tung oil. Nor will I. It's a great product, but far too expensive for what you get.

 

[xb40]

Quick dry tru oil

When your get ready to apply the tru oil, put some armor all on the stocks/wood first. Just dampen the wood, then rub the tru oil on the wood. The mixture will start to start to thicken as you work the tru oil in. After a couple of minutes the mixture will start to set, not hard but you will feel the diffenence. Set it aside and it will set up in 30 minutes or so. You can add coates as soon as it dries. You can steel wool(0000) between coats and the finish will soon begin to fill the wood grain. Continue until you get the finish you want. You can knock the luster down with 0000, or leave it glossy. The finish will dry like varnish. If you don't like what you got, put the grips in acetone, strip it all off and start over. This stuff is very easy to work with. This works excellent for grips/stocks. There is a lot of print about this method. Go to rimfirecentral.com and under search type in tru oil Armor All. You will find quite a few posts on this subject. More than I have covered here.
XB

 

[ChuckS1]

After reading this, I wonder if I'm doing something wrong with Tru Oil. I've refinished at least a dozen sets of handgun grips and it always worked great for me. I just rub it in with my finger, rubbing really fast until I feel real heat from the friction and let it sit for an hour or so, or overnight. Then I do it again and again until I have the finish I want. Usually that means 30 coats, mostly at first to fill the pores and then get the nice finish.