How to apply my Tung Oil finish?

[Flintski22]

I'm currently in the process of preparing to finish my first ever pen. It's made of red heart wood. I obtained some 100% pure tung oil and CA glue, but I'm wondering what I should do with these to finish the pen.

Google thinks I should apply all the tung oil coats and then CA glue later on, but I was wondering if I really should use both or if just 1 is my best bet.

Also, for those familiar with tung oil, am I okay to pick up the pen pieces and transport them after the oil has been drying for an hour or so? That's when the bottle says I can buff out the excess, but the bottle says to not apply another coat for 12 hours.

I'm really just looking for any advice in general. Thank you!

 

[1080Wayne]

No experience with either on red heart . Sometimes use a tung oil sealer on wood when I want a low sheen finish . Pure will give a glossier finish . Based on a couple times I`ve tried it , handling them after an hour or two shouldn`t be a problem , but red heart may be different . At worst , I think fingerprints should wipe off .

CA is my go to high gloss finish , but it has a significant learning curve . Many of us have different methods , but each of us has developed a process that works , and once found , don`t deviate from it too often . Your location can be a factor , as temp and humidity swings with the seasons may affect results .

If you click on the search button on the top right hand side of your screen , enter CA finishes , a large number of threads will come up , dealing with different viewpoints on the subject . A lot of reading , but good background knowledge . Have fun !

Don`t think much to be gained by applying CA over tung oil . CA is more durable , but I wouldn`t worry about it on a first pen . Just remember to save that pen , as a marker of how much you have learned , in a month , or year , or two , or five .

 

[WriteON]

Welcome aboard. Consider using only CA or Tru-Oil. Tru-Oil builds nicely and produces a beautiful finish. Easy to apply/use.

 

[monophoto]

There's no one answer - everyone has his/her own favorite approach and thinks that everyone else is totally wrong.

One approach that used to be very popular for applying a CA finish was to put a bit of BLO on a piece of paper towel, and then add a drop of CA on top of that, and then wipe quickly on the pen body as it rotates on the lathe. I don't think there is any reason you could not use Tung Oil instead of BLO in that method.

The best explanation I ever heard for that approach was that the oil had a lubricating effect that prevented the CA from curing too quickly and 'grabbing'. My experience with that method was that the heat from friction as the pen body spins against the paper towel causes the oil to polymerize, leaving a 'hard spot' on the paper towel. The method does require repeated applications to build a finish, and you want to use a fresh bit of paper towel for each application so that 'hard spot' doesn't scratch the previously cured finish.

As to the drying characteristics of Tung Oil - I use it a lot, both alone and as part of a shop-made wipe-on varnish. I also make my on friction polish from Tung Oil and lacquer. In my experience, you can certainly pick up the item after an hour. Pure Tung oil (or better yet, Tung Oil thinned with a solvent such as turpentine or limonene) penetrates into the wood, so you want to flood the surface with enough to actually feed that penetration process, and then wipe off the excess. I usually wait 45 minutes or so (it ain't rocket science) before wiping. Moving it at that point is not a problem, but I do like to let it cure for a couple of hours with the piece oriented such that it not resting on the finished surface. So I've fashioned a number of jigs that I use to position pieces so that the finished surface doesn't rest against something that might leave a mark after the oil has cured.

 

[leehljp]

I have experienced tung oil from Japan and US and most tung oils were not perfectly clear, but had a slight amber color. ANY amber color finish will cause reddish woods to have a slight orangish or burnt orangish look after applying. IF this is not a problem for you, go ahead. But if you want the red heart wood to be its brightest red, you need a clear finish. CA and clear lacquers will do this as will water based clear polyurethane.

Tung oil looks great on oaks and maple and beige, tannish and brown woods,

Tung oil: I am a fan of tung oil in finishing some woods. But on pens, the curing time does push me into other finishes. Tung oil to be properly cured takes time. AS Louie above notes, mixing TO with lacquer or other finishes works well, but do a research on the different mixtures before trying it,

 

[KenB259]

I would ditch the tung oil. True tung oil can take a full month to totally cure. A CA finish is pretty simple to do and the results are beautiful.

 

[Flintski22]

No experience with either on red heart . Sometimes use a tung oil sealer on wood when I want a low sheen finish . Pure will give a glossier finish . Based on a couple times I`ve tried it , handling them after an hour or two shouldn`t be a problem , but red heart may be different . At worst , I think fingerprints should wipe off .

CA is my go to high gloss finish , but it has a significant learning curve . Many of us have different methods , but each of us has developed a process that works , and once found , don`t deviate from it too often . Your location can be a factor , as temp and humidity swings with the seasons may affect results .

If you click on the search button on the top right hand side of your screen , enter CA finishes , a large number of threads will come up , dealing with different viewpoints on the subject . A lot of reading , but good background knowledge . Have fun !

Don`t think much to be gained by applying CA over tung oil . CA is more durable , but I wouldn`t worry about it on a first pen . Just remember to save that pen , as a marker of how much you have learned , in a month , or year , or two , or five .

Okay! Thanks that's good solid advice. The reason I'm considering applying CA over the tung oil is because the specific CA I have has UV inhibitors. Red heart is a very light-sensitive wood and fades to an orange with enough UV exposure.

 

[Flintski22]

There's no one answer - everyone has his/her own favorite approach and thinks that everyone else is totally wrong.

One approach that used to be very popular for applying a CA finish was to put a bit of BLO on a piece of paper towel, and then add a drop of CA on top of that, and then wipe quickly on the pen body as it rotates on the lathe. I don't think there is any reason you could not use Tung Oil instead of BLO in that method.

The best explanation I ever heard for that approach was that the oil had a lubricating effect that prevented the CA from curing too quickly and 'grabbing'. My experience with that method was that the heat from friction as the pen body spins against the paper towel causes the oil to polymerize, leaving a 'hard spot' on the paper towel. The method does require repeated applications to build a finish, and you want to use a fresh bit of paper towel for each application so that 'hard spot' doesn't scratch the previously cured finish.

As to the drying characteristics of Tung Oil - I use it a lot, both alone and as part of a shop-made wipe-on varnish. I also make my on friction polish from Tung Oil and lacquer. In my experience, you can certainly pick up the item after an hour. Pure Tung oil (or better yet, Tung Oil thinned with a solvent such as turpentine or limonene) penetrates into the wood, so you want to flood the surface with enough to actually feed that penetration process, and then wipe off the excess. I usually wait 45 minutes or so (it ain't rocket science) before wiping. Moving it at that point is not a problem, but I do like to let it cure for a couple of hours with the piece oriented such that it not resting on the finished surface. So I've fashioned a number of jigs that I use to position pieces so that the finished surface doesn't rest against something that might leave a mark after the oil has cured.

Okay! I might have to make some of those jigs myself. The idea of using the oil with the CA really appeals to me and I'll be looking more into that. Thank you!

 

[Flintski22]

I have experienced tung oil from Japan and US and most tung oils were not perfectly clear, but had a slight amber color. ANY amber color finish will cause reddish woods to have a slight orangish or burnt orangish look after applying. IF this is not a problem for you, go ahead. But if you want the red heart wood to be its brightest red, you need a clear finish. CA and clear lacquers will do this as will water based clear polyurethane.

Tung oil looks great on oaks and maple and beige, tannish and brown woods,

Tung oil: I am a fan of tung oil in finishing some woods. But on pens, the curing time does push me into other finishes. Tung oil to be properly cured takes time. AS Louie above notes, mixing TO with lacquer or other finishes works well, but do a research on the different mixtures before trying it,

okay, I'll make sure to experiment and see how I feel about the potential Hues that tung oil could add. Thanks for the advice!

 

[goldendj]

I use tung oil and CA on my pens. I coat the pen liberally and let it sit to soak in. After a while (variable ...) I go back down & check. If there are dull spots where it's been absorbed, I recoat. Eventually I wipe off any excess & start with CA. No waiting to cure, but doesn't seem to weaken the finish. I've got carry pens that are years old and finish still fine.

Tung oil before CA seems to bring out the grain better than CA alone.

 

[Flintski22]

I use tung oil and CA on my pens. I coat the pen liberally and let it sit to soak in. After a while (variable ...) I go back down & check. If there are dull spots where it's been absorbed, I recoat. Eventually I wipe off any excess & start with CA. No waiting to cure, but doesn't seem to weaken the finish. I've got carry pens that are years old and finish still fine.

Tung oil before CA seems to bring out the grain better than CA alone.

Sounds like you finish pens exactly how I want to, and unlike me you have experience backing this up! Thank you so much for the input. I wiped the excess off after a few minutes and it worked spectacularly.

 

[leehljp]

I use tung oil and CA on my pens. I coat the pen liberally and let it sit to soak in. After a while (variable ...) I go back down & check. If there are dull spots where it's been absorbed, I recoat. Eventually I wipe off any excess & start with CA. No waiting to cure, but doesn't seem to weaken the finish. I've got carry pens that are years old and finish still fine.

Tung oil before CA seems to bring out the grain better than CA alone.

For my first use of Tung Oil (pure) in the late 1980's, I applied it to a flat walnut platter, and let it set. The next day it was still wet. The next day too. So I wiped off the excess, and let it set for a couple of days. Then, I applied it again. After 2 more days, it was still wet. Again I wiped off the excess and let the platter set for a couple of weeks, and was amazed at the finish after those two weeks. Not really knowing, that was the way it was supposed to work. (I later learned from reading a "finish" article in a magazine from the States.) I was living in Tokyo at the time and the 1 liter can had "Tung Oil" on the label in English, but all other writing was Japanese, which I was in the process of learning. Even then, the teachers didn't teach me wood working or wood finishing words, so I was on my own to learn the process. That was the last can of TO I found in Japan for the next 15 years until I learned quite by accident that T.O. was called and written as "China Tree/Wood Oil". I had read the cans and bottles of "china tree oil" 中国木油 many times, but never connected it to "Tung Oil", until I bought a half liter bottle and smelled it and tried it. Yep, it was T.O. They just don't call it T.O. there, so the dictionaries didn't cross reference it with "English words that we use". ( For the longest time, I thought that China Tree/wood Oil was BLO - boiled linseed oil.)

That said, different processes of manufacturing Tung Oil today causes faster catalyzing and fiishing than the original pure 100% T.O.

 

[howsitwork]

For my first use of Tung Oil (pure) in the late 1980's, I applied it to a flat walnut platter, and let it set. The next day it was still wet. The next day too. So I wiped off the excess, and let it set for a couple of days. Then, I applied it again. After 2 more days, it was still wet. Again I wiped off the excess and let the platter set for a couple of weeks, and was amazed at the finish after those two weeks. Not really knowing, that was the way it was supposed to work. (I later learned from reading a "finish" article in a magazine from the States.) I was living in Tokyo at the time and the 1 liter can had "Tung Oil" on the label in English, but all other writing was Japanese, which I was in the process of learning. Even then, the teachers didn't teach me wood working or wood finishing words, so I was on my own to learn the process. That was the last can of TO I found in Japan for the next 15 years until I learned quite by accident that T.O. was called and written as "China Tree/Wood Oil". I had read the cans and bottles of "china tree oil" 中国木油 many times, but never connected it to "Tung Oil", until I bought a half liter bottle and smelled it and tried it. Yep, it was T.O. They just don't call it T.O. there, so the dictionaries didn't cross reference it with "English words that we use". ( For the longest time, I thought that China Tree/wood Oil was BLO - boiled linseed oil.)

That said, different processes of manufacturing Tung Oil today causes faster catalyzing and fiishing than the original pure 100% T.O.

I love tung oil as a finish but it needs time, certainly ove r here in our lower temps, to cure. It does give a wonderful finish but I'd use danish oil on pens ( it's a form so accelerated tung oil ) so you need multiple coats. Light fastness is NOT its strong point though .