formbys tung oil finish
low gloss, cheap and easy to find. 2 coats within one half a days span and rub with a cloth shortly afterwards. It works very well on western red cedar. True Tung oil or synthetic tung oil blends are both fine to use as per Don Beale who made my paddle.
Minwax “Tung Oil Finish”…
– Last Updated: Jan-08-09 9:12 AM EST –
has little or no tung oil in it. It's just thinned varnish (a.k.a. "wiping varnish"), so you're paying a lot of money for something that's mostly mineral spirits. These products may work well, but they're a horrible value, since you can easily mix an oil/varnish blend for a lot less money.
No, it really doesn’t soak in
If you were to take a plane to the surface, you’d find that it penetrates a few thousandths of an inch, at most. Moreover, once the grain is sealed, it doesn’t penetrate at all; you end up wiping off almost everything you wipe on.
Real oil finishes don’t build a film…
…since they can’t. Oils will seal the pores in the the wood and with a few additional coats will mostly fill the pores, but that’s it. If you apply oil thick enough to create a film, it will result in a gooey mess that doesn’t cure. The periodic application of oil to a finished paddle (or other surface) simply repairs the areas that are worn, it doesn’t build the finish thickness significantly.
If a finish is capable of producing a thick film - especially a glossy one - it’s not a pure oil and it probably contains varnish. The one exception is partially or fully polymerized oil finishes, which are oils, but because of the way they’re processed, they act like varnish. They are expensive specialty finishes, the most common of which is Birchwood Casey’s “Tru-Oil”.
While it sounds sophisitcated…
…“UV stabilized, high-gloss, polyurethane finish” is just code for “exterior polyurethane varnish”.
Not the way it works
Applying oil too soon simply makes the whole surface softer and it takes much longer to cure. There is no chemical bonding between oil coats, as the new coat cannot dissolve the old. If you’re using one of the “oil finish” products, follow the manufacturer’s instructions. If you’re using pure oil, 24 hours between coats is enough to avoid retarding the curing process (assuming an ambient temp of 60 degrees or more), but longer won’t hurt anything. If time mattered, re-oiling a paddle months or years after initially finishing it wouldn’t work.
Paddle finishes - oil, varnish & blends
I’ve played around with oils, varnishes and blends and here are the pluses and minuses that I’ve found:
Oil:
- It’s easy to apply and re-finish, wipe on and wipe off.
- It’s cheap and readily availabel in the case of boiled linseed oil.
- It’s moderately expensive and harder to find in the case of tung oil.
- It’s not terribly durable, in either case.
- The odor is reasonably pleasant and there are no toxic fumes.
- It has a very nice feel, with a good grip.
- It “breathes”, so any water that gets under it will dry pretty quickly. However, that also means that it’s not a completely waterproof finish, so it’s not suitable for wood that’s constantly immersed, but that’s not really an issue for paddles.
I’ve found that tung oil cures faster than linseed and is somewhat less durable. Thinning either one is a waste of time, as it really doesn’t enhance penetration appreciably, contrary to popular myth.
There are a lot of “oil finish” products on the market, most of which are wiping varnishes that contain little or no oil and are mostly just thinner. Of this type of finish, Watco contains more oil than most.
Varnish:
- It’s easy to apply, wipe or brush on. it can be wiped off to keep the film thickness down, if desired, but it must be done before it starts to get tacky.
- It’s cheap and readily available.
- It’s very durable.
- Re-finishing is more of a chore. Sanding is required to achieve a decent bond and blending old and new finishes can be difficult. That’s more of an issue with furniture or boats than with paddles, unless you freak out whenever you scratch your paddle.
- The odor is unpleasant and there are toxic fumes from the thinner(s). It requires ventilation and a respirator.
- It has a plastic feel that can be slippery when wet. Even satin or matte varnish will polish to a gloss in the grip area and become slippery.
- It’s completely waterproof.
- It doesn’t breathe, so any water that gets under it through the inevitable cracks and nicks will not be able to get back out. This can cause discoloration of the wood and potentially result in rot, though I’ve never heard of anyone’s paddle rotting.
I’ll say at the outset that I’m not fond of varnish finishes, as I don’t like their feel, but that’s my personal preference. They are durable and easy to work with, which may be more important to some people.
Oil/varnish blends:
- The good ones fall between oil and varnish in their properties, essentially combining the advantages of both with few disadvantages. What you end up with is a finish that has the same look and feel of pure oil, but is more durable. It’s just as easy to apply and renew.
- The “bad” ones are basically just thinned varnish with a high price tag and a misleading label. They end up looking and feeling just like varnish, although the film is generally thinner since you typically use the wipe-on, wipe-off application method.
Blends are my preferred finish for paddles, but I always make my own blends. I’ve tried several of the commercial finishes and don’t like most of them (Watco is the best of the ones I’ve tried). My experiments have shown that a 50:50 blend of linseed or tung oil and natural varnish works really well. If you’re going to use polyurethane varnish, using a bit more oil in the blend - ~60% - produces a more oil-like finish than a 50:50 blend will. I prefer tung oil to linseed, but the differences between them are small.
IMPORTANT CAVEATS:
- With any of these finishes, exposure to air in their container will result in partial curing, so use a product like “Bloxygen” to prevent this. Once they start to cure, they thicken and they’re useless, and must be discarded. Attempting to salvage them will result in a poor finish and more work/frustration for you. Unless you enjoy kicking yourself, don’t bother.
- If you apply these finishes with rags or paper towels, DO NOT THROW THEM IN THE TRASH! The warnings about spontaneous combustion are NO JOKE! I’ve tested this twice myself and wadded-up rags got to the point of smoking and charring in a relatively short period of time (< 1 hour), though I doused them with water before they actually burst into flames. I wouldn’t throw brushes in the trash, either.
I don’t get into keeping oily rags in a can of water or any of that nonsense. Just hang them up or spread them out on the ground and allow the finish to cure overnight (or longer). Once the finish is cured, they can safely be thrown in the trash.
Does Tung nut oil polymerize?
– Last Updated: Jan-08-09 3:24 PM EST –
If so, there is a chemical reaction that results in a "chemical bond". But, you're right. In practice, the application of pure oil requires removing any that hasn't "soaked into" the wood and allowing it to thoroughly dry before reapplication. I was wrong again. Thanks for the clarification.
BNystrom speaks like he wrote the
book on GPs or something.
I do know something about an oil finish
My home is made from Western Red Cedar. 4x8 tongue and groove timbers. When I built it 10 years ago I used an expensive Antique oil finish on the interior. Hundreds of square feet of it. Rubbed it on, wiped it off. Looked good. But it wore out, dulled over time. This winter I used boiled linseed oil with a little turpentine. Works on my paddles, worked on my walls. Rubbed it on, wiped it off. Don’t know the chemistry. Don’t care. My walls are pretty again. And they will be for another ten years.
I also have a mannequin. She’s a skinny thing and was given to me for my 50th birthday. She didn’t have a head! I painted her grey and made an “alien like” head for her. I modified her right arm/ hand to hold a cold beer for me while I work. My wife is gone, but my mannequin is always there for me, to hold my beer. My wife would never do that for me. And varnish on my walls, would have been a disaster. Thanks for this discusion. I’m going out to the garage to have a beer, with my mannequin. I need to name her. She’s my friend.
How About “Monica”?
She was on “Friends”.
Thanks!
The hint about home made varnish/oil is something I can try.
My local hardware store carries pint container of 100% tung oil for under $10. And that seemingly would last me forever (several years by the rate it is going out the bottle for now) for the two paddles I have, so I’m not sure why some say it is high cost. But it does wear thin on my home-made paddle pretty fast, so every couple of months it seems I could use a coat…
On my GP
I did not loke the feel of the varnished loom, so I sanded it and applied a mix of linseed/tung/turp in multiple layers with hand buffing. Sure, it wears down, but I like the feel. probably because I have been oiling the grips of canoe paddles since the 60s.
Jim
Mix small batches, too
I rarely mix more than 2-4 ounces of finish at a time, basically just enough to put ~4 coats on a paddle. It won’t keep for long, so any excess ends up being wasted.
We’ve had this discussion before.
You don’t happen to have that link on finishes I sent you a couple years ago do you? I can’t find it.
Seems you’re still lumping all these brands together. Some are exactly what you say - wiping varnishes, some are not - and are very close to blends you use in functionality, if not in precise mix. Some suck, some don’t (and some people may or may not know or care about the difference as long as the paddle looks and works OK).
Can you find and buy the same volume of pure tung for same price? Sure, so you’re right about the economy from that perspective - if you already have the other parts of the mix. If not, you’re buying more products, and have more storage issues.
You can finish a lot of GPs with a can of that Minwax (and the tung in the blend doesn’t seem to spoil if left with air in the can (tung polymerizes in air - my pure tung says to add marbles to displace the air to prevent this). It is SUPER easy to dispense and use, and seals/stores well too. For many, that’s going to be more economical on many levels.
The Minwax has enough tung oil to work well. You can still smell it over the other ingredients at full strength, and then very clearly that is what remains (if directions are followed). Leave some leftovers out and see what’s left behind after the other stuff evaporates out.
On the other hand, I stay away from the other brand blends (for same reasons as you say - you typically don’t know what you’re getting) - and probably would not be using the Minwax based on your input if I hadn’t actually tried it first. I also stay away from other non tung oils that may work fine too. If I had a workshop - and did a lot of other projects - I’d likely blend my own too. Lately I’m liking strait tung for multiple coats and touch-ups. Custom blending for first coat when I have the pre-blended Minwax would be a waste unless I was really turning out a lot of paddles.
Nice summary
Ammend my post above to read: I would put Minwax Tung in the “good” category of blends as it performs as described. Easy app, bit more durable result than pure oil.
He wrote “a” book on GPs…
… and fortunatley it’s a damn good one.
Why?
I do not understand why Greenland paddlers would cook with tung oil. Olive oil is cheaper and much tastier.
Spoken like a true Inuit.