Refinishing furniture

That things cool.

 

Tung oil is the final finish. It is the best of the natural drying oils, better than linseed or boiled linseed. These oils cure and polymerize by reaction with O2 in the air. This process can take days or weeks. It can be sped up using "metal dryers" in then oil. these are salts of iron, cobalt, etc that act as catalysts and drive the polymerization reaction faster.

It is not nearly as durable and waterproof as modern urethane and other finishes. And you will need to do many lighter coats...like 5-10 coats or s decent level of a waterproofing.

 

Tung oil is a fantastic finish. Tung and Linseed oil are the two most often used vegetable oils in class called drying oils, because they dry into an elastic and durable finish. The protect well, but are thin and easy to maintain.
These are my tower speakers I built 30 years ago with sapele. Original Tung oil with touchups every 6-8 years.

 

I have a few cool old pieces waiting for the time to re-do them. We have a few places around here that have a ton of old stuff, some refinished and others you can go and pick out what you want and they will refinish it the way you want. Prices are damn good too. We’ve bought a fair amount from the place and quality is great. The pieces I have I want to do myself. On a side note high winds took down a barn at my buddies family’s farmhouse. It’s a fully re-done farmhouse with gin mill, etc. was looking for some good barn wood to make a green egg island. Guess I have it now.

 

I've been doing some reading on Tung oil and I think I'm going to go that route. Do you guys suggest using the uncut 100% Tung oil or a blend like Minwax Tung Finish? From what I understand, the biggest difference in the two is the speed of application - 100% takes longer/more coats. I've got time, so I want to choose the superior finish.

 

Stripped the ruined veneers off to expose the cedar and gave it a couple exterior coats of tung oil. Happy with it for now, not bad for something from 1946

 

Character !!! Looks good.

 

Thank you, no, THANK YOU for not being one of those heathens that paint these sorts of pieces....

 

Some gratuitous pictures of my finished chest I ended up going with tung oil and it turned out great except for the drawer which seems like it's a different shade. Still undecided on if I want to replace the original hardware.