tung oil help

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pdowg881

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I'm refinishing a yugo sks and need help with tung oil. So far, it is stained with minwax special walnut. When I apply teak, I have heard to mix it 1/3 turpentine thinner etc, burt others have said never do that. The tung I am using is formby's high gloss. My other question is what is the purpose of steel wool between coats? What happens if I do not use steel wool between coats? And is there some other abrasives I can use instead?
 
I use a 50:50 mix of tung:mineral spirits for the first many coats. I just slop it on and let it soak in. I sand with 200 grit sand paper before my 100% tung oil final coat. I did not apply it on top of a miniwaz layer so I dont know how that would affect it. The resulting finish was not very glossy but very sexy...

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The Formby's isn't straight tung oil. It's a tung oil finish which has some thinners already mixed in.

Let it dry for 24-hours between coats, then hit it with the 0000 steel wool with the grain. The steel wool evens things out and results in a smoother finish in the end. I don't know of anything better than 0000 steel wool for that. Make sure to use a tack cloth after you use the steel wool to pick up everything.

I also find it is best to find a rope to hang the stock so you don't end up laying it down.
 
The steel wool mess is why I dropped it from the routine. I like the finished stock to have some texture so the sand paper works well for that.

+1 to what Jorg mentioned. I found a wire coat hangar works well for drying. I kept the brush in the freezer and wrapped in a plastic bag so I could reuse it.
 
Make sure to use a tack cloth after you use the steel wool to pick up everything.
Click to expand...

Tack cloth is good. I've found it helps to use soft, clean cotton with a bit of rubbing alcohol or mineral spirits after going over a piece of wood with a tack cloth. Fine dust particles are persistent little buggers.
 
I like using 0000 wool between coats, because it prevents the "eurathane look" after you've applied a few coats. The wool seems to knock down the buildup on the high spots, and evens the coat as every coat is applied.
 
Steel wool and sandpaper also knock down the grain. The grain will rise a bit, especially with the first few coats, since it sucks up the finish. The more coats, the less the grain rises. However, sanding and such still helps because it helps to even out the coat too. I've used Formby's a lot in the past and have never thinned it. I sand and steel wool the surface till it's smooth, then apply the oil using a rag. Let it dry, sand/steel wool again, apply another coat. I like to apply at least 3 coats, sometimes as many as 10. Depending on how big the piece is and how messy you are, it should take about 15-20 minutes per day. Do it when you get home from work for a week or so. It's a quick, easy, cheap finish that doesn't get sticky/gummy from hand sweat like a high-gloss finish does.
 
I re-finished a K31 last year. I didn't stain the stock, I wanted to see the walnut. I followed the "coat every day for a week, every week for a month, every month for a year" adage - for about 2 months :).

I used 1 Tung Oil:3 Mineral Spirits for the first coat, 1 Tung Oil:1 Mineral Spirits for the 2nd coat, 3 Tung Oil:1 Mineral Spirits for the 3rd coat, and 100% Tung Oil for all subsequent coats.

I used pure Tung Oil I got at a woodworking shop. I didn't want any additives (I wasn't in any hurry re-finishing).

For my take, the steel wool early on seemed to be knocking down the grain to some extent. It was pretty smooth by the 5th coat. After that the steel wool seemed to bring out the warmth of the finish - I wasn't going for a glossy finish, I wanted a very warm satin finish.

In my opinion :), the stock is very nice looking. I certainly get lot of compliments when I am shooting it at the range - though the K31 purists point out that the finish is not authentic.

Mike
 
I've refinished a couple of M1 Garand stocks with tung oil - 100% tung oil from Woodcraft, not "tung oil finish" which has additives - using a method similar to RPCVYemen's . . . first coat was 1 part tung oil to 3 parts mineral spirits, second 1TO to 2MS, third 1TO to 1MS, and several coats of pure tung oil afterwards.

First few coats are slopped on heavily to force it deeply into the wood - I keep slopping it on for about 10 minutes or so, until it looks like the wood has saturated, and isn't absorbing any more; then after waiting a bit, I follow with a light wipe in order to avoid puddles. Once I progress to the pure tung oil, coats are much more sparingly applied and are wiped more thoroughly. I usually wet-sand with tung oil and increasingly fine sandpaper.

I also found that 1 or 2 drops of Japan drier per milliliter of tung oil helps drying, but I still allow a full week between coats.

Perhaps not authentic, but then, it looks a lot better than wood which was simply dunked in a hot oil bath and drip-dried . . .
 
I always used Casey's TruOil instead of tung oil. Found it very easy to work with and have gotten good results on many rifle, pistol, and shotgun stocks over the last 44+ years of use. I do recommend sanding stock (after last coat has dried thoroughly!) to prevent uneven build-up. Choice of sanding material can be 0000 steel wool, 400 or 600 grit sandpaper, or stock rubbing compounds marketed by Casey and/or Brownell. TruOil dries to a gloss shine. If you want, you can rub it with one of the stock rubbing compounds and change it to an egg-shell lustre, matte finish, or full dull finish depending on grit and amount of rubbing applied. Good luck.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

ps: TruOil can be applied over stock stains also. BE SURE to let each coat dry before rubbing, sanding, or applying next coat. Failure to do so will result in having to sand much/all of the finish off and start over.
 
Sand, or work the stock with steel wool, just enough to bring down the shine on the newest coat. It will be easy to see where you're at, because of the shine/matte difference, but won't go too deep, going through the last coat.
 
Formbys for me is the way to go. Who cares about purists. What I have in the gun cabinet doesn't go in a museum. Slather the Formbys Tung oil finish and let it soak, wipe it down after awhile. Let it dry and steel wool until the grain is smoothed out. Repeat several times. Lay on several thin coats and adjust your finish to where you like it. It pays to use their furniture stripper after you have stripped everything off with a conventional stripper. Even their lemon oil works wonders in replacing much needed oil into the wood before toy try Formbys tung oil finsh. Tung oil keeps the original color pretty close. Raw linseed oil makes it darker and sometimes redder if you want that. Me I like the Formbys Tung oil Finish.:)
 
It came out good. I put about four coats, so from some angles in the sun it has a little shine to it but still looks very close to the original finish. It's not a flat look but not too shiny either. Just right. I'm pleased with how it came out. Thanks for all the help.
 
I like Birchwood Caseys Tru oil at about 1:1 ratio with low odor min spirits. Just rub in 3-5 coats slowly. By rub in I mean small sections with your fingers until the heat from the friction will make the finish almost seem dry. When you are complete with each coat and it is dry, steel wool then wipe down with cotton cloth to remove the steel wool mess. Repeat until happy
 
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