I bought a can of ACE Tung oil, use it once, put the cap back and tight, 1 yr later when i try to use it on another rifle stock, I found the whoe can turned gell. All tung oils do this? Lineseed oils do the same thing? Which one has better storage life.
Tung over Linseed Oil?
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win71
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HankC
Just about anything, finish wise, that's made to dry will start drying in the container once opened. If the container is flexible, i.e. soft plastic and the lid is good you can squeeze most of the air out and cap. It helps a little. I used to transfer it into baby food jars but they even hold too much for an occasional stock and once opened again will also go bad. I finally got some small jars from the local pharmacy.
Both pure tung oil and unboiled linseed oil will get thicker in the container once opened. Polymerized tung oil and boiled linseed oil usually go bad quicker. Any of the mixtures, especially the ones with Japan driers will usually go even faster. The advantage of course is they also tend to dry faster on the gunstock.
My guess is that product you bought at Ace was not pure tung oil. I don't think they have carried that for quite a while. If the container was marked "TUNG OIL FINISH" it could have been a mixture of several oils, solvents, and driers along with some tung oil.
Just about anything, finish wise, that's made to dry will start drying in the container once opened. If the container is flexible, i.e. soft plastic and the lid is good you can squeeze most of the air out and cap. It helps a little. I used to transfer it into baby food jars but they even hold too much for an occasional stock and once opened again will also go bad. I finally got some small jars from the local pharmacy.
Both pure tung oil and unboiled linseed oil will get thicker in the container once opened. Polymerized tung oil and boiled linseed oil usually go bad quicker. Any of the mixtures, especially the ones with Japan driers will usually go even faster. The advantage of course is they also tend to dry faster on the gunstock.
My guess is that product you bought at Ace was not pure tung oil. I don't think they have carried that for quite a while. If the container was marked "TUNG OIL FINISH" it could have been a mixture of several oils, solvents, and driers along with some tung oil.
Brian Dale
Member
I fill the tung oil container with clean marbles until the liquid level is right next to the top of the can. That way, there's less air in the container and the oil has only a small surface exposed to it.
I also usually put plastic wrap across the top of the liquid before putting the cover on the container. Plastic wrap and marbles are a lot cheaper than each can of wood finish.
Instead of marbles, you can use carbon dioxide or nitrogen from spray cans to fill the air space of your container and exclude oxygen. It's oxygen that drives polymerization (as W.E.G. mentioned), rather than the evaporation of liquid. Art supply stores and wine stores sometimes carry these cans of gas. They cost a lot more than marbles do.
It's also a good idea to buy only as much of each finishing product as you expect to use in the near future. I try to buy wood finishing products in amounts that I expect to use up in less than a year.
I also usually put plastic wrap across the top of the liquid before putting the cover on the container. Plastic wrap and marbles are a lot cheaper than each can of wood finish.
Instead of marbles, you can use carbon dioxide or nitrogen from spray cans to fill the air space of your container and exclude oxygen. It's oxygen that drives polymerization (as W.E.G. mentioned), rather than the evaporation of liquid. Art supply stores and wine stores sometimes carry these cans of gas. They cost a lot more than marbles do.
It's also a good idea to buy only as much of each finishing product as you expect to use in the near future. I try to buy wood finishing products in amounts that I expect to use up in less than a year.
Brian Dale
Member
I wish I knew whom to credit for it; someone published it years ago. Archimedes, ultimately. Still, whoever it was has saved me a lot of money over the past several years. I get to use all of the product in the container now.
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