Hi all,
I recently finished a walnut coffee table using Odies oil. However, after sanding to 220 and 3 coats later, I wasn’t impressed with the sheen and overall finish. The sheen that was there wore off after about 2 months.
I would like to try refinishing it again with tung oil this time. If I resand with 80-120-150-220 grits and apply mineral spirits and then tung oil, would this work well? Thanks for your thoughts.
Replies
I've done tons of walnut with Tung and it all depends upon how well you can get the tung to penetrate. Any oil left on the surface just turns to a filmy crap layer.
Dunno what is really in Odies Oil. The MSDS simply states: "A proprietary blend of all-natural FDA approved food safe oils and waxes"
So, the answer to your question is YMMV. If it didn't penetrate much and you can get to bare enough wood, Tung will be fine, otherwise... not so much :(
I wouldn't start at 80 grit. Way to coarse for an already finished project.
I would think you could just dewax it, lightly sand and apply the tung oil.
Personally, I like shellac on walnut, topcoat of your choice. For a coffee table, I’d be looking at spraying urethane or lacquer.
I would try to avoid sanding altogether if possible. Try using mineral spirits to remove the wax/oils from the old finish and try the finish of your choice over that. I would just do a small area to start with to make sure it works as desired. If you don't like that finish, I don't imagine you'd like the tung oil finish much better. Some finishes labeled as tung oil finish are actually varnish finishes, maybe with some tung oil in them. Maybe start with shellac and see how you like it. You can put anyting on top of shellac if you need something more durable.
Sounds like you have a beautiful piece that deserves a beautiful finish and you can certainly achieve that with oil!
For future reference, there have been many good articles on oil finishing in FWW through the years (eg: FWW #97, FWW #269).
Many good comments here, but the problem with trying to fix your finish is that 220 grit is nowhere near enough to get a satisfactory oil finish. Essentially, you have a shaky foundation to build on so anything you try now is unlikely to satisfy you.
My advice is take a few deep breaths and sand it back down to bare wood any way you can and start over. You'll be able to tell if your finish is too thick and uncured if your sand paper clogs up quickly. If so, then I guess solvents and drying time are required followed by sanding.
After that, surface prep and patience are key. You'll need to go to at least 600 grit, preferably higher, or until you start to think that you don't want to put any oil on at all because it's looking so good.
Then go with a really thin coat with a lint free cloth, followed by a thorough wipe down after an hour and let the first coat cure for at least 2 days ( longer is better). Before putting the next coat on rub the entire thing out with a clean cloth. This serves 2 purposes, first you are burnishing the finish for the next coat and second, any oil coming off the piece onto the cloth means more cure time and the coat was too thick.
First time I used tung oil was 25 years ago on a crib for my kids and the finish is still rock solid and looks great, except of course where it got chewed on the top rail. Good thing it's food safe too eh?
Cheers
I have had excellent results with the Polymerized Tung Oil and Polymerized tung oil sealer from Lee Valley.
You apply a coat of sealer and then mix a blend of sealer and oil to achieve the sheen you like and put 2 or 3 coats on. I have it on all types of furniture including a dining table and it holds up beautifully and is easy to add more to over the years if you need to.
I do sand up to 600 grit and wipe the piece with lint free cloth between each grit before applying the oil.
There is a good set of instructions on the Lee Valley website.
Thanks all for your comments. I did forget to mention that I made the mistake of cleaning it with a wood cleaner that had some Brazilian carnubua wax in it. I thought it would be fine but then I noticed that I caused some blotchy spots in the wood and some white streaks in the grain. I then sprayed some soapy water on it, hoping to get it off but it didn’t really work. I also tried lightly sanding it off in a small spot but that didn’t seem to help either.
I called Odies to see what they recommended. The person was helpful and told me to use Odies Super Solvent to remove the cleaner’s wax and then proceed with sanding from 220 to 600 and recoating with Odies to avoid any issues with combining different oils. I know he works for Odies and is biased but he also did sound like he knew what he was talking about.
With that being said, should I just stick with Odies to play it safe? I’m sure sanding to 600 may make a difference in the sheen as well. Thanks again for your thoughts!
Well, it is the wax that will prevent the Tung from penetrating...
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