Replies

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Jan 18, 2006 05:28pm | #1

   Yes you can do this.  Be very sure that you get all the wax off.  Use plenty of the mineral spirits and LOTS of rags so you don't smear it around.  A synthetic steel wool could help too.  Poly doesn't stick to wax. 

   In fact, I would  recommend against a poly wipe on varnish in favor of a wipe-on made with a traditional resin.  This would be much less bothered by small amounts of residual wax (don't consider this license to do a sloppy job of wax removal.).  It will also look better than poly.  One possibility is one of the Waterlox varnishes.  The Original/Sealer is thin enough to be wiped on, and it gives a nice mellow gloss.  The Satin will give less shine, and the Gloss is full bore glossy.  The Gloss has a larger percentage of solids and may need to be thinned for use as a wiping varnish.  For a lighter varnish you could thin Pratt & Lambert 38 varnish, which is made with Soya oil and alkyd resin.   

   You can use any varnish as a wiping varnish by adding mineral spirits.  The usual advise is to mix them 50-50, though try wiping with less mineral spirits say 30-70.  The ratios are not magic, and you don't need to measure with laboratory precision. 

   Test the finish on some scrap before using on the table to see if the gloss is right.  Once the "client" has signed on to the sample, there is a lot less risk of having to make modifications down the road when more work is involved. 

1. 
   Mark Dennen | Jan 19, 2006 07:51am | #5

   Steve,Thank you for your comments. I am not sure what you mean about wipe on products made with a traditional resin. I have used Moser's Wipe on Varnish (the priming grade and regular grade) and found them hard to work with despite a friend's eternal praise. I have also used Watco Danish Oil, easy enough, but not much of a build, but seems fine for walnut shelf clocks. I have not tried the Waterlox material and do not seem to remember much about it from the FWW article on finishes. You like the material?I will get the wax off and practice first with the backside of the two center (leaves or leafs?) before touching the actual top. I just want to make sure I get it absolutely right.Mark

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Jan 19, 2006 08:59am | #6

   By a traditional resin varnish I mean any oil based varnish that does not contain polyurethane.  Waterlox is one example that has already been thinned.  Other good varnishes include Behlen's Rockhard, and Pratt & Lambert 38. Poly is not a good choice since it does not rub out nearly as well.  These varnishes can be thinned with mineral spirits to wiping consistency.  To some extent, when you buy a varnish labeled as a wiping varnish you are buying mineral spirits at varnish prices, though either choice is not likely to break the bank. 

   Yes, I like Waterlox, the Original/Sealer applies reasonable easily by wiping or by brush, and cures to a nice, not quite fully glossy finish. 

   The Watco is not a varnish, rather it is a mix of oil and varnish, thinned to be applied as a wipe on in-the-wood finish.  It should not be allowed to build on the surface since the finish would not be very hard, although harder than a purely oil finish, either boiled linseed oil, or pure tung oil. 

2. 
   pzgren | Jan 18, 2006 11:42pm | #2

   Hi Mark,

   I'm curious about how many coats of tung oil you used.

   I recently finished a red oak bookcase for my wife's cookbooks. The first coat was BLO w/pumice (to seal/fill the pores). Next came 6 coats of high gloss tung oil. As a mechanical protectant (of sorts), the final coat was buffed paste wax. The end result was a VERY high sheen (mostly from the tung oil; the wax just "smoothed" the sheen out a bit).

   My experience with (high gloss) tung oil is that it does not start to exhibit any real shine/gloss until about the 4th or 5th coat.  I normally saturate the wood with the first coat, let it sit/soak-in for 5 or 10 minutes, and then wipe the excess off (I live in the desert with an average of 10% -15% humidity, so the tung oil starts to get tacky a lot faster than it does other places I've lived that have higher humidity.). I then let it cure for at least 24 hours and run 0000 steel wool over it to get all the dust nibs, etc. Then repeat for X number of coats (usually 3 to 5 more), until the desired level of glossiness is reached. (The last coat does not get the steel wool treatment.)

   (If you do want a wax top coat, I've found that harder waxes shine better than the softer ones.)

   Another possible solution to raise the sheen would be to French polish it, if you have the time to do so.

   [This is just my opinion and personal taste, but poly-anything gives a "plastic" look; after putting all of that work and effort into a custom-made table with nice cherry wood, it would be a real shame to put poly on it and make it look like it came from one of those mass production furniture warehouse places......]

   Good luck, and post some pics when you get it finished, so we can see and admire your new table!!

   James

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Jan 19, 2006 04:18am | #3

   With respect to adding an additional top coats, it doesn't matter whether the tung oil finish was really tung oil, or as is usually the case, some other thing.  One of the most commonly mistaken material is from Formby's.  They sell High Gloss Tung Oil Finish that is not tung oil, it is a varnish.  Varnish is made by a chemical reaction of oils and resins with thinner added.  The oil in Formby's includes some tung and some other oils, that are just ingredients in the varnish.   If a product is really tung oil, the label will read 100% tung oil, or pure tung oil, and the label won't indicate any mineral spirits.  The Formby's is an OK wiping varnish that I don't use simply because I don't appreciate the necessity to read the fine print or to understand the semantic fine point that Tung Oil Finish isn't an oil at all, but a varnish. 

2. 
   Mark Dennen | Jan 19, 2006 07:10am | #4

   James,Thank you for your comments. I probably have 3-4 coats on the table, but the finish is still flat, so I may need to add more as you have reccomended and build more of a finish. Like many people, I have tried so many finishes in search of the perfect material with some of my better luck being Antique Oil. I tried the Wipe on Poly (satin) from Minwax after seeing the very positive reviews in FWW. It was so easy to use and looked very nice on a restored oak table, but I do respect you comments about using urethane on a treasured project.Mark