Hi Folks,
Architect here who also dabbles in some woodworking.
We’ve specified cabinets doors made of mdf with hardwood veneer. The hardwood veneer is stained and finished with tung oil. On one project the cabinet doors have had no issue, on another the edge strips keep peeling off the doors.
A different joiner was used for each project (in different states).
The joiner for the second project is blaming the tung oil for the glue failure.
Any experience with tung oil and glue and which glues might be fail safe?
Cheers,
Hugh
Replies
If the edge banding was properly glued before being stained and finished I can't see why or how the tung oil would cause failure. If the edge banding was not properly adhered to the substrate then yah maybe the oil could creep in and cause the joint to fail sooner than it would have failed eventually anyway. Pure tung oil or a polymerized tung oil finish? If the oil seeped into the bad joint then the substrate may now be poluted and subsequent attempts at regluing might be prone to failure. I would completely remove the edgebanding , remove all glue and if new banding is available I would use that- but if not remove all old glue on both surfaces( and we don't know what that is) and clean, or rather, wipe both surfaces with acetone to remove ,hopefully ,any oil contaminants. The veneer is what? If some kind of tropical hardwood then cleaning with acetone would be called for pre gluing anyway to remove the natural oils present in the wood before gluing at the time of manufacture. I would use Titebond lll probably because I hate using epoxy, but Smiths Teak and Oak Epoxy just came to my mind. Steve Smith manufactures specialty epoxies in Richmond CA. It's actually him that has answered the phone when I've called.
510 237 6842. If all else fails then new doors would need to be made....use the first guy!
Thanks very much, Pantalones
Something just occurred to me. If the manufacturer of those failing doors used pre--- I don't know what to call it, " stickem" edge banding. Then that stuff is kind of like adhesive tape. The adhesive is more like caulk. It's an interface between two things rather than making two things one thing. Heat and pressure makes it adhere but without the magic of what wood glue does. It is quite possible that a distillate, like might be present in tung oil ,or in any oil product ,could cause a chemical reaction that would soften the bond and cause failure. If the builder knows that he should state something like " do not finish with petroleum distillates " or some such thing. But there is no reason he should know it. We work with stuff like wood and sharp tools, we're not chemists ! We only know this stuff when it comes back to bite us! I learned it when I built some redwood windows for my house. The window caulking for setting the glass stated right on the tube that the oil finish that I planned to use would kill the caulk! That caulk,that I ended up not using was recommended to me by a friend that manufactures redwood ( or cedar)windows. What he uses. Many of those windows I'm sure were meant to have a natural finish and pretty much any exterior oil finish would not be compatible with that caulk. I read the tube,apparently he never had!
Properly applied and cured adhesive survives finishing. This is operator error. IMO; Unless you forced both products down their throats against their will it is their problem to fix.
If tung oil caused the glue to come undone, change adhesive.