Recently after applying a 3rd coat of danish oil (equal parts of tung oil, poly urethane and mineral spirits) to a walnut rocking chair, I placed it in the covered cargo space of my pickup and drove an hour to a gallery. I had allowed 24 hours between each coat and three days for it to cure. When I took it out of my truck I discovered little droplets of a clear looking substance had wicked up upon its surface. It was probably pretty warm in the cargo space of my truck. The dropletes wiped away easily leaving a good looking finish. In the end the finish still look great but what could I have done differently to avoid having the droplets from coming to the surface?
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Replies
What did the liquid smell like? Was the space it came from before landing in the truck air conditioned? My first thought is condensation from a cool object being put in a warm and humid space without air circulating.
24 hours really isn't long enough for tung oil to cure.
I do not know the technical term but I have had a lot of "bleed back" from "Danish oil" it seems the environmental changes speed this up but it happens over time also. I would allow more time between coats. Lighter coats seem to help this also. I would notice this more from temperature changes more than humidity. Good luck.
The droplets looked clear, felt oily and had very little odor. I had waited 24 hours between coats and it had been 3 days before carrying it to its destination. It had never been in air conditiond space-the dropleets were not condensation. Whenever I apply danish oil I give it 20 minutes or so to soak in and then wipe and wipe and wipe some more to remove any remaining on the surface. I was using my home made recipe for D oil (tung oil). In the past I have used Watco D oil and before that Deftoil (until it was discontinued. The commercially available D oils are made with BLO. I wanted to try D oil made with tung oil.