Tung Oil

I my case I was not able to recover the tung oil mixture.

Pure tung oil does not contain an added dryer like solvent and it take much longer time to dry. Many finish are sold under the banner of Tung Oil mixture. Some mixture do not have tung oil in it and some only have 10-30% of pure oil.

One of the problem with tung oil mixture is the air left in the container. The air entering the container is another problem. Here is the comments I received from Minwax: Quote The Tung Oil Finish comes in a metal container, so you really can't prevent air from getting in the container if there's room in the can, so this is going to cause solvent evaporation.

There's a product I've heard of is called Bloxygen that is supposed to be good for successfully removing air from the container and keeping it out, preventing the solvent from evaporating and causing the product to skin over. Here's the link to the website

The other solution is awkward but it works, It consist of replacing the empty space with an other matters like pebbles. Many woodturner use the one quart container of tung oil mixture. They use it in a continuos manner that it does not have time to thicken and jelled. When it does, they discard it. Other woodturner make their own tung oil mixture as needed. They get pure tung oil, add a dryer and a third elements.

Tung Oil cures by polymerization. Little molecules link together to make the huge molecules that we call the "finish". It is not reversible. Throw it out.

Russ Fairfield Post Falls, Idaho http:/

I try to purchase Tung Oil in a tall/narrow can with a screw-on cap and not a round can with a lid you pound back on to seal it. You can squeeze the heck out of the tall narrow cans, leaving no room for residual air, raising the level of the leftover tung oil right up to the mouth of the can and still not distort the mouth or the threads in order to screw the lid back on.

Pat

evaporation.

I had some year old oil labelled as pure tung oil that gelled in the can. There remained a considerable amount of a thin brown oily liquid. Questions: Is there a liquor that remains after complete polymerization of pure tung oil in a container? If so, what is it and would it be useful as a thinner or sealer? If not, was my 'pure tung oil' not as advertized? Or is this thin liquor just tung oil that hasn't polymerized yet? Is there a phase during polymerization in which the molecules are so loosely linked that the oil remains a liquid? I'd think it would be thicker, not thinner than the fresh oil. You chemists stop that laughing. You know that I hate to throw anything out. Arch

Fortiter,

Hi Bill, I have been squirting CO2 into the can which is probably the same as the Bloxygen stuff others have mentioned. Got it at LV but it isn't cheap. Ken Waller, Valley Woodturners, recommends blowing in the can before putting the cap on which is a variation of the same thing. I was thinking of getting a collapsible jar from LV but they are big and I was warned enough air comes through the plastic to speed polymerization. Ken also mentioned putting it into smaller baby food jars to reduce any waste as others have said. I find the sealer to be worse than the Polymerized Tung Oil for gelling. Billh

CO2 is good if you have it handy. If you don't, you can use propane from a propane torch. While I wouldn't want to fill a 55 gallon drum with it, in a small container I wouldn't worry a bit about it's flammability.

John Martin

Transfer you Tung Oil to glass containers and as you use it, replace the Tung Oil with water. The water drops straight through the oil to the bottom and you can use up every last drop of the oil. The oil will last indefinitely.\

Good Luck,

Tom Buchner

I've done that too. Is the whole can a glob, or just the top of it?

I ended up with a thick skim of gloob and just pored the rest into another container and it was fine.

Jolyn

Say, anybody ever think of trying LDD? ;-)

...Kevin

as the round enters the chamber...

_____ American Association of Woodturners Cascade Woodturners Assoc., Portland, Oregon Northwest Woodturners, Tigard, Oregon _____

CO2 is easy enough to make! (Kitchen chemistry) Take a clean large plastic bottle (like a 2 liter cola bottle) Put in a few tablespoons (30-60 ml) of Bicarbonate of Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate: NaHCO3) Add about a quarter cup (60 ml) of vinegar) The reaction is the production of CO2 (The bottle is full of CO2 when a flame held at the top of the bottle is smothered by the CO2 coming out) CO2 is "heavier than air" so you can just "pour" the gas out of the bottle into the can. (Just don't pour the vinegar & soda solution into the can!)

Matt Heffron

PS By the way, exhaled breath still contains a lot of oxygen, so it isn't a very good way to try to protect the finish from jelling.

On 05 Oct 2003 03:22:34 GMT, Russ Fairfield's fingers viciously stabbed at an innocent keyboard to form the now famous if slightly awkward haiku:

You left a / out of your sig,

Mowgli