Interior, Teak Oil or Wax?

[zboss]

BTW - the method is to keep soaking the wood in teak oil until its stops getting absorbed. I had to add about 20 coats to get to that point. After that, the teak oil gets hard and glossy.

[Scot McPherson]

Well I was specifically asking about the tung oil. I use it to restore furniture all the time. In fact it's all I use for that purpose. When done similarly to described above for the teak oil soaking, it leaves a hard finish that just about never needs to be restored again.

Wanted to know if anyone tried it in a nautical application.

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by Scot McPherson

Well I was specifically asking about the tung oil. I use it to restore furniture all the time. In fact it's all I use for that purpose. When done similarly to described above for the teak oil soaking, it leaves a hard finish that just about never needs to be restored again.

Wanted to know if anyone tried it in a nautical application.

I too would like to hear an answer to this one as I use tung oil a lot at home and was considering it for the interior of our Cape Dory 33. Our boat has a LOT of teak. I generally varnish the interiors of our boats, but the idea of brushing all that teak just sends me into panic mode. Oil wouldn't be hard or glossy enough for me.

[Scott Berg]

We've always used varnish; two coats of gloss with a coat of satin over it; after 15 years the interior looks like show room and moisture wipes off... a LOT of work but only had to do it once. The Satin over the Gloss gives the teak veneer a wonderful sheen...
We used Regatta Plus5 but since they are out of business we've used a range of good spar varnish. Interested in trying Tonkin Oil Varnish (Tonkinois) some day.

[darylat8750]

I used Watco oil on a cherry fireplace surround in my home. Many coats with vigorous rubbing in between created a beautiful, hard surface. Still looked good when we sold the house 13 years later with an additional coat rubbed on then rubbed off every couple of years. I tried the same thing on the teak inside my trawler. In the tropics we had issues with mold. I don't have no love of varnish but that seems to be the least of the evils...

[Glenn.Brooks]

I've had great success using Tung Oil on my teak plywood bulkheads and solid teak trim. 9 years ago when we bought the boat the bulkheads were black with mildew and soot from an old wood stove. After 6 or so passes with scrubbing with green abrasive sponge soaked in various combinations of thinner, acetone, Murphy's soap and water - water works great BTW- and very light sanding with 150 and 220 grit sandpaper, I got rid of all the black junk and could see a nice layer of teak veneer. Then put on 6 or 7 coats of tung oil - rubbing it down after dry each time, and got a very nice high sheen surface. Not glossy shinny like varnish, but a very nice hand rubbed furniture grade wood finish. Which has more or less lasted 9 years now. Also recently have starting experimenting with Deks oil high gloss finish, and various brands of teak oil. All have maintained a nice matted to glossy finish, depending on how much effort I put in each year. (Usually one or two,passes) For annual maintenance, usually I wipe down all the wood with thinner and white towel then add a new coat.

Ideally you would need 6 or 7 coats of Tung Oil, or other penetrating oil such as teak oil, with a light sanding after maybe 5 coats to produce a very nice furniture grade finish - I think perhaps it will last longer than varnish- certainly with less stripping and refinishing than varnish, which is why i opted not to varnish the interior in the beginning.

Like someone else said - BE REAL Careful with sanding. Modern teak plywood is very skimpy on the veneer- now usually nothing more than a surface layer for looks, certainly nothing like the 1/16 th inch mahogy or teak veneers that used to be available in plywood in the 60's and 70's. So any hard sanding with even 100 grit sandpaper runs the risk of taking off the "teak" and leaving the underlayment exposed.

[Stu Jackson]

I agree with jwing in #9 on page one. That's what we've been doing with out boats since 1983.

But, it all depends on what YOU like to look at. I detest (really) shiny varnish down below, others love it.

Your boat, your choice.

[terra57]

Lemon oil is excellent to prevent mold.



Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by terra57

Lemon oil is excellent to prevent mold.

Good that it worked for you. Lemon oil may be different now than when I used it on our teak (before sanding it all off), but it did, in fact, in the tropics, grow green mold on it, and the mold spores seemed to get their "feet" into the oil, so that I couldn't reasonably keep up with the growth. I must be mold phobic, or something, to have found the resolve to deal with it as I did.

I'm a great believer in below decks varnish. The method described above, where the poster used matte finish over the shiny, certainly works well. As it happens, I liked the bulkheads matte, but the bits you grab, I like them shiny. Each to his/her own, I guess.

I just want to say, I would never do oil, except land based and in a moderately dry humidity. I would only use varnish, if your shoes grow mold in the closet.

Ann

[KayZee]

I know it's an old thread but it's worth adding that unless you go searching and really check carefully, what you find marketed as "lemon oil" is really just mineral oil with a little lemon oil or even just lemon scent mixed in. Real food grade mineral oil is about $3.50 in most pharmacies and hardware store. Most tung oil is not pure but has petroleum distalates in it. Pure tung oil is food surface safe. Besides the word pure on the lable you can tell which is which by by the price. "Tung" oil is about $7.00 usd a quart. Pure tung oil is at least twice that. Teak oil is a mix of some concoction of tung, soy or mineral oils, some varnish and solvents to keep the varnish in suspension.


Mineral oil is easy and cheap but doesn't last long, at best a few months. Pure tung and linseed oils last longer but don't build a sheen unless you add about 20 coats a week apart so it doesn't get gummy. Varnish modified oils build a lustre but have the most VOC's.



You can absolutely use wax over oil. It's a fairly common finish on guitar necks and gun stocks.


Kurt

[Scot McPherson]

Originally Posted by KayZee

Most tung oil is not pure but has petroleum distalates in it. Pure tung oil is food surface safe. Besides the word pure on the lable you can tell which is which by by the price. "Tung" oil is about $7.00 usd a quart. Pure tung oil is at least twice that. Teak oil is a mix of some concoction of tung, soy or mineral oils, some varnish and solvents to keep the varnish in suspension.
Kurt

Wow, a blast from the past.

Well tung oil usually consists of a few ingredients including drying solvents that help the surface absorb the oil. You wouldn't want to use pure tung oil on very much because it wouldn't penetrate very deeply and would probably go rancid before it had a chance to dry. I had some cutting boards I had to get rid of by over oiling them (not tung oil) They never dried and the oil went rancid.

Miniwax make my favorite tung oil, I use it for everything bare wood, and a hard urathane of some sort for anything that needs to be sealed. Actually I used epoxy and 2oz glass to finish the sole of my current sailboat. You can only see the glass if you view the wood from an extreme angle in the sun. It's just about rock hard, and I haven't yet scuffed the finish. It's expensive, but boy it's durable, high gloss and looks REALLY nice.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Scot McPherson

Well I was specifically asking about the tung oil. I use it to restore furniture all the time. In fact it's all I use for that purpose. When done similarly to described above for the teak oil soaking, it leaves a hard finish that just about never needs to be restored again.

Wanted to know if anyone tried it in a nautical application.

Yes we have real tung oil on our cabin sole and in the head on the teak shower trim. The shower trim has an additional carnauba wax coating to help it w/moisture.

Here is our research on what we found out when reviewed ingredients of commercial "tung" oil products, many of which contained very little or no tung oil.


Bill O.

[Scot McPherson]

Bill, your link posts to an internal view of your blog post, not to the published post and therefore can only be read by you. Can you relink it to the publically accessible address?


Thanks
Scot

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Scot McPherson

Bill, your link posts to an internal view of your blog post, not to the published post and therefore can only be read by you. Can you relink it to the publically accessible address?


Thanks
Scot

Sorry here is the proper link to our tung oil research on commercial products.


Bill O.

[Bill O]

Here was some information from an old woodworking newsletter that I thought gave some good info on interior finishes.


A flagrant example of marketing is Minwax Tung Oil Finish. It contains absolutely no real tung oil. It's a mixture of varnish and linseed oil.

True tung oil comes from the nuts of a tree in China--and some other parts of the world. A product that is a true tung oil will have a label that says either "pure" or "100%". If it doesn't say that on the label, IT ISN'T TRUE TUNG OIL. Forget about all the other baloney and look for one of those two words if you want to use a true tung oil. If the label contains any other chemicals, except a thinner, you are not getting a true tung oil.

"Tung Oil Finish" is a marketing expression for products that the manufacturer thinks will give you a finish like the finish you get from a true tung oil. These "Tung Oil Finishes" may or may not contain some true tung oil, but most do not contain any true tung oil. Their only claim to the use of the word "tung" is that it claims to give you the appearance of finish that results from tung oil. You're buying a "faux tung oil finish".

There are two types of "tung oil finishes". One is mixture of varnish, boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits (called an oil/varnish). The exact mixtures are proprietary but 1/3, 1/3, and 1/3 will get you real close. Some manufacturers add a dollop of drier to speed up the drying. This same mixture is frequently also called "Danish Oil" because it gives a finish that resembles the finish used on much of the "danish style" teak furniture imported in the 50's and 60's. It closely mimics a true oil finish but the addition of the varnish resins gives it more durability and protection.

Here are some oil/varnish mixtures
Deft Danish Oil
General Finishes' Sealacell
Behlen Danish Oil
Maloof Finish
Behr Scandinavian Tung Oil Finish
Minwax Tung Oil Finish
Minwax Antique Oil Finish
Velvit Oil
Watco Danish Oil
McCloskey Tung Oil Finish (contains pure tung oil, not linseed oil)

The second "tung oil finish" is one made from varnish and mineral spirits. The approximate ratio is 1:1. This is really just a thinned varnish just like the stuff sold as "wiping varnish". When one two or three coats are applied, it also mimics the finish produced by a true oil but it is harder than the oil/varnish above because it does not have as much oil. It is slightly more protective than the oil/varnish type or tung oil finish. For all intents and purposes it is a varnish finish.

Here are some thinned varnishes
Minway Wiping Varnish
Watco Wiping Varnish
Formby's Tung Oil Finish
Zar Wipe-on Tung Oil
Val-Oil
Hope's Tung Oil Varnish
Gillespie Tung Oil
Waterlox
General Finishes' Arm R Seal
Jasco Tung Oil

One way to tell whether the product is an oil/varnish or a wiping varnish is to read the application instructions. Oil/varnishes are applied, then given some time to set, then wiped dry. Wiping varnish products are wiped on an left to dry (no wiping off).

For either of the above, you can mix your own using your own proportions, can it and sell it as "My Greatest Tung Oil Finish". Then announce a new product with slightly different proportion and call it "My Greatest Danish Oil Finish". We're not talking rocket science here.

Finally, I'm not saying that any of these products are not good. In fact, they are a more protective and durable finish than any pure oil finish. They are what they are and can give you a good finish when properly applied.


Hope this info helps. One can easily make their own real tung oil finish by buying tung oil and cutting it w/mineral spirits to help it absorb into the wood. The finish is matte and we found it good for a nonslip finish on our cabin soles.


Bill O.