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mineral spirits + pure tung oil

7K views 19 replies 12 participants last post by  htre 
#1 ·
I'm working on a mixture of mineral spirits and pure tung oil for a mauser stock. i'm wondering if it would be ok to use odorless mineral spirits insteal of "regular" mineral spirits? the odorless i bought looks like milk. thoughts?
 
#2 ·
I've used the odorless stuff for quite a number of years in place of the high test original. Just didn't like the lingering smell of the 'real' stuff.
I've used it to thin several types of commercial finishes including tung oil varnish and truoil and never had any problems with it drying or responding any differently than when I used the real stuff. Never used pure tung oil so I can't comment there. You could always mix a small amount and try it on a scrap of wood to see if drying and other propertys are acceptable.

I think the oderless is just a more highly refined version of good old mineral spirits. That refining removes some of the compounds that cause the smell. Same thing for odorless turpentine I believe.
 
#18 ·
Magellen80,

I use Therealmilkpaint company pure tung oil. I put the amount of oil in a container for one coat and add about a half ounce of MS. I guess less than a fifty percent cut. Dries overnight if the weather is hot and dry. After two coats of cut oil, I then start with pure oil. Pour a bit in my hand and rub it in. Let it sit about twenty minutes and then wipe off. Dry over night.

LB
 
#9 ·
I used Sunny Side brand 100% tung oil thinned with oderless mineral spirits back in the 80's to finnish some curly maple rifle stocks. It looked great and worked well. I built up the finish on a flame birch stock. It finally came out looking nice and worked well, but I'll never build up a finish like that again. Took too long to dry, but looks nice for a built up finish. Just too glosy to suit me. Like Formby's. All my other stocks had a nice warm look to them...........Mike
 
#10 ·
I kinda duplicated the Behr Tung Oil finish by mixing a 60:40 BLO to Tung oil, then cutting it about 20+% with descented mineral spirits. Biggest complaint is that it takes forever to polymerize enough to be able to add another application. 1/4 tsp of Japan drier per 1/2 pint of the mixture did the trick, although it still doesn't set up nearly as quickly as the real Behr finish, with which I was able to make 2 well-rubbed in applications per day (vs 1 application every 48 hrs with BLO - even with Japan Drier added).

As to Formbys finish. It's great to refinish Granny's old rocking chair or the antique end table from the farmhouse, but, since it's a furniture finish, it doesn't have sufficient wear-resistance for use with field grade firearms. It looked great on an old Savage Stevens 20 ga double, but, as a surface varnish with no real penetrating properties, it wore poorly with less than 2 seasons of carry time.
 
#11 ·
As to Formbys finish. It's great to refinish Granny's old rocking chair or the antique end table from the farmhouse, but, since it's a furniture finish, it doesn't have sufficient wear-resistance for use with field grade firearms. It looked great on an old Savage Stevens 20 ga double, but, as a surface varnish with no real penetrating properties, it wore poorly with less than 2 seasons of carry time.
That's unusual, I had just the opposite experience using Fromby's. After twenty coats or so I found the wood well stabilized and rock hard. Several years on a M1A and looks like new. When you do get some range rash it touches up with just a q-tip. If you don't care for the shine you can knock that down with some steel wool or pumice.
 
#13 ·
In some cases Tung oil was the original military finish and the owner wants to keep the finish original. Tung oil is a long time traditional finish on custom guns. Poly finishes are quick and easy and have a lot of shine but they look like a poly finish, and that's fine if that's what you like. My personal preference is the feel of oiled wood, you don't have that feel with a poly finish.
 
#14 ·
Rifles are best with a non-glossy finish because the reflection can cause problems while hunting and be distracting target shooting. And oil, although not as hard and weatherproof as poly, does look much better, deeper, and gives the wood a rich glow Poly can't duplicate. And oil is much more easily repaired if it gets scratched. 8 to 10 layers is pretty minimal. I spend a couple - 3 weeks, every day wiping a coat on and then off again after 20 minutes or so.
For another thing, a good filler undercoat is mandatory with oil, makes it look much better. You can use BLO or tung and sand with 400 grit or finer, wipe, repeat, or use the 'Lemon Meringue Finish" that uses lemon juice and egg white. I've got it somewhere and will post when I find it.
 
#17 ·
Fromby's tung oil is very glossy (it also says this on the bottle) I prefer to have less glossy finish.
The other problem that I have - all 3 parts of furniture that my PSL has, came up very different in color. I used MinWax oil based red mahogany stain. Gas tube cover is relatively dark. Butt stock is made of plywood and it is has more red, still relatively dark. Ungerbarrel part is much lighter, yellowish. Tried to mix different stains, applied different amounts of stain coats-without real success. Just different wood. Any advises, how to work around this problem?
 
#19 ·
Shoe shine the wood first

one trick is to polish the unfinished wood evenly all over, burlap-blue jean materials in long strips 2 inches wide using a shoe shining motion with good pressure. it will look like its got a finnish on the bare wood.
then i used turpentine mixture with blo or tung oil on the first few coats to get deeper penetration---
then mineral spirits cut blo - tung or- danish types to slowly layer the coats. using that show shining 2 1/2 inch strips
of cloth going from rougher materials to softer tee-shirt type strips as i get to final coats.
as for Po-ly coats they use to make a pumas rub to cut the shine- JJK
then i would hand rub JOHNSONS bowling ally paste wax to seal it- on off to give it that
seal with past wax rubbed off shoe shine style RUBBING softer socks materials. <><DK
 
#20 ·
Actually guy the chair should be more comfy during those who need to sit continuous hours, flexible sitting so i think you should purchase AMALFI, QUINTO, RIALTO designed chairs these brand procure many style and can be see in STAPLES and many big malls .Actually guy these cahirs are reproduction of CHARLES EAMES so i think we should not worry about quality and reliable.
 
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