Domestic Tung Oil

[Pete Staehling]

We had a speaker at our local wood workers club who is reintroducing tung oil production to the US.  He doesn't really have any stock since the 2015 crop is mostly sold.  The new Tallahassee area orchards are not fully mature yet so production is just ramping up.  I think he said he currently has about 7000 five year old trees.

 

Any way, I have a pint of his domestic tung oil and want to start experimenting with it on some of my mountain dulcimers.  I suspect that without additives the drying may be pretty slow in the humid Tallahassee climate, so I am wondering about using Japan drier, citrus oil, or other drying agents.  I also wonder about a hybrid wipe on finish that is part oil based varnish, part tung oil, and part mineral spirits.

 

Anyone have suggestions or personal experiences with tung oil to share?

 

BTW, if you are interested Gulf Coast Tung Oil, their web site is http://www.gulfcoasttungoil.com/home.html I think he said he will have some oil on hand again in November.

 

[Pete Staehling]

Another guy on WTO has been making his own varnish.  he is based is South East Asia and hasn't found anything locally he likes.  Maybe he will chime in.

 

I have mixed tung oil with varnish and will BLO.   Obviously mixing with varnish will build a little film.  Mixing with BLO (which has dryers added to it) helps it dry faster.  Honestly though, I gave up on home brews and just use Arm R Seal.  A thin coat of Arm R Seal looks the same and is fool proof.  

 

I have actually been pretty happy just using Minwax Tung OIl finish which probably has little or no tung oil, but I have a kind of homespun "down home" type product.  So, a lot of my customers like that I use domestic, relatively local, wood including things like salvaged American chestnut.  I think that using this locally produced tung oil and an in house formulation would enhance that image a bit.  The finished product needs to be nice and ease of production is important though.