Tweedle Posted December 27, 2015 Report Share Posted December 27, 2015 I have a once beautiful mahogany island in my kitchen, which I had originally finished with 100% Tung oil about 10 years ago. At that time I didn’t thin it and used fine steel wool between coats… just a gorgeous, silky, rich result. That was then. Now I have something disastrous going on. Over time the finish was becoming a little gummier and showed some signs of wear in sporadic areas. Occasionally pledge or lemon oil was used on it to eleviate a minor rub area, which may have caused the softening. My daughter made soft pretzels one day and left drips of the baking soda and water solution on the counter top over night. When I came down in the morning and wiped up the water spots, the finish seemed to be completely gone under the beads. I realize that this next part probably sounds crazy. I did a perfunctory search to see how to take the tung oil off, so that I could get rid of the gummy finish and spots. Denatured alcohol was mentioned, but I decided to go with what had already removed the finish, a cup of baking soda to a gallon of water combined with sanding. Thinking back I probably didn’t have the wood adequately dried before starting the tung oil again. Also I used a product that I had mistakenly thought was left over from the original application. Instead it had other things mixed into the tung oil to thin it. I no longer have the container or remember the product name. The heat in the house was on so I thought waiting 2 days between coats would be enough. When I figured out that I wasn’t using 100% tung oil after 2 coats, I switched for the last 2 coats. I knew a day after the last coat that all was not well. Three weeks later the finish is streaked with rough patches and getting worse by the day. Please see my picture below. If you set down something with a bit of moisture on the surface, you get an instant raised, rough spot. This definitely was not the case originally. We have always used this area hard and it used to be really forgiving. Any suggestions that you can offer would be greatly appreciated. I’ve decided not to try to come up with my own environmentally sound stripping methods this time, but seek expert counsel. My wood working friend suggested your forum. I would love to get that original finish back some how! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted December 27, 2015 Report Share Posted December 27, 2015 I would try mineral spirits or acetone and a cabinet scraper, hopefully outside. Test in an inconspicuous spot first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheperd80 Posted December 28, 2015 Report Share Posted December 28, 2015 Yeah, it sounds like you have to strip it all the way back to wood. As mentioned above, solvent and a scraper seems your best bet. It will be tedious but faster and safer than gumming up boxes of sandpaper. Ive stripped a few coats of oil in the past, it was definitely work. Best of luck. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 28, 2015 Report Share Posted December 28, 2015 Did you use "Tung Oil" or "Tung Oil Finish"? They are two very different animals. Most things labelled "tung oil finish" are actually a varnish that may or may not have actual tung oil in it. If that is the case you need a real stripper, scraping and sanding to remove it all. If it is truly 100% pure tung oil you might have an easier time removing it and can start with a citrus based stripper, which is less toxic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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