Hi Folks,
I just finished a pine floor with tung oil from a flooring vendor. They recommended 2 heavy coats of their semi-transparent tung oil followed by two coats of their satin finish. We were clean, dry and allowed 24 hours between coats. The first 3 coats were beautiful with each coat but the fourth blistered up over the entire floor. The blisters were soft and scraping them took finish off to bare wood. There really isnt much left to do but sand it all off and start over. So my question is, why did it happen? It seems like gases were bubbling up and maybe the last coat dried too fast on the outside and the inside had to escape?
Or maybe not. Anybody have any input?
thanks,
Stevo
Replies
I'm gonna take a WA guess at this but from what I've seen about tung oils they are notorious for variances in their composition. What you have described to me is exactly what happened, i.e. the sub coats weren't completely dried.
It seems to me that the sub coats weren't sufficiently dry and the top coat skimmed over so the lower layers couldn't off gas as part of their attempt to dry.
I've NEVER had good luck with heavy coats on anything. I would much rather apply thin coats even if it takes more time/coats, but I suppose one should follow the manufacturers instructions.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
I like the properties of Waterlox, which does contain tung oil and an array of other things. Anyway, I find I need at least a couple of days to get it maybe half way cured. For a full curing (95%), I feel as if I need 7-10 days.
I've only used Zar wipe on tung oil finish and that took a long time to fully sure. I went by feel and I'd guess that it was about a week as was your experience with the tung oil you used.
I'm with Steve as a given tung oil may not be the same as another tung oil. Without knowing what was used it's very difficult to determine the problem much less the solution. The reason I say that is I have heard they are basically all different.
Haven't used Waterlox yet, but I really want to. Have hear no negatives about it. Sounds like a good candidate for a QA piece I'm working on.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Can you provide the name of the product? The reason I ask is that regardless of the presence of "tung oil" in the name, it is almost certainly not pure tung oil, and may not even have any tung oil in it at all.
We need to know what's really in the product in order to diagnose the problem.
-Steve
Look at the packaging for your product. If it lists mineral spirits as being one of the ingredients then it is not tung oil -- it's a wiping varnish. Ideally, tung oil should have 24 hrs between coats and a week to cure before top coating with a film finish. Chances are, you could get by with less time to cure but also chances are you might end up with a botched finish.
Unfortunately with mineral spirits it could also be an oil/varnish mix. There are those kinds of tung oil Finish out there too.
Pure tung oil would be a very bad choice for floors. Almost no protection against things like water spotting and abrasion. Overnight is too short a time between coats of pure tung oil, and most important with any oil, (or oil/varnish) you must wipe off any excess so that there is no film built on the surface.
It almost sounds as if the material is Waterlox. The only thing wrong with that assumption is that I can't imagine what could have gone so disasterously wrong on that fourth coat. Waterlox is a varnish not an oil finish and therefore could be allowed to build a surface film. Almost seems to be some kind of contamination.
Hopefully the OP will return to give us some more info to help solve the mystery.
Edited 3/4/2008 9:31 pm ET by SteveSchoene
some kind of contamination...........
Yup. that's a thought that crossed my mind. Like a contractor came in and sprayed some silicone spray in the room. A little bit of that stuff wreaks havoc on finishes.
Hi Folks,
Thanks for the input so far.
The product is listed as tung oil. It is from the Carlisle floors people and its their own brand. It does list mineral spirits as one of the ingredients. Their were no other workers near the project so there were no foreign contaminants brought in that we know of. It seems like a gas buildup that is just bubbling to get out.
I did talk with a couple of floor guys around here that have used the product on lots of floors with great results.
thanks,
steve
You may contact the Carlisle Flooring Co. on their web site.
I couldn't find detailed info on Carlisle's Tung Oil Finish, but the limited information on their web site, plus a note I saw on another discussion form, suggests that it is in fact Waterlox, which does contain tung oil, but is a varnish rather than an actual oil finish.
Okay, so assuming that it's Waterlox, what went wrong? I have two guesses:
The original flooring was not properly prepared, and there is some kind of contaminant on the surface (e.g., wax, silicone, or just heavily oxidized wood) that is interfering with adhesion. This only became apparent when later coats trapped enough solvent to cause the delamination. Was the flooring sanded or otherwise prepared before finishing?
The initial coats were too heavy, and didn't have a chance to dry before the later coats were added. This is actually hard to do with Waterlox, and wouldn't explain why the finish seems to cleanly peel away from the wood, so I'm leaning towards the first explanation.
-Steve
In fact, the Carlisle web site calls their tung oil finish a "high resin tung oil". Pure tung oil contains no resin at all so their claim that it contains a "resin" leads me to believe that it is either an oil/varnish mixture or a varnish made with tung oil instead of linseed oil.As to Waterlox, Waterlox's Original products are varnishes pure and simple. They use a phenolic resin and tung oil which when heated together make a new compound called varnish. Once it is varnish, it is no longer "tung oil". Varnishes can have any of a number of resins (alkyd, phenolic, urethane) and either tung oil, linseed oil or soya as the oil. Once mixed and heated, the result is varnish.Howie.........
I've used that stuff for decades, all of its formulations, even on my own southern yellow pine floor in my house. I've NEVER had a bubbling issue. This is a conundrum.
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