Mineral Spirits = White Spirit = Terpentin(ersatz)?

[rock soderstrom]

That's right, most products have relatively little tung oil in them. I have also had very good experiences with Dänish oil. Here is my former favorite: LIBERON 014643 Superior Dänisches Öl 1 Liter libsdo 1l | eBay It was really good, easy application, super results and really cheap. Especially for larger projects and furniture restoration ideal. Unfortunately, shipping and import duties from the UK due to the stupid Brexit more than doubled the price.

 

[k brown]

That's crazy, isn't it? Formby's and Minwax are the best known "tung oil" brands in the US, and both are nothing more than an old-fashioned oil varnish. Nothing wrong with that, but don't call it tung oil.

Though not a true "drying oil" like pure tung oil or pure refined (raw) linseed oil, I've used Watco Danish Oil with great success. It soaks into the wood and cures hard in a few days, and is waterproof, durable, clean to the touch and doesn't become sticky.

I've used the Watco Danish oil too - 'The Good Stuff' stomps it dead in every way.

 

[Gold]

I got pure tung oil. Not Danish Oil or other cut stuff. I think I ordered it from Woodcraft.

I have a Danish Modern table and chairs that was my family table growing up. I use it on that too. I do a very light sand to take of the dried oil and lightly apply new oil.

 

[Rusan]

Several years ago, I got heavily into woodturning and crafts woodworking. A back injury followed by a slow, painful recovery from surgery prevented me from enjoying it for well over a year, and I've never gotten back into it.

Back then, I had a customer who wanted his bocote duck call to look like natural wood. I used Danish Oil, which we discovered tasted awful for months afterward when you put the call to your mouth. On the next one, I used a blend of mineral oil, beeswax and carnauba wax, even though the cocobolo on that one didn't really need anything, or so I thought. Turns out, this guy cleaned his calls with alcohol after each day of hunting, so the wax/mineral oil blend had to be reapplied or he'd eventually strip the natural oils from the cocobolo. I ordered some pure tung oil for the next call, and it looked great, was tasteless and impervious to alcohol after fully curing.

In the early days, I tried shellac/carnauba wax friction polishes (very poor durability) on my turned items, and synthetic varnishes (looks and feels cheap) on crafts and knick-knacks. I eventually settled on lacquer or Danish oil for the crafts, depending on the effect I was going for, and finally mastered applying CA glue finishes to pens. I replaced my Danish oil with pure tung oil after trying it. But, when I ruined it by accidentally leaving the cap loose for several months, I went back to Danish oil because you can't get pure tung oil here locally, and I didn't want to pay shipping costs again.

For a thicker film finish on larger turned items like bowls and vases, I was constantly testing various products and concoctions of varnishes, tung oil, and raw and boiled linseed oil on pieces of scrap, sometimes rubbed out with mineral oil and rottenstone after curing to see how they reacted.

I then discovered Tried & True Varnish Oil, which is a simple, old-school formula of linseed oil and pine colophony resin, but it's amazing. It pops the grain extremely well, has a gorgeous matte finish and feels really nice. But, it's expensive for what it is and dries extremely slow, though I suppose you could add some Japan drier if you desired. On really oily woods like rosewoods and certain other tropicals, I first washed with naptha and applied a sealer coat of 1.5 pound cut dewaxed shellac before applying the Tried & True, and it turned out perfect every time. It's really good stuff.

 

[k brown]

I'm tellin' ya - if you try "The Good Stuff", you'll never use these old-tyme concoctions again.

 

[rock soderstrom]

I would like to try this out. Unfortunately, I can't find a distributor for it in Europe. The seller on Amazon does not ship to Germany. The shipping costs would probably also make the product unrealistically expensive.

 

[k brown]

Bummer - that's really a shame.

 

[PermO]

If it has the "pine tree turpuntine" as one of the ingredients it is probably illegal to import,... it would be in the Netherlands.

 

[k brown]

It doesn't - it's non-toxic and food-safe; used on butcher blocks.
https://woodweldedwest.com/products/the-good-stuff-urethane-gel
Their website has a shopping cart tab, but I can't make out how you put items in it (?)

 

[Rusan]

I'm tellin' ya - if you try "The Good Stuff", you'll never use these old-tyme concoctions again.

Though I've yet to see a synthetic varnish that didn't have that "wrapped in plastic" look, I'm very curious and would definitely give it a try. Convincing myself to pay $36 for a pint would not be easy, though.

If it has the "pine tree turpuntine" as one of the ingredients it is probably illegal to import,... it would be in the Netherlands.

Wow, you can find pine turpentine here in the US in every hardware store and paint store, most home improvement stores, and even WalMart had it several years ago. Why is it banned in the Netherlands?

 

[k brown]

Have a look around this website. All the picture frames are finished with The Good Stuff. You'll see no 'wrapped in plastic' appearance. The framers esthetic is that of early 20th century American oak furniture. The finish is very much like hand-buffed wax. We have several of his frames in our home.
https://www.holtonframes.com/frames-framing/
TGS is very different from typical polyurethane wood finishes; it's an oil/wax/urethane gel rubbed-on/buffed-out finish.

The turps you see in hardware and paint stores is not really 'pine' turpentine - it's made from all sorts of wood 'junk'. That's why it smells so much worse than the pine turps of yesteryear.

 

[rock soderstrom]

If it has the "pine tree turpuntine" as one of the ingredients it is probably illegal to import,... it would be in the Netherlands.

To the best of my knowledge, turpentine is still legal in Germany and freely available. I have informed myself a little and I am surprised how many different varieties and quality levels exist.

The "experts" recommend that you substitute real turpentine with petroleum-based turpentine substitute. The reason is the serious health hazards posed by turpentine.

 

[Rusan]

....You'll see no 'wrapped in plastic' appearance. The framers esthetic is that of early 20th century American oak furniture.....

Wow, that does look really old-school; definitely not the cheap, plastic poly look. Niiiice..... And, that guy does BEAUTIFUL work, what an artist!

The "experts" recommend that you substitute real turpentine with petroleum-based turpentine substitute. The reason is the serious health hazards posed by turpentine.

Ahhhh, makes sense. The last time I used turpentine was about 15 years ago, and that was from a can that had been on the shelf for who knows how long. It smelled close to the stuff we used when I was taking oil painting and tole classes back around 1981 or '82. I didn't like the smell, and they both burned my eyes and nose and made my lungs tighten up. Pine rosin RA flux does the same; I have a small fan on the bench to blow the fumes away, and I still have red, itchy eyes after a few minutes of soldering. I can't even stand pine-scented household cleaners.

The turps you see in hardware and paint stores is not really 'pine' turpentine - it's made from all sorts of wood 'junk'. That's why it smells so much worse than the pine turps of yesteryear.

If it smells worse than the real thing, I'll definitely stay away from today's "turpentine."

 

[cyrano]

Hi cyrano and gold, your topic is really interesting but has absolutely nothing to do with the thread title.

My questions are not about foodsave finish, butcher blocks and smoking meat. Please make a separate thread for that, I'm happy to read it, but for overview reasons it would be better to post here on the actual topic. Thank you very much.

I'm sorry. Will do if anyone's interested.

 

[cyrano]

Then they later came out with something called 'Turpenoid Natural', which has nothing to do with either turpentine OR mineral spirits, but is a mysterious, rather viscous solvent that seems to be some sort of mixture of orange oil and lord knows what else (great for cleaning dried paint out of brushes, though). Supposed to be non-toxic.

That's probably a mixture of two essential oils. It cleans very well without disrupting anything. It's non toxic allright, but I wouldn't eat it

We've got some of that at work on paper wipes. I've been trying to find some in the supermarket, but alas. Only chemical stuff.

 

[k brown]

I've only ever seen Turpenoid Natural sold in art supply stores.

Or were you just referring to essential oils?

 

[Disco Volante]

Waschbenzin is dry-cleaning solvent, mostly heptane C7H16, previously hexane C6H14 (more toxic). It is highly volatile and smells rather nasty, IMO.

In a previous career, making furniture in Copenhagen, we used the French varnish "Le Tonkinois" for varnished products and for sealing before waxing. It contains Tung oil and linseed oil, is solvent free and hardens over night. Strong enough to use on boats too, if applied properly. Also rather expensive...
In Germany/Europe the Auro company makes a range of very nice waxes and oils, almost all solvent-free and non-toxic. The non-toxic part was important to a lot of our high-end customers.

For cleaning and thinning, I mostly use pure alcohol. It thins a range of different finishes and seems least toxic. Removes all the old cigarrette tar and grease stains without hurting the wood or the finish underneath (unless it's a French Polish, of course).
Citrus oil (well actually not an oil but a rather fierce solvent extracted from citrus peel) works really well for cleaning and smells nice. Has adverse effects on certain polyesterbased plastics, so beware. Dries out your skin and probably damages your lungs too, like every other solvent...

 

[Tubetec]

Very informative thread .

I found the equine food grade linseed oil at my local hardware/farm supply store , it comes in 1 or 5 liter containers , makes a great base for natural finishes , its around 5 euros a liter , paints and varnishes arent cheap these days , You wouldnt see much change from 50 euros now if you wanted to buy a liter of quality varnish.

Lemonene is the solvent from citrus peel , its very commonly used in household cleaners .
These also form the basis of guitar neck cleaner products like lem oil , I find a piece of lemon skin with the outermost surface scored with a grater great for disolving finger marks on the fretboard , no call for even more harmful stuff like naptha or benzene soaking through your skin .