First Time with Tung Oil

[Elephant_Talk]

I just put the first coat of tung oil on my brand new walnut strat today, but I don't know how long to wait in between coats.  I live in Utah, so its really dry up here.  Any suggestions/experiences?

I'll put pictures up of my finished strat when its done - hollow walnut body with a wenge/ebony neck.  Should sound amazing!

 

[jackthehack]

Just wait until it's COMPLETELY dry to the touch without any stickiness/tackiness at all. This can very with the wood/tung oil/humidity/how thick you apply each coat. I'm having good luck giving it 12-24 hours between thin coats.

 

[Elephant_Talk]

It dried after about 4-5 hours.  I'll put about three coats on tomorrow if I'm lucky.  I was thinking 10 - 12 coats.  Will  that be enough?

 

[jackthehack]

That may very with how thin the coats are; you should be able to tell when it's "done", I wound up doing 8-9 coats on my first Tung oil job on a Korina body.

 

[Alfang]

I as well, Just applied first coat of tung oil on a maple neck.  As CB said , it has a unique oder,  I can still smell it 5 hours later, My wife is gonna sh#$ when she wakes up to this.

I plan on adding a coat or two every day till i get tired of it, or till it looks as good as CB said it will, It does look good already actually.

I shoulda taken a before pic, just imagine virgin clear maple

 

[-CB-]

Its important to "cut" that first coat to get good penetration. 

And, it should be no more smelly than a bottle of pure maple syrup being opened.  The smell is different, but about the same "strength".  If it smells anything other than nutlike, fresh, mild... might not be pure.  Should not be stinky, heavy and there should be NO petrochemical smell to it.

I see Woodcraft has its own line of 100 percent pure tung oil.  That ought to be the right stuff.  The stuff I had been using was not quite as "filtered" as that, it was more cloudy, but I think thats a matter of refinement, not purity (ie, better filtered after pressing).