Tung oil tacky won't dry

[wormbot]

I got 3 coats of catalyzed tung oil applied to my VIP body.

Tried to scuff sand before the 4th coat but it gummed the sandpaper real good and left gummed markers on the body.

Tried to remove those with a 0000 steel wool bit it didn't work.

I applied methylene-free stripper twice, and after cleaning with mineral spirits and dried, it's still tacky and gums up the sandpaper again.

What should I do? I hope I didn't ruin the body

 

[bagman67]

You can try thinning the tung oil with mineral spirits and let each coat dry longer before you apply the next one. But one of the reasons tung oil is most often served in preparations that have other drying and polymerizing agents is that it takes dang near forever to cure on its own.

 

[wormbot]

Ok but before doing that I need to strip everything and start again no?

 

[wormbot]

I think I made some progress here. I was able to sand at 180 and then 220 while soaking the top with mineral spirits. The paper didn't gum up and I wiped often. Poor body. It's been attacked by solvents .

I'll let that sit overnight and check tomorrow how it goes.

 

[Rick]

Let it dry 7 days between coats. Put on 5 coats. Make sure they are thin and excess is wiped off. Let dry a month after coat 5. Then buff.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

I think that once it gets sticky and gummy it should left to sit for 2 weeks or more. Its better to be patient and in future give it 1 or 2 days between coats which may also depend on the formulation used. You will probably find the solvent coming out of the finish for an extended period of time after it seems to have dried. Thin coats and fine sanding will probably also help.

 

[Dero08]

I tried a polymerized tung oil from Sutherland Welles, and it’s awesome. Dries as fast as tru oil or danish oil.

 

[irvinal]

Tru-Oil and Tung-Oil are drying slowly in cold and humid weather.
In my experience, it took around 30-40 mins to dry above 15 C, via hand-wiped, and at least twice of the time if sprayed on.
In your situation, it would be best to let coatings dry totally and sand them down, then re-wipe thin tung-oil once a time
Layers should be apply not less than between an hour in warn weather, or 3-4 hours in cold days.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Suck the humidity out of the room with a space heater, but do not put the workpiece directly in the path of the heater. Hang it up in a spare room or something that's not getting a lot of use. I wouldn't do it in the garage unless you park the car outside and the door isn't going to be routinely opened/closed.

 

[Street Avenger]

I have never experienced Tru-Oil being sticky or taking forever to dry. Of course I do live in a very dry climate.
I've never used Tung oil.

 

[Spud]

Suck the humidity out of the room with a space heater, but do not put the workpiece directly in the path of the heater. Hang it up in a spare room or something that's not getting a lot of use. I wouldn't do it in the garage unless you park the car outside and the door isn't going to be routinely opened/closed.

I would do this but I also think I would put it in front of a fan to get air actively moving over the body to get more oxygen.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I would do this but I also think I would put it in front of a fan to get air actively moving over the body to get more oxygen.

But pointed away from the body, to prevent bugs or dust from blowing on and sticking to the surface.

 

[Spud]

But pointed away from the body, to prevent bugs or dust from blowing on and sticking to the surface.

If the fan is dirty, either way air particulates will get on it if the area is dusty. IMO, I do it in a clean small spac with a clean fan and no prob. YMMV