Oil-based Poly OR Tung Oil?

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lumbajac

Member
Mar 15, 2008
85
Upper Peninsula, Michigan
I am finishing up construction on my new house. I have a yellow birch hardwood floor finished in oil. I also have yellow birch trim and baseboards. My window frames and sashes themselves are pine. Was considering staining the pine to get a better match to the yellow birch. However, the yellow birch trim and floor are blending pretty well with the pine since the birch has a lot of color variations from whites, red, browns, and ambers... so, I hate to stain the pine if I don't need to as it might make things worse instead of better.

I am wondering if anyone has experience using tung oil as I have never used. My old wood shop teacher says to use it instead of polyurethane as it will bring out the grain nicely in the birch. I'm just wondering how the pine and yellow birch combo will work with rubbed in tung oil?
 
The two woods should be ok with the same finish (tung oil or poly). I would experiment until you have the right combination of gloss and darkening on samples of the two woods. I would suspect that a low luster or satin would be better than a high gloss.

Your question is complicated by the fact that lots of different products are labelled "tung oil". You don't want 100% tung oil even if you could find it. It's very expensive and often does not contain dryers. Tung oil finishes (like Formsby's) use a small percentage of tung oil, have dryers, and, in the gloss version, have varnish added. I like to use this product on small pieces like decorative boxes since it is fairly thin material and you can control the build-up and the gloss by limiting the number of coats. For larger projects, I tend to favor something like the Minwax polys but that's just my preference.

ChipTam
 
Thanks for your input.

As I research on the net, I am tending to lean towards Waterlox Original Tung Oil finish. It has extremely good ratings by all users. Somewhat expensive, but it sounds like it can go a long way. Additionally, I like that it can be tinted some with mixwax stains per Waterlox's instruction.

Thanks.
 
I've used Waterlox and like it as well. It is easier to apply than polyuerathane.
 
I am no expert at all, but the previous owner of our house stained the pine interior doors a red color and several of them turned out with a "measles" look.
There might be some product that can make pine absorb stain more evenly, but that might be a problem with staining pine.
 
Blotching can be stopped by using a coat of a 1lb cut of shellac before you stain. Spraying the stain would do the same.

Matt
 
Spraying definitely helps.
 
yellow birch doesn't darken over time as much as pine will if that makes any difference. Two different species with very different qualities and absorbtion rates. I've got a legal bookcase I made 12 years ago from yellow birch that matches in color the white pine paneling I put up just three years ago. I'm sure that within five-ten years the white pine will be considerably darker while the birch will not have darkened nearly so. It's not like mixing cherry and pine though.
 
Excellent first-hand on the pine vs. yellow birch darkening. In all reality, much of the yellow birch has the same coloration as the pine at the moment. With that said, I will apply Waterlox to both the pine and yellow birch at the same time and let nature take its course.

Thanks for the input.
 
I used water based poly on my tongue & groove pine walls & ceilings, is coming out great.
And the water base doesn't give it that amber hue after a few years like oil base poly does.
I actually sprayed it on, as its a lot of sf of wood to cover.
 
I've used the water-based polycryllic. My only complaint is that it leaves pine too "white" and doesn't bring out any character on any of the woods I've used it on... I didn't like the ambering effect in the past, but now I tend to prefer the amber tones that develop over the years with an oil based. A matter of opinion.
 
Our house has a mixture of woods, and with minor exceptions, we haven't tried to make one wood look like another. Wood is so beautiful, just as it is: old pine solid wood paneling with that deep amber hue; old resawn fir 9" flooring with nail stains, well worn, grain raised; new white pine flooring, 18", water-based poly finish to keep the natural white pine look; white birch ceiling and cabinetry, multi-grain, many flames, water-based poly; natural solid wood cherry cabinetry, much grain variation; solid wood aspen paneling with water-based poly, very interesting character. We also have natural finish, wood furniture which I made, all from our own trees, including butternut desk and bookcase; green ash entertainment console; red oak chest of drawers; pine bookcase and misc pieces, walnut table (not from our trees).

We use the water-based poly when we want to preserve the natural color of the wood as much as possible, and resin or oil based product when darkening has not been an issue.
 
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