[10-96]

I don't remember what made me do it, but four years ago I got to playing with a drying puddle of tung oil and one thing led to another. I ended up putting tung/teak oil together on a glass slide and after it dried- I was flat-out amazed at the hardness and flexability of the stuff. I took it to a relative who is a chemical guru for Connoco-Phillips and he played with it for a while and finally got back to me and said that it really ought to be a winning combination. What I don't know yet, is how long the finish will last and stand up before turning brittle or clouding.

For the bonding, after I put on the teak, I let it cure until it's tacky- then rub in a generous coat of tung. This will need at least 48hrs to dry (cure) instead of 24, then I rub in additional coats of tung til it looks right to me with 1 coat per day for three days then one coat per week for three weeks. Oh, and I did hit it with a light rubdown of 0000 steel wool between coats. I flunked chemistry with flying colors 20+ yrs ago, I wouldn't know a polymerization if one bit me on the leg, and I may be way off base in my assumptions- but it seems to work well for me. Yeah, it takes a long time but I'm limited in my hobbies anyhow and the looks are worth it.