How to Finish a Floor with Pure Tung Oil

This finishing technique can be used in many applications such as wood floors, decks, docks, concrete floors, outdoor wood furniture, wood counter tops and many other porous surfaces. Hundreds of people have used this method successfully over the years since we first reintroduced Pure Tung Oil back into the spotlight. You will find other websites that have shamelessly copied all or parts of this information to call their own. What most of them lack is the technical experience to guide you though the process. We are here to provide you with our full support to the best of our ability and make only the best materials available.

All the Best,
Dwayne

Read How a Wood Floor Can Be Like A Cast
Iron Frying Pan, Bill Layman's humorous take
on discovering the merits of Soy Bean Paint
Stripper and Pure Tung Oil.


Before/After photo detail of a wood floor
finished with 100% Pure Tung Oil.
Click image to enlarge.

Preparation
The biggest key to application of a finish is preparation. The surface should be free of oil, dirt, grease and any other contaminates. Pure Tung Oil can not be applied over another type of finish. It can only be applied to a previous coat of Pure Tung Oil. For best results a previously finished floor should be chemically stripped of its finish, cleaned with TSP, then lightly sanded to open up the surface.

If the surface is not clean or has recently been stripped of its finish; it should be cleaned with TSP. TSP (Trisodium phospate) is a powdered heavy duty cleaner that will leave the surface free of contaminates. If you have a wood surface, which is old, and case hardened, it should be scuff sanded lightly with 150-grit sandpaper, to open up the wood to receive the oil. Sanding with too fine sandpaper will case harder the surface. If after removing finish you find black or brown stains, see Oxalic Acid wood bleach to remove them.

Finishing
Following is the technique, which I found to work well, although there are many others who may have variations which work just as well.

The objective with Pure Tung Oil is to saturate the surface with as much oil as fast as possible and drive the oil into the cells of the wood getting maximum penetration but without leaving a film build on the surface. With very dense hardwood a thinner ratio than described below may be required. I can not stress enough if the oil and thinner mix is not soaking in the 40 minute application period, a thinner ratio should be used. For example: 1 part oil to 1 1/2 parts solvent. The oil to solvent ration can be variably adjusted any direction from a thicker mix to a thinner one. The difficulty is trying to find the ratio of oil to thinner with each coat so as to get the maximum oil to solvent ratio that will soak in. Also I must note, Minwax stains will not work with Pure Tung Oil. They contain varnish and will not let the oil penetrate. Please see "How to Stain Floors."

Day 1
For the first coat thin the Pure Tung Oil 1 to 1 with thinner. Thinner can be mineral spirits (paint thinner), citrus solvent (all natural thinner), odorless mineral spirits or turpentine. I prefer not to use Naphtha, as it seems to dry too fast. If the surface seems to be very hard and non-absorbent, you can thin the oil down even more. 1 to 1 is the ratio that is a good starting point which I found works best for the first coat. But if you have a very dense hardwood you may need a thinner ratio. Do a test spot to see if the Pure Tung oil / Solvent mix soaks into the wood. Adjust the ratio so it will soak in the 40 minute time frame. So lets right here make a rule to remember "The 40 minute Rule". If the ratio you are using does not absorb in 40 minutes add more thinner. Your can use a brush, paint roller, finish pad or apply the oil with a sponge mop wrapped with old nylon stockings. The nylon stops the mop from tearing upon the floor. On floors, start at one corner and work your way to the other side with a liberal application of the one to one mix.

If the room is fairly large you will notice most of the oil soaked in where you started. Go back to the beginning and apply another coat. Continue to apply the oil from beginning to end in this fashion. You will do this until you have a uniform glossy surface for 20 to 40 minutes. If the room is not large, you should wait 20 to 40 minutes between applications. The Pure Tung Oil should stand on the surface for 20 to 40 minutes and stay glossy over 80% of the surface without really dry spots appearing. The really dry spots can be individually coated. You may have to apply 3 to 7 coats of oil one on top of the other until it stays glossy.

After all coats are applied and you waited 20 to 40 minutes you are now ready to wipe down the surface. Wipe all excess oil from the surface with lint free "T-shirt" type material. Hang rags out side to dry. Allow floor to dry over night.

Day 2
For the second application on the following day, mix a ratio of 1 part Pure Tung Oil to 1 part thinner. If the wood is very dense and non absorbent you may find a thinner ratio is required. Possibly 1 part Pure Tung Oil to 2 parts thinner. If it is an old floor and absorbing a lot of oil on the second day, a 2 parts tung oil to 1 part thinner will work better. The objective is to get as much oil into the wood without letting it build up on the surface. The ratio of thinner to oil can be varied, use your own judgment. Multiple THINNER COATS are always better than a few thick coats.

Pure Tung Oil works by oxidation with the air and polymerizes. So you want to get as much oil in the floor as soon as possible, but you do not want to apply the Pure Tung Oil with out thinning. It takes too long to dry and will sit on the surface and dry leaving a frosted appearance. Pure dry tung oil left on surfaces will also scuff leaving white marks like dry skin. So always thin Pure Tung Oil in floor applications and wipe off the excess.

Using the 1 part Pure Tung Oil to 1 part thinner, apply the same way as the first application with a brush or sponge mop. Apply the oil in several coats one after another till you get a uniformly glossy surface that stays glossy for 20 to 40 minutes. After the waiting period, wipe the oil off the surface with a "T-shirt" type material. When wiping you do not need to scrub the surface. Just gently and evenly wipe excess oil from the surface.

Day 3
When doing the third application, use a mixture of 1 part Pure Tung Oil to 1 part thinner. Apply the same way as before. After waiting period wipe down with "T-shirt" like material.

You will probably start to notice that the floor did not absorb much oil. Maybe one or two coats before it stayed glossy for 20 to 40 minutes. The floor is pretty well sealed at this point. You can however apply another coat, the following day in the same fashion if necessary. When the floor does not want to absorb any more oil you are done.

At this point the floor should dry for 7 to 10 days before you can walk on it with soiled shoes. During this time you can put down wax paper to walk on the floor. Do not use cardboard, newspaper, paper or plastic. Wax paper will allow the floor to breath and dry. Large wax paper rolls can be purchased from CentralPack.com. If you absolutely must move furniture onto the floor before it is dry, nail plastic furniture glides to the bottom of the feet. With these on the bottom of the feet and the end grain of your wood furniture legs will not absorb the oil from the floor and leave a mark. The Pure Tung Oil finish will take 15 to 30 days to fully cure depending on temperature and number of applications. Buffing the finish to a low sheen cannot not be achieved before the finish is cured. Waxing over Pure Tung Oil should not be done until the finish is hard and cured. The wax will only sink in and have no effect.

The Pure Tung Oil will dry to a matte flat finish and look as though there is almost no finish at all. You will find however that water spills bead like a waxed car on the surface and do not absorb. In high traffic areas such as doorways you may want to do a maintenance coat once a year. Use thinned down oil 1 to 1 with a nylon stocking bunched up to apply a thin coat over night or for the weekend if possible.

Pure Tung Oil will provide a deep rich color to wood floors. It does not however, provide a gloss or even semi-gloss finish. To make a semi gloss surface you would need to wax the surface or buff when the floor is dry. Any type of oil base finish can go over Pure Tung Oil at a later date.

Care and Maintenance
To clean your floors after the finish is cured a mild detergent such as "Ivory Dish Soap" or "Simple Green" will work. I am not fond of Murphy's oil soap as it seems to break down a finish over time. Stay away from harsh oil base cleaners and ammonia. You can use a "Scotch Bright" pad to clean tough spots every so often but try to avoid abrasion unless necessary. To clean black heel marks or paint splatter, "Goof Off" or "Oops" work well. These products will not effect the cured finish. If you find you do scrub the finish too hard somewhere, just do a quick touch up with Pure Tung Oil thinned 1 to 1 with thinner on a nylon pad or stockings. Then let it dry for a day.

Calculating Usage
Here is a way to calculate how much Pure Tung Oil and Citrus Solvent you may need to finish the floor. This formula will assume you are cutting the oil one to one with solvent. Each gallon of oil will cover approximately 400 square feet undiluted. By diluting the oil one to one with solvent, it will cover 800 square feet. In our example we will assume you have 500 square feet to cover. This is the maximum amount of Pure Tung Oil you would need for your project and is based on using it on an Antique or old wood floor. Old wood will drink up much more oil than new wood. For new wood and hard woods (maple, birch, cherry) you should be able to reduce the amount of oil needed by 25 percent.

Day one 5 coats x 500 = 2500
Day two 3 coats x 500 = 1500
Day three 2 coats x 500 = 100
Total 5000
5000 divide by 800 = 6.25

This means you would need 6.25 gallons of Pure Tung Oil and 6.25 Gallons of solvent.

The above 10 coat calculation would be for a old or reclaimed very dry wood floors. Old materials will absorb much more oil then a new floor or a dense hardwood floor. The average number of coats for new material is about five coats. Three on the first day and two on the second day. A third day of coating on new material is usually not needed.

Here is a Tip from CEI Distribution in Florida. When doing future maintenance on your oiled floor and you need to get it done fast. Put a 1 part Citrus Solvent and 1 part Pure Tung Oil into a spray bottle. Mist on the floor in the worn areas, then buff with a high speed buffer and a dense natural blend buffing pad. Do the worn area's first then do the rest of the floor overlapping the worn area's again just like you have not done them at all. So the worn area's will get two coats.