cherry frame to tung oil or not

Bathroom mirror, no, bathrooms are too humid. Any other room should be fine.

-- |Statistics show that 100% of people bitten by a snake were close to it.|

I use oil on projects for the bathroom with no problems. Mirror, vanity, etc. The moisture in the bathroom during showers does not linger long enough to significantly affect the wood. With that said, my blend of oil uses 1/3 oil, 1/3 spirits, and 1/3 varnish, so the varnish may give me a slight amount of protection you won’t get with your mixture.

If you are worried about it, wait for the oil to dry then coat it with shellac.

-- Kelby

Kelby,

Your mixture is close to the mixture I use for gunstocks. It’s the same as Tru-Oil gunstock finish. The varnish gives a lot more protection than just tung oil. I mix pure tung oil and mineral spirtis 50-50 by weight, then mix the resulting mixture 50-50 by weight with external spar varnish. The first couple of coats, I rub in tung oil and mineral spirits with extra fine stainless steel wool, after the pores are filled and the surface is smooth, I add varnish and keep rubbing in additional coats. The last few coats are rubbed in with just my fingers. The warmth from your hands makes a finish that can’t be duplicated with anything else.

-- Hal, Tennessee http://www.first285.com

Depending on the bathroom and personal habits, pure tung might work but oil isn’t much of a barrier to moisture and it would be a shame for the mirror to warp. Mixing in some varnish should beef it up enough that it would be fine.

-- |Statistics show that 100% of people bitten by a snake were close to it.|

Wormil Hal Kelby thanks for the information going to try both mixtures have two projects that will need finishing . thanks for the help. Will post pics when done.

You may want to first lay down a washcoat of 1lb cut shellac before applying the tung oil. Cherry can get blotchy due to uneven grain. You can test for this by seeing how the bare wood reacts to some alcohol.

There is an article in the current issue of FWW covering sealing: http://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=34782

-- - Nicholas, Silver Spring, MD http://AffineCreations.com

I’ve never heard of blotching with tung oil.

-- |Statistics show that 100% of people bitten by a snake were close to it.|

Pure tung oil will be ok in the bathroom. Tung oil is very water resistant. I would apply about 10-12 coats, just to get a nicer finish.

-- Tim-- http://www.tmuli.com

thanks for all the help mirror is going in a bedroom