# Can you color Tung Oil or Polyurethane?



## rseabrease (Dec 9, 2009)

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to add stain or dye to Tung Oil or Polyurethane? I would like to use these two finishes but would like to be able to color them.

Thank you,
Richard


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## hObOmOnk (Feb 6, 2007)

Yes to both.


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## rseabrease (Dec 9, 2009)

Can you tell me what to add?
Can you use a stain like Minwax or something else?
Can you put poly over tung oil?


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

You can tint either with oil base stains (such as Minwax oil stain) artist oil colors, or any other oil base dye/oloring material.

You can put poly over tung oil.


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## JohnGray (Oct 6, 2007)

You can put poly over Tung Oil. But I wait 48 hrs. for the Tung Oil to dry before applying Tung Oil or Polyurethane.
I believe the others answered your dye question.


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## TraumaJacques (Oct 25, 2008)

Richard 
Why not add the colour to the wood itself instead; you will have a lot more control over the tones. And with the right grain pattern it may even "pop" to a beautiful finish. Poly will give you a more durable finish but should be applied in several thin coats. I like wipe on poly since I do not have a HVLP system (yet). John is right about the oils being dry because the poly will not adherer to wet oil.


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## hObOmOnk (Feb 6, 2007)

Richard:

*"Can you tell me what to add?"*

What is it you are trying to do?
What kinds of wood are you using?
What types of objects/projects are you making?

*How* comes after *What*.

*"Can you use a stain like Minwax or something else?"*

Minwax has many staining and coloring products.
They are not all the same.
Some are incompatable with each other and will not mix well.
Some will not mix with finishing products.

*"Can you put poly over tung oil?"*

Yes, but allow at least three days for the tung oil to cure.
Tung oil is sensitive to heat and humidity while curing (drying).
Note: If the product you are using contains "Finish" in its label, then is is not tung oil.
Not all "poly" is the same. Depending on the brand, they are blends of polyurethane and other resins (usually alkyd). There are no standards on their formulations.


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## rseabrease (Dec 9, 2009)

I want to thank everyone for all the responses. I probably should have been more specific with my questions but you all worked around my shortcomings and gave me what I needed to know. Why did I ask the question? Because I like to work with pine I wanted a method to slightly color the pine to give it an old or antique look. Most of my projects center around the country primitive style I wanted a way to make them look aged without using paints.

This past weekend I bought some 1" x 12" x 8' pine boards from Lowes. They were the most perfect pine boards I had ever seen at Lowes or anywhere else. The lines in the wood were beautiful, everything was straight and flat and the knots resembled those in knotty pine rather than knot faults. I hear so many people proclaiming the praises of tung oil I wanted to use something that would only color the grain to make it look aged but not overwhelm the grain.

Thank you again for all you responses. I really appreciate you guys!!


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## rseabrease (Dec 9, 2009)

Can anyone tell me what I should use to put into the Tung Oil to color it?
Can I add an oil-based stain such as MinWax or do I need to use something different?


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Richard, to answer your last question take a look at my comment above. If you are looking for a specific product recommendation then that is largely a matter of the look you are trying to achieve. Get several small containers of stain and use them to tone some scrap pieces of pine in order to determine which one you want to use.

An additional note is that if you are planning on using tung oil as a finish, you have to be careful in purchasing the product. Randy (drgoodwood) posted a pretty good comment the other day on this subject. He has several individual comments in the thread that are well worth reading.


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## rseabrease (Dec 9, 2009)

Thank you again for all the posts!!!


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## bill6575 (Jan 29, 2012)

I have a cherry music cabinet that my Grandfather refinished some sixty years ago.
He was a furniture maker by trade. The cabinet has a dark cherry color with rich shine. It looks like new.
I know he used tung oil for the finish. I have achieved the same high quality finish on an oak table using tung oil. My problem is how to get the color that he achieved. I have read the Minwax colors will inhibit the absorption of the tung oil and interfere with the polymerization process. How can I safely add lots of color to a tung oil finish?


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Stay away from MinWax if at all possible. I would add some TransTint dye to the finish I choose. The MW crap has a lot of pigment, and will "muddy" the wood coloring. Toning the finish with the TT dye lets the wood show better.
Did ya get a feel for my opinion abt. MW?
Bill


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## rehabbing (Aug 7, 2013)

I have been experimenting adding water based dye to water based poly.


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## grandmother (Jun 16, 2014)

My husband is making a walnut table for our daughter. He prefers using just tung oil but she likes the color of Gel Stain in Java (really dark). It looks like a lot more work and more coats with needing the sealer and then the gel stain. Can we tint the tung oil?

He also doesn't want to lose the grain of the wood.


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## grandmother (Jun 16, 2014)

What are your thoughts on quality of Watco Danish oil finish?


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Watco is an excellent product.
What's that got to do with your original post?
I still stand by my original post about MinWax.
Bill


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## grandmother (Jun 16, 2014)

Just trying to figure out a way to get the Gel Stain "Java" color using an oil finish. Watco has a Black Walnut that is close but not quite as dark as our daughter wants?


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Why not dye the wood first, then use tung oil?


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