# Painting over Tung oil



## beardo_uk (25 Jan 2018)

Hi,
Im working on a piece of furniture and have changed my mind about part of the finish. 

The piece is a vanity unit made from birch ply. I plan to finish the majority with Tung oil but paint the fronts of the drawers to give some contrast. So I have done my first coat of 50:50 Tung:white sprit and all is looking good. However, due to a lack of material I didn’t manage to match the grain direction on the inside of the drawers. The Tung has brought the grain out fantastically, but this unfortunately draws attention to the mismatched grain. So I’d like to paint the inside of the drawers to match the front and hide the error. I also think it will make an interesting feature too. 

Bearing in mind I have only applied a single coat of TO:WS what the best approach for getting paint to adhere? Total sand, oil based primer, quick scuff? Or is it too much hassle and I should just live with what I have?  

Cheers
Tom


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## ED65 (25 Jan 2018)

You can paint over oiled wood after the oil has cured sufficiently. I don't know how long that is with tung oil in our climate, but perhaps a couple of weeks minimum. It's possible with oil-based paints that you could paint immediately after without incident, but without testing you wouldn't know.

Alternatively if you have any shellac you can coat thinly in shellac, then paint over the shellac after it's dry. Same day is doable, but wait 24 hours if you want to err on the side of caution.


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## MusicMan (25 Jan 2018)

Tung does cure but it is slow. Two weeks minimum and four would be safer.

OTOH the inside of a drawer is rarely seen after it gets filled with stuff. Or you could consider lining with (elegant) paper. I have one nice 17thC chest of drawers that came with such a lining, maybe not 17thC but certainly quite old.

Keith


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