# Tung oil on ceiling beams - with or without wax



## EdK (2 Aug 2009)

Hi,
I have about 60 metres of ceiling beams to finish. So far I've spent a while stripping the paint and old varnish off (least favourite job so far except drain works).
Then I've sanded them back with 80 / 120 / 240. After that I've let down pure Tung oil with white spirit and rubbed in a thin coat. (I have tung oil around from making paddles - is this a good oil choice for house finishes ? Too late now I guess ! A friend recommended boiled linseed but I had the tung so figured it would be the same)

I was going to add about three coats of 100% Tung on top of that - waiting about 3 days in between.

Not too sure about wax on top of this ? Is this a standard finishing thing to do ? If it is is it necessary ontop of the tung finish ? What are the advantages of adding wax ? I have a tin of Chestnut 22 wax - is this good or should i look for one of the blonde Fiddes tins (the green tins).

I'm trying to get all the finish done before I put plasterboard between the beams - trying to stop oil seeping into the plasterboard and plaster. (Beams are 6m long lengths of some kind of pine - maybe Douglas fir ? House is about 1890)
Thanks,
Ed


----------



## Woodfinish Man (3 Aug 2009)

Hi Ed,

Applying wax over Tung Oil isn't recommended, it's a finish in itself and I can't see any benefit of applying wax, unless of course your looking to alter the colour with Briwax or something similar?

Ian


----------



## EdK (3 Aug 2009)

Thanks Ian,
Great - will just add another few coats of oil and leave it at that.
Cheers, Ed


----------



## Wanlock Dod (19 Aug 2009)

Ed,

I finish a lot of bowls with tung oil, and give them a coat of wax on top. It works just fine. I am basically using it like a sanding sealer.

But, 
it takes an age to dry, I tend to leave my stuff for at least a week before I wax it,
If you (or anybody else) ever wants to refinish it I'm pretty sure that all of the wax would need to be removed first. Personally I think that a load of coats of tung oil (clearly built up over quite a period of time at 1 coat perr week or so) makes a nice finish which is easy to renovate with another quick wipe over with an oily rag.

I think that in your position I definately wouldn't wax over the top, but would just stick with the oil, but I think it would work fine with wax on top, provided that the oil is properly cured.

Cheers,

Dod


----------



## EdK (19 Aug 2009)

Thanks Dod - so far I have the first coat with 50% white spirit / 50% tung. Let that dry for a few days then have been putting on 1 coat of pure tung and leaving it for about 3 days (rubbing worst off after 20 mins). 

Up to about 3 coats now and getting bored !

Read in some book that adding a bit of boiled linseed helps it to dry faster - something to do with the hot air through the linseed kicking off the drying process.

Might give it one last coat (4th) with 90% tung and 10% boiled linseed.

THe beams look really good - got some plasterboard up between them and really look good (not going to add more to the beams near te plasterboard as don't want the oil to seep into the plasterboard).

Thanks,
Ed.


----------

