CA with oils other than BLO?

[GouletPens]

One of the best books I've read is Bob Flexner's Understanding Wood Finishing (2nd Ed.). It really helped me to understand different finishes and what they do. From that, I understand that as far as oil finishes go, tung oil soaks in deeper but is the softest, BLO is more durable but doesn't soak in as much (doesn't pop the grain quite as much as tung), and polyurethane is the most durable but soaks in the least of the 3. Now it's common that people use BLO with CA finishes, but have tung oil or poly (thinned down, I'm sure) ever been tried with CA? If so, what results did you find? I'm curious to see what results others have come up with.

 

[ldb2000]

I've used Teak oil instead of BLO because it DOES soak in deeper then BLO . Teak oil actually has no teak oil in it , it's actually a form of Tung oil but got the name because the marine industry uses it as a grain enhancer on the Teak used in building boats and ships . It seem to work about the same as BLO but pops the grain a little better and don't yellow white woods as badly as BLO does .

 

[GouletPens]

yeah, from what I understand many of the 'insert name of wood' oils such as teak oil, walnut oil, or whatever are really just blends of tung and other oils. In fact, some stores actually carry walnut oil, cherry oil, oak oil, cedar oil, and all kinds of other oils as a kind of a marketing gimick. I'm no expert on all the different oils out there but I'd love to hear from someone who knows more than I do!

By the way, you can mix tung oil, BLO, and poly in whatever ratios you want depending on the depth/durability you're looking for. If you ever get General Arm-R-Seal, that's basically the 3 oils blended together (though to the exact ratio, I'm not sure). Or, you can put down a couple of coats of tung for the depth, the throw poly on top for the durability in following coats.

 

[ldb2000]

Yep , that's what I normally do . I use the Teak oil to pop the grain then finish with Minwax fast dry Poly as a finish on allot of the wood pens I make . I like the Poly as a finish and if it's durable enough to use on floors it should be ok on pens . When I do a CA finish I use the Teak oil to pop the grain but then use just straight thin CA as the finish , the BLO seems to give a more satin look to the CA finish .
I like the Teak oil because it don't yellow the wood as much as BLO so I can use it on light woods like Maple and Holly .
You are right about the different oils out there that are nothing but Tung oil renamed but Walnut oil is different , it really is made from Walnuts and it works great on bowls and toys because it is completely food and kid safe , so is pure Tung oil in it's pure form , it's the driers that they add that is the problem . Most Walnut oil I have seen comes in it's pure form but it still drys pretty fast so you can put more coats on in a shorter time then Pure Tung oil or BLO . There are turners that soak their completed bowls in Walnut oil then let them dry completely and buff to get a great shine .