some 15 years ago I used a commercial tung oil finish (pure except for dilution) according to instructions. Had wonderful results on walnut and maple. So 15 or or years later the finish got very tacky ( was indoors al the time and out of the sun). Why did this happen and how do I get rid of the stickiness?
FYI, the "Tung Oil Finish" products that are marketed are quite varied in what they actually contain; many have no tung oil in them at all. It could be tung oil, boiled lindseed oil, oil/varnish/solvent mix (think Watco), or a wiping varnish. Maybe something else.
So, what brand product did you use?
However, any of these products typically dry and I wouldn't expect to see them get tacky years later. I'd guess what you have is heavy on the oil side, and somehow oil has not dried and made its way to the surface.
Did the instructions say to apply (perhaps flood the surface), wait a little bit, then wipe it off? Then repeat the next day?
Did both the maple and the walnut become tacky? Walnut is more open pored than maple, I could see some oil seeping from pores in walnut (but after 15 years, that is a surprise).
Also, I assume you mean the finish applied 15 years earlier has gotten tacky, and not that you recently appliled some of that finish purchased 15 years ago and it didn't dry properly.
You could try wiping with mineral spirits to see what effect that has. I'd start on a small area. If that doesn't work, perhaps try other commonly used wood finishing solvents, such as lacquer thinner.
After curing for 15 years I suspect something applied to the table, such as a furniture polish, dissolved the tung oil finish.
walnut was worse than maple, but both bad. Mineral spirits do not clean it up, nor does naptha. The brand was Southerland-Wells ( forgot spelling) Thanks
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