Unexpected result using T&T Varnish Oil

[Ron]

Wha' Happen? I have nearly finished a nice Cherry Arts & Craft Coffee Table. The table top was finished with two coats of Tried & True Danish Oil with each coat curing for two days. Then added four more coats of T&T Varnish Oil to provide some additional protection to the surface, again allowing two days between coats. I did as instructed and wiped the surface COMPLETELY dry after being absorbed for the recommended time. It was beginning to look pretty good when I decided that I should let it "age" a bit before presenting it to SWMBO. So I moved it to the porch in nice bright South Carolina sunshine. I thought a few hours might bring out the better qualities of Cherry.

I took a look at it after about 30 minutes and WOW. There were puddles of oil setting on the surface! It was really bleeding. I wiped it down and decided to just let it sit there in the sun to what would happen. I had thought that the oil would have cured in wood by now and there should have been no bleeding. I have continued to wipe it down every half hour or so. It is beginning to look better now but not sure what happened.

Have I ruined it? Should I have waited longer (1 week or month) before trying to darken the wood? Is this something I can expect from other oil products or is it specific to T&T? I will take the table top back to the shop in a few more minutes (it's still on the porch) and let it sit for another day or so. Then I have to decide if I need to plane, scrape and sand before starting all over.

I really like T&T products and hope I can figure out the proper way to use them. I have built a few other tables using the products but never put them in direct sunlight. Being able to practically drink the stuff is a big plus in my book. The lack of strong odor is another plus.

Any help from the finishing experts would be appreciated.

Ron

[Fly-by-Night CC]

No you didn't ruin it - what you're seeing is merely uncured oil expanding/squeezing out of the wood pores with the solar heat. You're doing right by wiping it off regularly and no harm will come of your work - just keep checking and wiping off any bleeding. No need to plane, scrape or anything else as long as you monitor the situation and remove the bleedback. This happens with most (all?) oils and your experience is standard operating proceedure - apply, wipe, wipe, wipe.

The wood will darken naturally over time just existing in your living space but direct sun exposure certainly won't harm it as long as you've taken natural wood shrinkage/expansion into account.

I *want* to like T&T varnish oil- (I *do* like the smell and non-toxic qualities) but I've not had very good success with timely curing. Instructions and advice says to keep application to an absolute minimum with curing in a matter of days, but I've experienced weeks of non-curing. Guess I'm still putting on too much.

[Gerry]

[Mike G]

It should also be noted that, if T & T's advertisements are to be believed and I have no reason to doubt they can be, their finish contains no metallic dryers which means curing is going to be much slower and environmentally affected then the more common off the shelf oil finishes.

[My Old Tools]

I always put my T&T on hot (140 degrees +), both the BLO and the varnish oil. Rub it in, wipe it off, wipe again. I haven't had any bleed back.