Tung Oil on concrete?

[duneslider]

I recently saw a garage/shop floor and I asked the guy about his floor finish. He said it was Tung Oil. I really liked the look of it and he said it was holding up great for him. It was a woodworking shop, so not a mechanics shop but still it looked good and he had a lot of equipment in there and moved stuff around on wheels. I think he said the brand he used was RMP. He said it was a bit of a process to install because it took several coats to get to the point it stopped absorbing and then has to cure for a few weeks. He said it was super easy and pretty much fool proof, so very DIY friendly. He made it sound like if you do scratch it you can just buff out the scratch and apply more oil.

No idea how durable it might be but it did look nice and seemed decent to me. Anyone have any experience with it? I would consider doing it other than I have so much **** in my garage I don't know how I would ever make any finish work...maybe I could try it on my patio. I could likely get stuff off that long enough to seal.

 

[bluedog225]

Following

 

[PCustoms]

I don't see how that would ever cure.

Was there a smell?

How slippery was it?

 

[duneslider]

This wasn't new, it had been in for years I would guess. So no smell at all.

Why wouldn't it cure? Tung oil cures when exposed to oxygen, so being out in the air it is going to cure. I would assume the warmer and dryer the environment the faster it would cure?

It wasn't slippery at all, seemed just like any topical concrete sealer to me. Felt like any steel troweled garage floor.

I wasn't expecting him to say it was Tung oil, he seems to have a fair bit of money, so I was expecting some expensive coating. It wasn't really shiny, a fairly dull finish but you could tell something was on the concrete.

 

[cad70]

Why Tung Oil Is Best for Sealing Concrete | RMP Finishes

Using tung oil for sealing concrete keeps your interior or exterior features well-protected and looking their best over time. Read on to find out how it works.

www.rmpfinishes.com

 

[bluedog225]

Maybe some ox blood for color first. Kidding. I may give this a try. Not looking for fancy and like the odor.

 

[PCustoms]

This wasn't new, it had been in for years I would guess. So no smell at all.

Why wouldn't it cure? Tung oil cures when exposed to oxygen, so being out in the air it is going to cure. I would assume the warmer and dryer the environment the faster it would cure?

I'd be worth about how much would soak into the concrete. Seems it would get gummy?

It wasn't slippery at all, seemed just like any topical concrete sealer to me. Felt like any steel troweled garage floor.

Interesting. There's a few spots on my floor that must have had oil on them, barely noticeable staining but if it gets damp they're and ice rink because the water beads there.

 

[Wfallison]

Cannot speak to tung oil, but boiled linseed oil has been used as a concrete sealer for a long, long, time.

 

[jkeyser14]

I sealed concrete countertops with tung oil. It did take a while and quite a few coats before it stopped absorbing in. Then it decided to weep out of certain spots for a couple weeks. Full cure took a couple months. It is not a topical coating, and if you try to build up a topical coating it will be weak and look like garbage.

Yes it smells. The smell takes a while to dissipate. If you put on too much at once it will go rancid before it cures which you REALLY don't want. If you put it on too heavy the stuff deep in the pores will not cure properly and will go rancid.

You have to think of it as a slow-curing pore filler to seal the concrete.

I would not use it for a kitchen. For a garage that can be left to cure without foot traffic for a couple months and with good ventillation, go for it.

Note: Pure tung oil flows like honey. I had to cut it with citrus oil to get it to flow better.

 

[duneslider]

I have done some more looking and I found one person that said they mixed tung oil 50:50 with mineral spirits and another that said 50:50 with kerosene and that works better. No idea, I am curious if this stuff from RMP is cut with something? Just cause my curiosity is peaked I may ask them if they have thinned it. I have never worked with tung oil before but have used linseed oil but not on concrete.

 

[PCustoms]

Reading that sight, does tung oil really have 0 VOC?

 

[bluedog225]

I have done some more looking and I found one person that said they mixed tung oil 50:50 with mineral spirits and another that said 50:50 with kerosene and that works better. No idea, I am curious if this stuff from RMP is cut with something? Just cause my curiosity is peaked I may ask them if they have thinned it. I have never worked with tung oil before but have used linseed oil but not on concrete.

They say cut with citrus solvent.

 

[duneslider]

Reading that sight, does tung oil really have 0 VOC?

Well pure tung oil is natural, food safe and non-toxic, so it shouldn't have any VOCs. VOC's are carbon based solvents. I think most VOC's (all??) are man-made chemicals.

 

[PCustoms]

VOC's are carbon based solvents. I think most VOC's (all??) are man-made chemicals.

I was never good at chemistry, but I'm not sure that's true

 

[dscheidt]

Well pure tung oil is natural, food safe and non-toxic, so it shouldn't have any VOCs. VOC's are carbon based solvents. I think most VOC's (all??) are man-made chemicals.

Tung oil is a drying oil, so no VOC component. But plenty of natural or mostly natural solvents have lots of VOCs. I usually thin tung oil with mineral spirits, as it's a bit thick and hard to get good coverage with it straight.