Quick question about finishing a table top

Roger Tulk

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St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
The Memsahib put a gun to my head this morning, so I am in the middle of refinishing our tiger oak dining table and buffet - the tops only. I used a finish restorer on it a few years ago, and it did a great job of matching the existing finish, and I have more than half of it left. I have taken the scratches and stains down with 220 grit sandpaper on my ROS, and it looks good, nice and smooth. I am planning to wipe on the stain restorer once I am quite sure the table top is dry after wiping off the dust. I didn't see any noticeable effect on the grain. Oce this dries, I am planning to use the Minwax Tung Oil finish I bought last year for another project, but didn't use on advice I got here.

I remember being told that the 'Tung Oil' product I had was Tung Oil in the sense that a hotdog is pork. (Not those words exacttly, but....) Anyway, will it likely put a nice shiny finish on our table without undue labour on our part, or should we do something else?
 
Our dining room table - which we use for every meal - was finished with Behlen's "Rock Hard Tabletop Finish" twelve years ago, and it still looks great. I put maybe half a dozen coats on, a day or two apart, with sanding or steel wooling between coats. A lot more work than what you're suggesting, but worth it.
 
I'm pretty sure Minwax Tung Oil finish does not contain polyurethane, but as Don said, it's a wipe-on oil/varnish. (The oil part is likely linseed oil.) It'll put a nice shiny finish after you wipe on 3 to 12 coats. It'll look nice but won't be as durable as a true poly finish like the Behlen's product Jim mentioned. Here's some useful info:

http://www.rockler.com/how-to/what-is-table-top-varnish/
 
I'm pretty sure Minwax Tung Oil finish does not contain polyurethane, but as Don said, it's a wipe-on oil/varnish. (The oil part is likely linseed oil.) It'll put a nice shiny finish after you wipe on 3 to 12 coats. It'll look nice but won't be as durable as a true poly finish like the Behlen's product Jim mentioned. Here's some useful info:

http://www.rockler.com/how-to/what-is-table-top-varnish/

Sweet - I love that answer.

I would encourage anyone to click the link and READ the description.

Makes all the sense in the world.
 
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