TUNG OIL, A HISTORY: Pure Tung Oil is a varnish, a natural finishing product which provides a tough, flexible and highly water-resistant coating. The oil is pressed from tung nuts (Aleurites fordii) and is classed as a drying oil and is commonly known as Chinese drying oil or Chinawood oil. Although it is relatively new to the Western world, tung oil has been used for at least a millennium in China in its raw state. and until this century, China was the main source for the oil. Tung oil received wide application in China: in the building trades as a treatment for both stone and wooden structures; in marine trades as a wood preservative and for its water repellent properties on wooden boats. It is said to have been introduced to the West by Marco Polo in the 13th century.
In the mid-20th century, tung oil began to become preferred over linseed oil for wood finishing because it is faster drying, has a pleasant odour, doesn’t become sticky and does not darken as much with age. In ancient days when the Chinese needed a more flexible and faster drying oil they would blend the pure tung oil with citrus oils, mostly orange oil because of its gentler solvent properties, and this pure natural solvent enabled the oil to be spread more easily and dry more rapidly.
