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You might want to edit the post and change that to "hardening," since the tung oil and other hardening oils harden, rather than dry ("[T]ung oil is a drying oil. . . ."
Regarding your directions, keep in mind, some tung oil is pre-polymerized, so you do not have to wait any longer than you would if you were applying polyurethane, before you add the next coat.
Sadly, the place I used to buy gallons from is no longer in business (Winthrop, Washington). They sold wonderful, pure tung oil they treated at their plant. When others were charging absurd prices for a quart, they sold it by the gallon for about $30.00. You could also buy the additives to bump up the hardening process.
So, what do people mean by "nourish the wood"? I've seen articles mock that, but no one explain what it is.
I know that I am one of those people who has no qualms about adding hardening products and non-hardening oils to wood, "as long as it will drink it up." Decades back, I used to make burl and stump tables. I'd flood the slabs and stumps with thinned poly. I had a 5" thick piece that was wet on the bottom from the I know of one which sat in front of a well used fire place and never developed cracks from further moisture loss.
At the same time I made burl tables [and clocks], I did a "little resin work (I bought the resin in five gallon buckets (50/50 or 1:1 mix). If I didn't seal wood before flooding it with resin, I'd get air bubbles. Lots of air bubbles at the bottom of the initial layer. That explains why my hardening applications did not take months or years to harden. There was enough oxygen in the wood to react with the various hardening products (thinned poly (so drying and hardening), Plastic Oil (Varithane product, and so on).
A certain noted expert on finishes claimed people like me were wrong and harding of wood was just a Varithane promotion. Now days, it's accepted that oxygen activated or heat activated resins sold to harden rotted or punk wood and other things (e.g., Cactus Juice, Daley's Sea Fin, etc.) actually do harden wood, via penetration. They fill the cells, then harden.
On a side note, when I use Cactus Juice and have to remove as much as the air as I can, to increase penetration. If I don't put wood in my vacuum chamber, penetration is greatly reduced (some pieces nearly double in weight, after having a vacuum put on them, then filling them with Cactus Juice or even a product like Daley's Sea Fin.
ANYWAY, the reason I often go all out treating wood is simple, wood shrinks and cracks as it dries. Adding oil that deeply penetrates will reduce moisture gain and loss, reducing cracking and splitting. Too, it will, if kept wet long enough, or if a non-hardening oil is used, swell the wood and can even hide small cracks and splits.
Key to getting the same effect you would with a non-hardening oil is, keeping the surface wet as long as possible to hold off surface reaction (hardening).
All that said, it drives me nuts when people talk about flooding a surface and, immediately, wiping it off. What a waste of oil. Like you, I'd wipe on what I need to, to get coverage [without orange peel] for tung oil or linseed oil. For mineral oil on a cutting board, or other oil on a fence or other non-food item, I'd let it sit and soak in.
Regarding your directions, keep in mind, some tung oil is pre-polymerized, so you do not have to wait any longer than you would if you were applying polyurethane, before you add the next coat.
Sadly, the place I used to buy gallons from is no longer in business (Winthrop, Washington). They sold wonderful, pure tung oil they treated at their plant. When others were charging absurd prices for a quart, they sold it by the gallon for about $30.00. You could also buy the additives to bump up the hardening process.
So, what do people mean by "nourish the wood"? I've seen articles mock that, but no one explain what it is.
I know that I am one of those people who has no qualms about adding hardening products and non-hardening oils to wood, "as long as it will drink it up." Decades back, I used to make burl and stump tables. I'd flood the slabs and stumps with thinned poly. I had a 5" thick piece that was wet on the bottom from the I know of one which sat in front of a well used fire place and never developed cracks from further moisture loss.
At the same time I made burl tables [and clocks], I did a "little resin work (I bought the resin in five gallon buckets (50/50 or 1:1 mix). If I didn't seal wood before flooding it with resin, I'd get air bubbles. Lots of air bubbles at the bottom of the initial layer. That explains why my hardening applications did not take months or years to harden. There was enough oxygen in the wood to react with the various hardening products (thinned poly (so drying and hardening), Plastic Oil (Varithane product, and so on).
A certain noted expert on finishes claimed people like me were wrong and harding of wood was just a Varithane promotion. Now days, it's accepted that oxygen activated or heat activated resins sold to harden rotted or punk wood and other things (e.g., Cactus Juice, Daley's Sea Fin, etc.) actually do harden wood, via penetration. They fill the cells, then harden.
On a side note, when I use Cactus Juice and have to remove as much as the air as I can, to increase penetration. If I don't put wood in my vacuum chamber, penetration is greatly reduced (some pieces nearly double in weight, after having a vacuum put on them, then filling them with Cactus Juice or even a product like Daley's Sea Fin.
ANYWAY, the reason I often go all out treating wood is simple, wood shrinks and cracks as it dries. Adding oil that deeply penetrates will reduce moisture gain and loss, reducing cracking and splitting. Too, it will, if kept wet long enough, or if a non-hardening oil is used, swell the wood and can even hide small cracks and splits.
Key to getting the same effect you would with a non-hardening oil is, keeping the surface wet as long as possible to hold off surface reaction (hardening).
All that said, it drives me nuts when people talk about flooding a surface and, immediately, wiping it off. What a waste of oil. Like you, I'd wipe on what I need to, to get coverage [without orange peel] for tung oil or linseed oil. For mineral oil on a cutting board, or other oil on a fence or other non-food item, I'd let it sit and soak in.
