Minwax Tung Oil Finish (TOF) is far and away my favorite wood finish. Unfortunately I can't buy it anymore in So. Cal. evidently due to clean air laws, so I've been forced to try a lot of other wiping oils and varnishes recently. None of them measure up. I guess Jasco Tung Oil is closest to Minwax but I've never had good luck with it.

What I like about the Minwax is that it's very thin and does not sit on top of the wood and look like a plastic coating. Wood still looks like real wood.

Next, it is super waterproof and fairly hard as well. You can stain fine mahogany or walnut or whatever, finish with maybe three coats of Minwax TOF, and set an ice cold glass of water down on it. No way it will water stain or anything. Forget coasters, no more worries.

Third, it goes from low luster to to high gloss, depending on how many coats and how you apply it. To my eye, I feel that high gloss TOF is one of the most beautiful finishes available, period, and that includes french polish, which I've also done quite a bit of.

Now, some people complain that this is not a real pure tung oil. They refuse to divulge the formula. I believe it's tung oil cooked with alkyd resin, and thinned with 65% mineral spirits. I suppose it's true that this is really makes it just a thin wiping varnish. Fair enough, I guess that's exactly what I want. Frankly I don't care what's in it. I've tried pure tung oil and I can't recommend it at all. It takes for . . . ever to dry and it will not get lustrous or anywhere near a gloss no matter how many coats you use. Minwax TOF dries hard in less than a day.

Now I may not use it exactly like other people. I like to put about 4-5 coats on for near gloss. I wipe all the coats on with a soft cloth. Depending on how porous the wood is, I will buff the first coat and maybe the second. After the third I usually sand with 400 sandpaper, maybe wet sand with water and wipe dry. The last coat, I will wipe on enough to wet the whole surface to a gloss and let dry. If that's not perfect or has dry-looking spots, I repeat the last gloss coat.

If you do this correctly, you get a flat, hard, glossy, yet thin surface. The wood grain and color is as lustrous and dimensional as the quality your underlying wood can possibly be. You can still see the grain depressions, which I really like - it still looks like real wood. This is because even after four or five coats, the TOF is still extremely thin, and most has sunk down into the wood.

I now have to mail order the stuff, which I'm willing to do, but please, Minwax, figure out a way to reformulate it without ruining it and bring it back to California ASAP before the air police outlaw even mail ordering it.

Recommended: Yes