Tru-oil test and tip

[Eric Krewson]

I posted this before but didn't have a definitive test to see how well it came out.

I bought a bottle of Tru-oil gunstock finish and only poked a small hole in the seal to access the finish and always stored the bottle upside down when I wasn't using it.

I have bought dozens of bottles of tru-oil through the years and usually throw away about 1/3rd of a bottle after the contents  gum up.

With only a pin hole in the top I have used every drop in this bottle, no gumming up, I opened the bottle 6 months ago.

[simson]

Thanks for that tip!
I don't use true-oil, but will try that on my mixture.

[bjrogg]

Thanks for the tip Eric. Going to try it next bottle. I've been using the storing upside down tip and it's helped a lot.
Bjrogg

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I’ll have to try that too. I have been putting a layer of seran wrap under the cap before I screw it on. Then placing the bottle in a ziplock bag. It seems to stay good for several months that way. I may try the pinhole this too, and see if it’ll last even longer.

Kyle

[Badger]

  I always get frustrated with my tru oil drying up on me. Maybe it is activated somehow once we start using it and the pin hole somehow limits it's exposure to whatever it is that activates it. Good idea.

[Mesophilic]

Not exactly related but I've found that if you mix Truoil with real tung oil the dryers in the Truoil make the tung oil cure faster, much depends on the duliton ratio.

[PaSteve]

 I do the exact same as Eric with similar results. Best way to keep tru oil after opening.

[Mesophilic]

I always get frustrated with my tru oil drying up on me. Maybe it is activated somehow once we start using it and the pin hole somehow limits it's exposure to whatever it is that activates it. Good idea.

My understanding is that Truoil is a boiled linseed concoction.   Oxygen from the air starts the polymerization process.

[Stoner]

I always do the same thing. I just put a plastic grocery sack over the top and screw on the cap store upside-down. Keeps for long long time. John

[Weylin]

I used to do that with the hole in the foil. It helped. It was better than having it wide open but I still found that there would be some waste. I went on Amazon and bought a bunch of 1 oz brown glass bottles with a screw on cap. I buy an 8 oz. bottle of tru oil and then immediately decant it into the 1 oz bottles. Then I use the little bottles one at a time I have found that I can get all the way through a little bottle before it gums up and the last bottle starts as fresh as the first. As an added bonus, I have developed a little trick where I leave the cap on the little bottle sitting upside down, I take it off between two fingers while I tilt the bottle with my index finger over the top. That leaves the perfect amount of tru oil on the tip of my finger to spread on the bow. It keeps me from putting it on too thick and I don't have to try and gauge the right amount to pour off for the whole bow.

[DC]

Has anyone tried a hypodermic needle? You could, in theory, never have it contact the air until it hit the bow.

[PatM]

Has anyone tried a hypodermic needle? You could, in theory, never have it contact the air until it hit the bow.

 I put mine in syringes from Lee Valley and seal the end between uses.  It's the oxygen exposure that gums it up.