Guest from China: tung oil - on your terrace
Wooden terraces and verandas are always very effective elements of the architectural composition of any private house or cottage. They connect the living space and the surrounding landscape, allow you to be outside the walls of the house and at the same time maintain the level of comfort to which we are accustomed in a home environment.
In order for wooden terraces to last as long as possible, specialized materials from especially durable (and, as a result, expensive) wood species are used for their construction. Usually, these materials undergo special processing at the factory - they are oiled or impregnated under pressure. And although manufacturers guarantee at least a 15-year service life of such products, they warn about the need for proper care for it and periodic renewal of its protective coating.
To renew the protective coating, it is recommended to use special impregnations based on natural oils. Such oil impregnations do not form a film on the surface, but, being absorbed into the wood and drying out, create a water-repellent barrier in the pores and capillaries due to the formation of a spatial high-polymer network, the characteristics of which depend on the chemical composition of the oils. Their advantages are environmental friendliness, ease of application and renewal of the coating.
Linseed oil-based impregnations have long been widely and quite successfully used in European countries for wood processing. However, it must be admitted that among the natural oils, linseed is not the best in terms of painting, technical and decorative and protective characteristics. And recently, a guest from China arrived in Europe to help linseed oil - tung oil.
Let us recall that "Chinese" did not always mean a surrogate and a fake. Chinese civilization is one of the oldest in the world. It is the birthplace of many significant inventions of mankind: paper, compass, gunpowder, printing and much more.
The Chinese have also reached the field that we now call the chemical industry. For example, they were the first to actively use oil, which was obtained from the seeds of the tung tree. It comes from China, which is why it is sometimes called the "Chinese tree". Tung seeds contain 60-65 percent of valuable technical oil, unsurpassed in its qualities. The inhabitants of China learned to extract and use tung oil more than 4 thousand years ago. They successfully used it for various purposes, including for the production of varnishes, paints, enamels and anti-corrosion coatings, but mainly as a protective agent for wood. The Chinese noticed that tung oil is very deeply and well absorbed into the wood and, drying quickly, forms a coating resistant to atmospheric and mechanical influences. In addition, this oil does not darken on the wood over time, allowing to obtain surfaces with high aesthetic characteristics. And most importantly, microorganisms (fungus and mold) did not develop on the wood treated with tung oil. It is a well-known fact that wooden Chinese boats - "junks" treated with tung oil never rotted, water did not seep into their holds, and the bottom did not grow algae and shells.
Due to the unique chemical composition of tung oil, its drying time is at least half that of linseed oil. This is because its polymerization, unlike linseed oil, occurs not only from the surface, but immediately throughout the entire thickness. Due to the unique chemical composition of tung oil, varnish made on its basis is very resistant to the effects of air, water, salts and acids. A thin but strong film of tung varnish protects metal from corrosion, and wood from getting wet and being destroyed by fungus. Tung varnish or enamel is used to cover the best pianos, the highest quality furniture, cars, airplanes, and underwater parts of ships. Special varnishes are used to make insulating tapes for high-voltage cables and transformers.
Tin cans are coated from the inside with tung varnish. China has long been famous for its artistic products (paintings, boxes, souvenirs, wooden utensils, etc.) with bright paintings on a black background, covered with tung varnish. And these are just some of the industries where tung oil and varnish are used.
Attempts by chemists to synthesize tung oil or replace it with any other natural oil have not yet been crowned with success. Tung oil has no analogues, and therefore it can be confidently called a unique product.
Having appreciated the advantages of tung oil, leading European manufacturers of paints and varnishes have successfully begun to use it for the manufacture of their products. Thus, the ESKARO GROUP AB holding (Sweden) added a new protective and decorative mixture for the treatment of external wooden surfaces to its AURA series of wood preservatives - AURA Terrace, and successfully used a combination of tung and linseed oil in it.
It is not recommended to use the AURA Terrace mixture on surfaces previously painted with paint - it will not pass through the paint film. If it is necessary to treat such substrates, the old paint must be removed from them. It is recommended to treat new and old-coated wooden surfaces with a primer (for example, AURA Biostop mixture) before applying the AURA Terrace mixture.
The AURA Terrace mixture can be used to treat various wooden products and structures very effectively: terraces (terrace boards), verandas, decking (decking - garden parquet), bridges and other horizontal surfaces, as well as handrails, stairs, fences, etc. Before use, the mixture must be mixed and then applied in 1-2 layers. The ends are treated especially carefully. Oil that has not been absorbed is removed from the surface. Before installing the decking, it is recommended to treat the back of the boards (when in contact with the ground, it is recommended to use the AURA Protect mixture for priming.)
Surfaces exposed to weathering all year round are recommended to be treated annually. However, do not rush to treat a new terrace made of pressure-treated wood - such material must be aged for at least six months before treatment with the AURA Terrace composition.
And when the right time comes, invite a "guest" from China to your home - tung oil, and feel free to use all its wonderful qualities to protect your terrace. Believe me - you will not be mistaken, because now tung oil paint and varnish products are highly valued in Europe. And the "guest" from China has successfully taken a worthy place in the European market of "Premium" class paint and varnish materials.
