In contrast,
When finishing wood products with waxes, danish or tung oils,
Interesting post there Elliot...
I'm
not a wood guy but from what I do know, aren't most
traditional waxes for the wood industry "natural" waxes? I've owned some older wood waxes and they always had a strong scent of Stoddard Solvent of something similar, Naptha perhaps. I'm not sure I would want my hand skin soaking in either one of these for a career.
I have used automotive parts cleaning tanks for years when I was younger with and without wearing protective rubber gloves so I know first hand how Stoddard solvent can dry out your skin, who knows what kind of long term damage I exposed myself to by not wearing gloves each time I cleaned a greasy, grimy car part.
Danish oil is made from either
China Tung Nuts or
Linseed Oil and I believe Linseed oil actually comes from
Flax Seeds.
Both are
"seed oils" and probably at least in their natural form, not dangerous to soak your hands in for the hours a person would spend saturating their skin in them as they rub out a piece of wood furniture.
When people talk about hand rubbed lacquer, a person did not use their bare hands to rub out the lacquer but some type of cloth plus a compound or polish and this could be after sanding or without sanding.
But the idea of hand rubbed lacquer invokes the idea of some guy rubbing lacquer paint with his hands, I guess bare hands but I would have never done it that way back in the 1920's and 1930's, I would have still cut up a terry cloth towel and formed a "pad" out of it and then let the nap of the terry cloth take the brunt of the rubbing over he paint.
Good discussion....
