Yeah, you and everyone else hate film finishes lol. Maybe it's because I'm a newb, but i have an unusually high interest in film finishes, especially gloss finishes. My finish of choice (for non- kitchen items) is arm-r-seal gloss. I use it constantly. And I often do high builds with it with wet sanding just like it did with the polymerized tung. I just like the glass look, and i like the chatouyance an oil varnish provides. That's probably why I simultaneously got into epoxy over the last year. Though I find epoxy much more challenging and expensive. It's much easier to build thickness, but it's so much more finicky than a wood finish.
Normally when I use tung, I'm using it at a base coat diluted with orange solvent. I find myself using odies oil a lot, so lately I do 1-2 coats of diluted tung, then 2 coats odies hitting it with 4k on the orbital in between. I only tried to build up tung to a film the one time. I was just saying the theory is there that you should be able to build up any curing oil given enough time and patience lol. Not saying it's wise or that anyone should try. I was only noting my observation that the cured film must be able to be layered to the point of building a film finish. It might look like sh!t or maybe it'll look like my spoon and spatula. Who knows. I tried it the one time with polymerized tung and that was enough for me. It was a lot of work.
I'm surprised to see SW noted in that Flexner article. That oil seems to be like a unicorn in woodworking. Nobody ever knows about it or more broadly about polymerized tung. I just assumed it was a niche market. I guess now I should finally read that Flexner book on finishing that I bought a couple months back
I keep forgetting I got a 30 pack of petri dishes, so I'll use those this time around instead of the plastic packaging for a circ saw blade
