Well yeah. I included the stuff by Newell to show that he considered oil/varnish at some level and wasn't particularly impressed, preferring varnish. His opinion of course. And I thought those reading along might be interested in a little more detail.
As I recall the proportions of Formula #5 (3 parts varnish, 4 parts oil) is about where I noticed the character of the film begin to change. Going past 3 parts varnish and 6 parts oil and it looked about the same. Wish I'd kept notes.
I think that the addition of oil makes application easier but that may just be my technique. I started out with Tru-Oil. I tried boiled linseed and tung oil alone and while I wouldn't call them junk for finish I was less than thrilled and no contest on utility. And to reiterate the point it does look nice over varnish but not very durable insofar as the drying oil film is concerned.
I've never had good results using the gunk on - wipe off method. Not that there's anything wrong with it but it doesn't work for me. It seems that there are enough subtle differences in technique and maybe workshop conditions that one method will work well for one guy but not necessarily for the next.
