Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Boiled Linseed Oil

Hey Guys,

A couple of questions about BLO to any custom stock makers out there. Keep in mind I'm talking BLO...not true oil...not BLO finish...BLO. Ive been using this for years as a maintenance measure on all of my oil finished stocks as this was how I was taught as a boy. On many of my poly finished guns (Wingmaster, A5, 1100) I've refinished the stocks completely with BLO by simply stripping the old finish, steaming any dings, raising grain, sanding with a block, burnishing with a scotch bright and hand rubbing BLO. Checkering gets BLO thinned and applied with a paint brush to avoid gumming etc.

I was taught to hand rub in very thin coats of oil once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, and once a year forever. Guns that came with an oil finish get a once a year rub down. I don't rub the checkering. This has made for some very nice finishes needless to say.

As for the questions...

BLO seems to have lost favor in the mainstream...why is this...to much work? Its so easy to repair scratches etc...a real shame

People claim its no good in rain...i use all my guns hard and have never had any issues with moisture...either soaking into the wood or changing POI etc...what gives?

Should I be using something else?

A search here will find plenty of threads addressing the issues with BLO.
it is horrible garbage and has no purpose whatsoever on quality wood...

True BLO, (which I understand is difficult to find these days), goes back to the days when there really weren't any better choices. Now that there are excellent synthetic finishes that accomplish the same task much better, why use old technology that really doesn't do much but look good for a very short period and needs to be replaced often?

Find a finish that you can put on once and forget it and save the "once a day, once a week, once a month, etc...." for target practice time.....

Bob

Or, if it works for you and you're happy with the result, keep on doing it.

Which brings up a question for you, Art.

I have a custom rifle that was built in the late 50's and has, what I believe is, a BLO finish. I accidently got some Wipe Out bore cleaner on it and it instantly removed the finish in that spot.

How much trouble is it going to be to refinish the entire stock with something more durable?

Ed

Once a year? Where on earth does one find the time?

I suspect in this era of instant gratification, few savor the time spent caring for their firearms. Just spent about 6 hours cleaning up my fly rods (like 20 of them). Lots of fine memories surfaced during that interval.

Whether used or not, everything in the safe gets a couple of bore patches and a rub down every six months.

BLO isn't boiled nowdays, it is chemically treated to prevent mildew and evaporation. BLO is not water proof! This is why wood stocked military rifles were treated with Tung oil.Which is water proof and the stocks are submerged in it for 30 minutes at 270 degrees F. Tung oil has no shine and BlO does. Barracks discipline had GI's applying BLO as a topical treatment to shine up their M1"s.

You are better off to use something else then BLO.

^ tung oil has a lot more shine than blo...and blo has in fact been used on many a military stock as the original finish.

Pure tung oil has zero shine. All M1 Garand production was pure tung oil and they have no shine. Don't confuse commercial tung oil finish with pure tung, not the same thing. There are photos of China Nut trees behind fences with signs on them No Trespassing War Production in the various books written about the M1.

BLO on the other hand is made from flax seed and it does indeed have a lot of shine when dry.

I have two M1's in my collection that are Marine Corp turn ins and some of the BLO has flaked off exposing the original Tung oil finish.

Tung oil as well as being water proof, is also poison which makes it mildew resistant. Have you ever seen a warped M1 stock? That is because the tung oil is water proof.

An excellent stock finish is Minwax Wipe-On Poly ( oil based version). It applies easily and is self leveling. Dry time is about 4 hrs. The cured film is water proof and very hard compared to typical drying oil finishes. For bare wood, it works well using the sanded -in method http://www.woodworking.org/WC/GArchive99/1_20waltcunfin.html

For previously finished wood, remove the existing surface film and apply it directly.

RAN

There is no evidence that there is a whit of difference between BLO and tung oil. None. They have the same waterproofing qualities, which is nil. Any difference between the two in appearance of the final finish is in the mind of the beholder. Varnish makers today routinely switch from one to the other when mixing their formulas, depending on price and availability.

The Arsenals used hot oil baths to submerge stocks in, true. But they interchanged linseed oil and tung oil at will, whichever was available/cheapest at any given time. (Although linseed oil was the specific oil called for in their manufacturing protocols.) Ditto the major gun companies, although few of them bothered to heat the oil baths- it was all about meeting a certain price point for economic survival.

Why did the Arsenals use oil finishes on gun stocks? Because it was the cheapest finish possible, not because it was the best possible finish. What did the Army care if a stock got ruined? They would simply discard it and throw another one on the gun.

It's amazing the amount of folklore and number of old wive's tales that has sprung up about the two oils over the decades. Most of the mis-information being a result of gunsmiths and backyard Bubbas not having access to reliable data and/or were flying by the seat of their pants- and further propagated by legions of devoted offspring and admiring followers who took their Pappy's word as gospel without investigating for themselves. But such is how folklore and old wive's tales in general come about.

Guessing you won't be impressed with me occasionally wiping a wee bit of cold pressed linseed oil over my stocks and wiping off the excess.

But then I do have some 60 litres of the stuff in a drum in my garden shed, once a year I also dunk my wood handled garden tools into it as well.

And if I had tung oil I would happily use it...probably a good thing I don't have a drum of sump oil handy though.

Ha ha. Actually, I keep BLO and tung oil around in my shop too, for touch up purposes. After all, I have a fair number of Springfields, old Winchesters, Savages, etc. that were originally finished with it and I'm not about to change them up and reduce their originality. That's not to say I reach for it when embarking on a re-finish or new finish on a fresh project.

Far and away more important to me are the cans of good paste wax I keep around too. A straight-oil finished stock is incomplete without that modicum of protection guaranteed by a top coat of wax.

M1 production started with raw linseed oil, but was deemed unsatisfactory because it smoked when the barrel heated up.
Pure tung was used through out M1 production because it was water proof and when heated it totally penetrated the wood.

BLO was never used on M1 stocks during the total production run.

Virtually 100% incorrect...

BLO and tug have virtually identical characteristics... tung was/is cheaper because it has no food value because many people are allergic to it.

It absolutely is not close to waterproof and in point of fact wood finished with either BLO or tung will absorb water faster than bare wood.

Your final sentence contradicts your first sentence...

I have zero issue with what anybody wants to do with their own kit. I only get into it when folks encourage others to do foolish things!

And, importantly, cold-pressed linseed is an entirely different animal from BLO, which is now the lowest grade of oil and has all kinds of additives including both driers and drying inhibitors... one to make it actually cure and the other to extend shelflife.

Tung and BLO are completely indistinguishable as finish and as gnoahhh pointed out are used interchangeably in the finishing industry. Tung does not have any more or less shine than BLO.

BLO was the finish of choice for virtually all military stocks, but lots of tung has been used...

Bob
BLO is just low-grade oil with additives that make it junk and very easy to come by. Extremely good oil is also easy to find and it is just oil. adding driers to it as needed makes it perform better, as long as it is fresh.

Most modern finishes are still oil-based... epoxies, catalyzed lacquers, CA, and others are actually waterproof, but oil is easier to apply and looks very good. It still has a place...

Ed
Probably an oil finish, not a BLO finish. I would suggest spot-finishing the blemish with oil and being more careful with the Wipe Out next time!

If it actually is a BLO finish it will be very dull. You can get good oil (better paint and art stores should carry it) and add extra driers to a small portion and rub it into the stock. Allow it to cure well and repeat a couple times. That should cure the oil down in the wood a ways and allow more to be added to the top.

If you want more protection you could get a tiny container of oil based varnish and cut it with pure oil. Apply heavily, let stand 10-15 minutes and wipe DRY. Repeat that a number of times and each additional coat will add durability, shine, waterproofing, and luster.

Formby's Furniture Refinisher can be used first around the blemish if needed to blend the spot.
art

When I feel the need for a hardener I just use terabin, it contains lead though.