Been reading up on few stock maker books, and a common finish schedule was to use some sort of varnish to seal and fill the grain, then finish with several coats of BLO rubbed in.
Armor-all as in a car detailing product? Never heard of that and not sure that I would want to use a silicone based product on wood. I build custom furniture as a side gig and use a lot of different finishes. Always tell the customers not to use silicone products on the furniture I build. Now back in the old Army days when we waxed and buffed the floors, a trick was to use armor-all with the last buffing pass to produce a higher, longer lasting shine, but that was on linoleum floors.
Need to get the details straight first... BLO is simply very low-grade linseed and/or tung oil with a bunch of driers and drying inhibitors. It has no place in stock finishing, period.
What the way-back old timers used was linseed oil which had been boiled so it would cure. Then Japan drier, a heavy-metal catalyst, was discovered and it was added to linseed oil and rubbed in carefully. Fresh oil is far more reliable and as it ages it starts to thicken and gel requiring more pressure and effort to use. Japan drier is no longer a heavy metal compound catalyst.
