Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Question for the wood workers...

Linseed oil has not been boiled to help it cure ever since we discovered the ancient Japanese secret of heavy metal catalysts. There are LOTS of disadvantages to boiling oil to make it cure.

Food store oil is just fine and relatively high grade.

Well, he is either entirely FOS or there was a communication gap somewhere.

http://www.kleanstrip.com/uploads/documents/KS_Boiled_Linseed_Oil_MSDS.pdf

From the MSDS:
CAS # Hazardous Components (Chemical Name)
3. COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
Concentration
68553-15-1 Linseed oil, cobalt manganese salt {Linseed oil,
manganese and cobalt driers}
100.0 %

Alkyd resins have replaced a lot of linseed oil use, but not in BLO.

Some of the linseed in Tru-Oil and Linspeed is the polymerized type like the stand oil I mentioned. Either oxygenated or cooked or whatever. Alkyds can be added to Linseed to speed the polymerization process. my favorite finishes are a mix of Poly, Alkyd and Oil. I like a little bit of yellowing, the poly adds durability, the alkyd hardness and the oil ease of application and traditional look.

I think all the previous comments were about Tung Oil finish which may not have any Tung Oil whatsoever in it.

The OP is pleased so I will not beat this horse anymore.

Yep, bottom line is if the customer is happy that's all that matters.

One of my earliest experiences in the antique car restoration game was helping my Gramps in his shop where he specialized in turn of the century steam automobiles. One day, 50+ years ago he put me to work on the lathe making walnut handles for use on an 1898 Malden, to a drawing he sketched. The next day he had me standing over a sauce pan of linseed oil on low heat from a hot plate all day, ebonizing those walnut handles. When dried and polished on a muslin wheel they were very black and very elegant looking.

(That car resides in a transportation museum in Istanbul now. Google "1898 Malden steam car" and it'll turn up front and center in "images"- the red horseless carriage.)

Cool

No worries for going off the rails guys...I’m always open to learning. It seems Sitka also found that Klean strip is linseed and metallic driers...which the company confirmed over the phone.

Keep in mind this is only being used as a maintainer coat over the tru-oil. My goal is and has always been reasonable performance and top flight appearance. I’ve been extremely happy with tru-oil in the past...just happy this worked out!

Hardly just found that info. That has been fact for many decades. BLO is unlikely to fully cure...

No offense intended.

How about hemp oil? Every ache and pain commercial seems to tout hemp oil these days. Remembering it was a drying oil I Googled it for fun. Sure enough, it's being sold as a wood finish. Anybody tried it? The woke substitute for safflower oil?

Many oils are or have been used for finish over the years. Walnut oil was considered "the" salad bowl finish by many about 25 years ago. The best choices are usually edible, so it makes it tough to get the best of them for finish.

If you have to use a natural drying oil, at least use a good one. Tung oil is superior to linseed in every respect. Especially in the moisture resistance dept. The 50% polymerized formulation is better than the regular oil. Here is one source: https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/supplies/finishing/finishes/20050-polymerized-tung-oil Another: http://sutherlandwelles.com/instructions/PTO/GunStocks-PTO.pdf

RAN

Sorry, in use there is absolutely zero difference between tung and linseed oils. They use them interchangeably in the industry and tung oil finishes often have no tung in them at all. No oil finish is truly waterproof.

You need to do a bit of research: https://www.canadianwoodworking.com/get-more/tung-oil-debunking-myths

RAN

This.
Tung is a better oil to use than BLO.

Sorry, but the article posted is ridiculous. She does not even understand enough to cherry pick her facts.

BLO is useless for quality work of any kind. Understanding that BLO is just referring to hardware store grade stuff labeled as such. Linseed oil and tung are equals when they are the same grade oil. When dry they both absorb atmospheric water faster than bare wood.

I mixed my message in my last post...

Gotta differ a little. If you get real tung oil it polymerizes not quite as glossy as good BLO. Also polymerizes a little faster, but not enough to matter.

Both statements are incorrect. Realize too that BLO is a general term for a wide range of products and there are too many variables to make absolute statements like that. Though even general truths do not apply to that.

Linseed oil and tung oil are interchangeable in their pure forms, period.

Gee, I don't know, that's what Newell and I think Dunlap said. So I got some artist quality and did test boards, And that;s what I got. The books said that tung was marginally more water resistant but I didn't test that. In ny case if water resistance was an issue drying oil of any sort would be my second to last choice.

Please, wax on...

Arguments to authority are weak, especially when you look at how rigorous the study was.

Would be happy to entertain your arguments, especially if you provided pictures...