Boiled Linseed Oil

[Fish]

My brother was telling me this can be used as the finish. I've never tried it, how do you do it and does it come out nice? Do you put anything else on after it? Does it stink? Polyurethane gives me a headache after awhile.

[Dan]

BLO done not have a bad or strong smell. It does bring out the grain and may darken the wood some. How dark depends on the wood. You can apply other finishes over the top of it. It will take several days or even a week to dry. You can thin it with mineral spirits.

[rrjwright]

I  use  a  mixture of 50/50   BLO  and  Mineral spirits.   It  does  make the grain pop.

 

Jim. . .

[oldhudson]

_{I use BLO quite a bit I think it adds to the beauty of the wood. (Espcially cherry, walnut but not so much with birch or maple.) However it doesn't offer much protection to a project.  I used it on the cherry pieces in the Wooden Gear Clock thread here}

_{http://www.scrollsawvillage.com/topic/7800-wooden-gear-clock/page-2     you can see pictures before and after I applied the BLO.}

 

_{I think the oder is quite strong and it takes a while to be absorbed into the wood or flash off.  I use it stright out of the can, but it can be thinned with mineral spirits. I apply it with a rag or brush and then wipe off any excess very quickly with a clean cotton rag. If I put a top coat on, I let it dry 2 weeks first.}

 

_{Be very careful with your used rags as the can spontainiously combust. I lay mine out flat on the garage floor for a couple of days before disposal.}

 

 

[LarryEA]

All the answers above are true. And as oldhudson said, not much protection.

I saw these directions somewhere:

Apply BLO Once a day for a week, once a week for a year, once a year forever.

 

My opinion is that not all projects warrent BLO or Lemon oil.

Try Lacquer sometimes also...but breathing lacquer fumes ain't good for you.

 

Larry

[Fish]

Thanks for the input, I am going to try it.

[amazingkevin]

i'm very interested in tr ing staining projects but the ones i did made a mess on me no matter how careful i was.

[tvman44]

I  use  a  mixture of 50/50   BLO  and  Mineral spirits.   It  does  make the grain pop.

 

Jim. . .

By make the grain pop, do you mean "looks" or raised the grain?

[rrjwright]

By make the grain pop, do you mean "looks" or raised the grain?

No...   It  just  really  enhances  the  grain of some woods....