Raw flax seed oil on guns?

[MD]

my health minded daughter is visiting with her family and bought an expensive bottle of raw flax seed oil but it tastes like cod liver and nobody will take it.

Can I put it on gun stocks or should I boil it first?

Or fence posts?

 

[Levi Garrett]

Stick to tru oil, I would eat the flax, better use of

 

[krausb]

Flax seed oil will go rancid in time... not sure if boiling it would stabilize it or not, but it can't hurt to try I guess.

 

[junkman]

I would not use it on your guns boiled or raw. You may end up with a mould problem.............

 

[dogzilla]

It does go rancid and you would probably end up with a stink problem ( would you rub sardine oil on a gun stock)

 

[Suputin]

Wikipedia is your friend:

Linseed oil, also known as "flax seed oil" is a clear to yellowish drying oil obtained from the dried ripe seeds of the flax plant (Linum usitatissimum, Linaceae) by cold pressing, followed by an optional stage of solvent extraction.
Linseed oil contains the triglycerides of five unsaturated fatty acids, palmitic acid (about 7%), stearic acid (3.4-4.6%), oleic acid (18.5-22.6%), linoleic acid (14.2-17%) and the omega-3 fatty acid α-linolenic acid (51.9-55.2%).[1]
In common with other polyunsaturated drying oils, linseed oil oxidises when exposed to air, undergoing polymerization reactions which convert a liquid layer to a solid film. Consequently, linseed oil is used on its own or blended with other drying oils, resins and solvents as an impregnator and varnish in wood finishing, as a pigment binder in oil paints, as a plasticizer and hardener in putty and in the manufacture of linoleum. The polymerization reaction is exothermic, and can cause a large, compact mass of rags soaked in linseed oil to ignite spontaneously.
Linseed oil is an edible oil, but because of its strong flavor and odor is only a minor constituent of human nutrition, although it is marketed as a nutritional supplement.

 

[2fat2fly]

Be carful what you do with rags that have tripple distilled linseed oil on them, they spontaniously combust. I've heard it can happen with other oils, but I have seen it first hand with linseed oil.

 

[the wrench]

try using it on fence posts, like you said. You may want to boil it first.I can't think of any other good/safe uses for it.

 

[grouch]

It was used on riflestocks for a very long time, has suffered a lot of bad press that it probably doesn't deserve. I have at least six rifles with raw linseed oil finished stocks and have used them for forty years or so.The bad news is that they sweat in the sun for the first four or five years and being a saturation system it adds weight. The good part is that it doesn't appear to allow much instability in changing humidity, and is easily renewed. If you take the rifle out for a long time in very wet conditions, the surface finish may be damaged but the oil is still in the wood and the stock seems to stay stable. That's why the military has used it for a couple hundred years. It may be that there are more modern finishes that are easier to apply and may be as good or better, but raw linseed oil is far from useless.
Grouch

 

[Tumbleweed]

It's great for horses that have got into the chop granary...pour it down their throats with a long necked bottle, and they'll s**t a streak 40' long. I've seen that first hand!

 

[sunray]

Raw linseed oil is a laxative for cows.

 

[tjhaile]

It was used on riflestocks for a very long time, has suffered a lot of bad press that it probably doesn't deserve. I have at least six rifles with raw linseed oil finished stocks and have used them for forty years or so.The bad news is that they sweat in the sun for the first four or five years and being a saturation system it adds weight. The good part is that it doesn't appear to allow much instability in changing humidity, and is easily renewed. If you take the rifle out for a long time in very wet conditions, the surface finish may be damaged but the oil is still in the wood and the stock seems to stay stable. That's why the military has used it for a couple hundred years. It may be that there are more modern finishes that are easier to apply and may be as good or better, but raw linseed oil is far from useless.
Grouch

Boiled linseed oil is the right kind for gunstock finishing. It dries quickly and does not sweat in heat.

 

[Can-down]

Try it on some mashed potatoes, pasta or rice.....a little goes a long way.

 

[Calum]

It does go rancid and you would probably end up with a stink problem ( would you rub sardine oil on a gun stock)

Perhaps if it was a Carcano rifle...

 

[corney]

As a kid I sat in the back of a grain truck eating handfuls and it tastes great.

It will keep you regular and then some

 

[marshall]

Flax seed oil will go rancid in time... not sure if boiling it would stabilize it or not, but it can't hurt to try I guess.

You can't fix your linseed oil problem buy boiling it.
the factory boilded or double boiled ( which is what you should use)
has driers and hardners in it .
I would think that if you tried to boil some ,you would have a mess
and a fire?

 

[got to go]

my health minded daughter is visiting with her family and bought an expensive bottle of raw flax seed oil but it tastes like cod liver and nobody will take it.

Can I put it on gun stocks or should I boil it first?

Or fence posts?

Sounds like my daughter I would give it back to her. Maybe she'll learn from it. But, like my daughter, I doubt it