Linseed Oil All Created Equal?

BCrecce said:
"Safety tip: dispose of all rags used with linseed or tung oil in a sealed container to avoid spontaneous combustion."

This....not a cardboard box or inside. I like to throw em in the gravel and hose them down and leave them outside when Im done. Heard too many stories of houses burning down beacause the cabinet guy left his rag at the jobsite.
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I learned about this in highschool woodworking, but had never seen it in person until this summer. We were sitting down to dinner, and my father came in saying that our backyard neighbour's BBQ was on fire. I grabbed a fire extinguisher from the garage, jumped over the fence, and saw that their plastic organics recycling bin was fully ablaze. It turned out they'd been staining their fence and throwing the rags in the bin. They were lucky that the side of the house was stucco, although the door frame got a got a good scorching:

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some people just don't read labels, I spread rags or paper towels on the ground out side, or toss in pail of water and when done, lay out flat, when dry, they are safe.
We use to use pure raw linseed oil on cows, I have eaten a lot of flax while combining , but the BLO you don't want to do that.
I like Tung oil better ,( for finishes) I found you don't want to buy too much at a time as the self life is not long on it. a few months at most when opened.
And as others have said, rub on thin, I usually use a foam brush, almost dry and rub in by hand. quite a few coats, When I was doing a lot of FN's 10 12 coats.
If I was using on turnings , maybe 3 or 4 was fine, as those where not handled , I like it to darken most woods a bit , never really cared for water based finishes, look cold, flat.
Don't use it on old rosewood as in Stanley planes and tools as it can turn it almost black, depending on the grain, pores.
 
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woodchopper said:
well to be honest I just use the hardware store BLO for all my wood stocks

thin layers, hand rubbed in over time
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Yup, so do I but to make the penetration work faster, I thin down the BLO with acetone before application 50/50 and often 70 parts acetone to 30 parts BLO, sometimes, even thinner.
 
I am sure I would never make any money doing my way for others, but I did do up a NOS beech wood set for a Lee Enfield No. 4 - pieces were wrapped in brown waxed paper - never had had any finish applied - I mixed up about 50/50 Raw Linseed Oil and Turpentine - soaked them for about a week - rubbed off with terry towel when I removed from soaker - hung over night in garage - pretty much dry to the touch the next day, after really hard rubbing to remove the wet excess. Also did a WWII M1917 re-build stock set - stripped with Circa 1850, then 50/50 Red Mahogany MinWax stain plus Home Hardware Boiled Linseed Oil - painted on liberally with bristle brush - let sit a few minutes, then again rubbed very hard with terry bath towel to remove wetness - allowed to dry overnight - repeated with just the BLO once the colours looked about matching - trick seems to be microscopic thin coats of BLO - rub off excess with terry towel - only a few drops for entire stock in later coats - rubbed hard with fingers and palm of hand - does not seem to want to dry, or get hard, if left very thick at all. After 4 or 5 years, the No. 4 beech stocks are pleasantly darker than I recall that they were when I assembled that rifle. I think the linseed oil continues to oxidize with the air, gets darker, forever ...
 
No, they are not. You can get many, different oils. Artisan grade linseed oil is typically purified. I prefer that over the raw linseed oil and I'm staying away from BLO. I want penetration with the oil, thus quick drying is opposite from what I need. Best of all is however 100%, pure tung oil.
 
There is no more shine with tung oil vs Linseed that I have ever noticed and alot better protection.
Maybe it's the yellowing that linseed does that you prefer...you don't get that with tung I agree.
 
Painkillers said:
https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/supplies/finishing/finishes/20050-polymerized-tung-oil

Tung oil leaves a "High Luster" finish.
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No it doesn't - at least no more so than linseed oil. If you polish them, both oil finishes will start to shine, especially if you build up the surface.
The polymerized stuff that you linked to will build up a shine easier, as the polymer sits on the surface much like a varnish.

For all intents and purposes linseed and tung are interchangeable, and in some cases a rifle would start with linseed from the factory, and be treated in-country with tung or vice versa.
 
Yup 100% tung oil not that polymerized stuff. It's more expensive but for good reasons. Check out my Instagram page to see what kind of finish 100% pure tung oil gives, I use it on my carved bowls, charcuterie boards and even table tops.
Chesterfieldfox is my IG page.
 
beltfed said:
No it doesn't - at least no more so than linseed oil. If you polish them, both oil finishes will start to shine, especially if you build up the surface.
The polymerized stuff that you linked to will build up a shine easier, as the polymer sits on the surface much like a varnish.

For all intents and purposes linseed and tung are interchangeable, and in some cases a rifle would start with linseed from the factory, and be treated in-country with tung or vice versa.
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Cteve said:
Yup 100% tung oil not that polymerized stuff. It's more expensive but for good reasons. Check out my Instagram page to see what kind of finish 100% pure tung oil gives, I use it on my carved bowls, charcuterie boards and even table tops.
Chesterfieldfox is my IG page.
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I don't know what either of you guys are talking about. Both Linseed and Tung are polymerized vegetable base oils. The main difference between the two are the finish. Tung oil is high luster (as per the advertisement I linked :sok2), linseed is not.

Another link...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_oil
 
Tung oil with a drying agent will produce a glossier finish than will pure tung oil (PTO). I've used both, and both have their applications. I use PTO to refresh an existing finish on a military stock. I've also used it and Minwax Tung Oil Finish (with a drying agent) to finish new stocks.
 
I would never use what you posted for anything except maybe some furniture (probably not)personally, but I'm not about to start arguing with someone online about wood finishing. Use whatever you feel works best for you, they will all work and the deer won't care, the elements....that's another story. 100% TUNG for the win in my experience!
 
This is good information for me. I learned something new about Tung Oil.

I'm going out tomorrow and look for Pure Tung Oil.

I've seen the finishes on plenty of Purple's builds and they definitely are not shiney.
 
Painkillers said:
I don't know what either of you guys are talking about. Both Linseed and Tung are polymerized vegetable base oils. The main difference between the two are the finish. Tung oil is high luster (as per the advertisement I linked :sok2), linseed is not.

Another link...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_oil
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The product you linked isn't 100% pure tung oil, it's polymerized.

This is the stuff we're referencing. https://rustydesign.ca/products/100-pure-tung-oil?_pos=1&_sid=d96ef30e3&_ss=r
 
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