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Boiled Linseed Oil vs Tru Oil
- Thread starter FishDFly
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You can get as many opinions on this as pepples on a beach. I can only express my experience so here it goes. I have used all natural boiled linseed oil. I will never do it again. It took forever to dry, I am not sure it ever does dry. I do use Tru-Oil and I also use Formby's Tung Oil. I like them both. I get good finishes from them and they dry in a very timely manner. They are also easy to touch up if needed. Many will say they get too glossy a finish with Tru-Oil, but there is an easy cure for that. I just lightly drag the finish, softly with a clean rag while it is still tacky. With some practice it is easy to get it just right. This is all my experience, your may vary.
If you dont like the gloss of Tru Oil, you can also try Birchwood Casey Stock Sheen. It is some sort of fine abrasive suspended in a liquid. It rubs the Tru Oil out to a nice satin finish. I have used it on my last two finishes and I like the results a lot.
Scott.
Scott.
cowpoke1955
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When I built my GPR I used boiled linseed oil. 8 coats and rubbed down with 0000 steel wool in between. It gave me a nice, soft finish. Just might try Tru Oil next time :hmm: . I feel when you build a gun, it's a personal thing. You do what pleases you. Dark stain, light stain, no stain, Tru Oil or linseed oil. Try it out on some scrap pieces of wood. Either way you go it's going to be the most beautiful rifle, because it's yours :thumbsup: .
Thanks to all for the information.
I have some very old boiled lin seed oil, 40 years old or so, that I inherited.
I have been wanting to try it, but somewhere it seems that I read about the "slow drying time" or "not drying at all", of pure lin seed oil.
I will stay with Tru Oil, it has treated me right over the years.
Again thanks
RDE
I have some very old boiled lin seed oil, 40 years old or so, that I inherited.
I have been wanting to try it, but somewhere it seems that I read about the "slow drying time" or "not drying at all", of pure lin seed oil.
I will stay with Tru Oil, it has treated me right over the years.
Again thanks
RDE
50cal.cliff
58 Cal.
Will tell you from personal experience boiled linseed oil never truly does dry. I finished a book shelf in in years ago. Finally after several years and lots of complaints from my wife, I stripped it and refinished it! The linseed oil would get all over ever thing that occcupied the shelf for any time. Things would actually get stuck on the shelf after setting for a while. :rotf: :rotf:
Do your self a favor and use tung oil. It dries in 4 - 6 hrs. and can be recoated after a light sanding. :thumbsup:
Do your self a favor and use tung oil. It dries in 4 - 6 hrs. and can be recoated after a light sanding. :thumbsup:
Capt. Jas.
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To get the most you can out of linseed, it needs low humidity and plenty of UV light to "dry".
AeroncaTAL
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I put 12 coats of BLO thinned 50-50 with mineral spirits on my GPR. You can't be in a hurry doing it this way. I just renovated a used .50 cal for my son, and this time I put 4 coats of BLO followed by 2 coats of True Oil. It gave a nice looking finish on the stock, but it just doesn't have the depth in the finish the the BLO gave my Great Plains...
Scott
Scott
Some would say that to get BOL to dry you need to remove more of it after application. I live in a humid climate and still have trouble with it drying.
My favourite mix is 1/3 BOL, 1/3 varnish and 1/3 Metho mix. Shake before use. Apply and wet sand with wet and dry for the first 3 coats, then just rub in and then remove as much as you can when it goes tacky, 24 hours apart, for a satin finish.
For a gloss finish, leave for 1 week and use automotive cut and polish.
My favourite mix is 1/3 BOL, 1/3 varnish and 1/3 Metho mix. Shake before use. Apply and wet sand with wet and dry for the first 3 coats, then just rub in and then remove as much as you can when it goes tacky, 24 hours apart, for a satin finish.
For a gloss finish, leave for 1 week and use automotive cut and polish.
How much penetration or absorption would there be using BLO on hard maple? To somehow improve the BLO by adding other ingredients seems to prompt the question....why not just use an oil varnish, varnish sealer or varnish to begin with? I wonder how much BLO is actually in the wood after the coats are rubbed down w/ steel wool? I've had a disastrous experience w/ a BLO finished LR sitting in an all day rain....one gunky mess. Now only use varnish sealer that truly is absorbed by the maple and yields a more "rain proof" finish.....Fred
Mike Brooks
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I don't like or use either.Richard Eames said:
paulvallandigham
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YOu raise a nice issue. How good is any particular finish at repelling water?
No matter what finish you decide to use, try some out on a scrap of wood, and when it dried, put it under a faucet and run some water over it. If the water pools, or stands, the finish is not repelling the water well enough to keep your stock from swelling. I used to use Linspeed, but found that True Oil is much easier to work with, stretches thinner, and seals well. I have tried tung oil, and linseed oil- both boiled, and natural, and my experience mirrors some of those reported above. I do think that if you use denatured alcohol, or white gas to thin the linseed oil, it helps it dry and gets rid of the " Gummy " problem it otherwise has. Without the dryers, Linseed oil is a major problem in most parts of the country. Its just too humid out here, even if you sit the gun out in direct sunlight for the UV to help cure the stuff, to get a consistent finish using it alone.
No matter what finish you decide to use, try some out on a scrap of wood, and when it dried, put it under a faucet and run some water over it. If the water pools, or stands, the finish is not repelling the water well enough to keep your stock from swelling. I used to use Linspeed, but found that True Oil is much easier to work with, stretches thinner, and seals well. I have tried tung oil, and linseed oil- both boiled, and natural, and my experience mirrors some of those reported above. I do think that if you use denatured alcohol, or white gas to thin the linseed oil, it helps it dry and gets rid of the " Gummy " problem it otherwise has. Without the dryers, Linseed oil is a major problem in most parts of the country. Its just too humid out here, even if you sit the gun out in direct sunlight for the UV to help cure the stuff, to get a consistent finish using it alone.
Guest
paulvallandigham said:
Musical instrument makers like it too.
[url] http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/TruOil.htm[/url]
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The finishI use/described is a mix which is much like the original finishes were I believe the one I use is similar to the one Bivens used and is somewhat based on original finishes I believe except that BLO now and then were two very different things below is an article about the new finish.
[url] http://members.aol.com/illinewek/faqs/oldfinish.htm[/url]
[url] http://members.aol.com/illinewek/faqs/oldfinish.htm[/url]
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Guest
TG,
Your link doesn't work, but I'm sure they could pull it up by searching the archives.
Old BLO varnishes, i.e. boiling raw linseed with rosin and lead carbonate, are something I've been looking into recently. It appears they can be a pain to make. Chuck Burrows (gray wolf) recently told me that when he can't boil up a batch, he's found that the following works well and gives similar results to the old recipe which is common on original rifles.
Tried and True varnish oil:[url] http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=7233[/url] with a bit of liquid heavy metal drier: [url] http://store.studioproducts.com/product.php?productid=16153&cat=252&page=1[/url]
I haven't used it, but I'm planning on trying this on the current project I'm working on. Maybe Chuck will chime in here on this thread.
Sean
Your link doesn't work, but I'm sure they could pull it up by searching the archives.
Old BLO varnishes, i.e. boiling raw linseed with rosin and lead carbonate, are something I've been looking into recently. It appears they can be a pain to make. Chuck Burrows (gray wolf) recently told me that when he can't boil up a batch, he's found that the following works well and gives similar results to the old recipe which is common on original rifles.
Tried and True varnish oil:[url] http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=7233[/url] with a bit of liquid heavy metal drier: [url] http://store.studioproducts.com/product.php?productid=16153&cat=252&page=1[/url]
I haven't used it, but I'm planning on trying this on the current project I'm working on. Maybe Chuck will chime in here on this thread.
Sean
Last edited by a moderator:
Guest
Why and what do you recommend?Mike Brooks said:
Paul,
If you looked at the labels on some of the old Linspeed Oil containers you would see that it was nothing more than a phenolic resin bodied oil-based varnish. Little different than the common hardware store "spar varnish".
Tru-Oil has some japan dryer in it but when I looked at in in thin films in the lab it appeared to have some sort of resin bodying agent added. The thin films on glass were too hard to be simply a boiled oil with japan dryer added.
The problem with store bought boiled oils today is that the oil had been solvent extracted from the seeds rather than being pressed. The chemical extraction pulls a lot of junk out of the seeds that you really don't want in the finished oil.
When I had been boiling oil I found that with the solvent extracted oil I had to do a great amount of skimming of the oil in the pot while cooking in the dryer.
If the oil extraction process brings out a lot of mucilage into the oil it really detracts from the "quality" of the dry oil film on the stock. It can really mess up drying of the oil.
If you looked at the labels on some of the old Linspeed Oil containers you would see that it was nothing more than a phenolic resin bodied oil-based varnish. Little different than the common hardware store "spar varnish".
Tru-Oil has some japan dryer in it but when I looked at in in thin films in the lab it appeared to have some sort of resin bodying agent added. The thin films on glass were too hard to be simply a boiled oil with japan dryer added.
The problem with store bought boiled oils today is that the oil had been solvent extracted from the seeds rather than being pressed. The chemical extraction pulls a lot of junk out of the seeds that you really don't want in the finished oil.
When I had been boiling oil I found that with the solvent extracted oil I had to do a great amount of skimming of the oil in the pot while cooking in the dryer.
If the oil extraction process brings out a lot of mucilage into the oil it really detracts from the "quality" of the dry oil film on the stock. It can really mess up drying of the oil.
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