Made a stitching awl and... ruined it with linseed oil

[DrmCa]

Made an awl from a patio umbrella shaft and a 1/4" mini chuck from the eBay, and coated it with Recochem boiled linseed oil.

It said on the label to let dry for 8 hours, and from my past experience I knew it took about that long for boiled linseed oil to dry up.

But this does not dry up at all. It is still sticky after several weeks in sunlight at a room temperature. I can imagine someone's horror and frustration if they coated their home reno project or furniture with this. Oh boy!

[OLDNSLOW]

I know a fella out here in TN that uses it on custom pool cues and it does not react like that at all that I am aware of, but it could be the type of wood, or a different type of oil, I don't really know anything about the oil and a little bit more about wood, did you try and wet sand it with some 1000 grit to see what it would do?

[Northmount]

Wipe it down with a solvent such as varsol or other paint thinner for oil based paints.  Might have to do that 2 or 3 times to remove the sticky partially set BLO.

Tom

[Matt S]

Sounds more like raw linseed than boiled. Perhaps it was mislabelled? As Northmount says wipe it down with a solvent. Turpentine works best for linseed but most petrochem solvents should work.

[electrathon]

4 hours ago, Matt S said:

Sounds more like raw linseed than boiled. Perhaps it was mislabelled? As Northmount says wipe it down with a solvent. Turpentine works best for linseed but most petrochem solvents should work.

I agree with this.  It sounds like raw, not boiled.  If it is, it will remain sticky.  Do your best to remove it.

[DrmCa]

It was labeled, smelled and felt like boiled to me. Recochem are either crooks, or totally incompetent. Unfortunately this is typical for everything for DIY sold in Canada: they want you to waste time and money, end up ruining the project and having to call a contractor.

If I will use any solvent, the cost will be more than making a brand new one and coating it properly.

[brmax]

Im positive you need to use a thinner to remove it as much as possible. It will list a type on your can, your linseed oil purchased. Boiled or raw takes and extremely long time to dry out. If it does so quickly it does indeed have a blending solvent and other things to speed the dry process.

Its a bit tougher finding raw linseed oil as its not as clean, thus pro painters would avoid. They used linseed oil, like boiled for mixing in oil based paints for smoothing, especially in hi heat situations. 

It has been commonly used in older window glazing compounds, it helps in several ways some are: wood conditioning, hi temps/drying to fast, some adhesion and finally some sealing abilities. The sealing is ancient old and now has many many better blends. 

I above mentioned blends above as linseed is still used in mixes but it needs its best placed application. 

As you may know other extremely old names have there uses; lacquer, tung oil, varnishes. 

With the present application I would now /still use a solvent base finish. This after the thining/removal as much as possible and thorough drying.

I will say it has been a go to for me. I used it in applications above as mentioned with great success additions of applying to new and some older low-boy excavation equipment trailer decks. On these trailers i used turpintine for thinner, it is an outside use thinner for sure.

Good day

Floyd

ps: you could try some spray lacquer in the wood worker section. 

Edited April 12, 2018 by brmax

[Matt S]

 

1 hour ago, DrmCa said:

It was labeled, smelled and felt like boiled to me. Recochem are either crooks, or totally incompetent. Unfortunately this is typical for everything for DIY sold in Canada: they want you to waste time and money, end up ruining the project and having to call a contractor.

If I will use any solvent, the cost will be more than making a brand new one and coating it properly.

You don't have any sort of solvent on hand already? White spirit works on linseed, though I think you call it mineral spirits or something. It's a cheap petroleum-derived solvent, clear like water but oily in texture and with a very strong, unique smell. 99% of households in the UK have a bottle of it collecting dust in the kitchen, shed or garage for cleaning paintbrushes.

Out of interest how did you apply the linseed? Ten years ago I bought an axe with a bone-dry handle and really slopped the raw oil on. It took a couple months to go off in a warm sunny room but it dried eventually. Nowadays I'm a little less patient. Very dry tool handles get a soaking in thinned raw oil for a day before being wiped down and put in the rack or toolbox. I rub a little raw linseed into the handles whenever I feel like procrastinating. That's the trick with linseed: if you want it to be usable in a short length of time give it a wipe and no more. You're not looking for a 1mm thick coating like it's been dipped in plastic -- in fact you should barely be able to feel it's there at all until you've put a half dozen coats on, each drying completely before putting on the next.

The other factor to consider is what effect does the wood have? Perhaps it's a naturally very oily wood which won't absorb any more oil?

I know it's not to everyone's taste but I don't feel like all tool handles need a finish. I have dozens of awls, edge shaves, files and knives which have never had any sort of oil, paint or varnish added to them and they all work fine. Over time they get naturally polished with use.

[brmax]

Just a bit of positive information for you. Refined linseed oil has been and still is used on wood and custom wood gunstocks. I.e. ( lin-speed) It is a slow dry product with thin coats, easily estimate a 2 week period. 

Another very important infrastructure aspect with linseed oil. The product has been known throughout my career and even now in my retirement linseed oil has been used extensively in transportation.  In this, areas or regions that may use salt, and other liquid ice treatments like calcium and or beet juice. In this situation linseed oil has been used for sealing certain, more expensive parts of roads like bridge road surfaces. This includes general raised roadways and or over passes. This application is a pre autum or frost “ maintenance “ investment. 

Something a bit closer to home for ya is my freinds in the great north (Canada ) are the world largest producer of flax / linseed, this amount is double of the next largest producer. 

 

Good day there

Floyd

[DrmCa]

No need to go full Morgan Freeman on me, thanks, I'll make a new one anyway.

Stay away from Recochem BLO , unless this is just an isolated incident with a bad batch, but I don't care anymore. BLO is not something you can generally get wrong - you either boil it, or you don't, there is no middle ground. Chiao!

[rodneywt1180b]

If the wood is an oily tropical it won't take a finish well.  OTOH oily tropicals don't really need a finish.  Just polish it up. 

A little gasoline might take the oil off without needing to buy any solvents.

I use tung oil all the time.  To get it off my hands while it's still tacky I use cooking oil and dish detergent (Dawn).  Since it's not set up that might work too. 

 

[zuludog]

You can see that one of my hobbies is knife making; in fact I learned leatherwork in order to make the sheaths

I used to treat the handles with linseed oil, and though I never had problems with it being sticky, I thought it left them dull & matt

Now I use Danish Oil. That's lighter and leaves a finer finish. Just clean off the linseed oil and follow the directions on the can

[Northmount]

1 hour ago, DrmCa said:

BLO is not something you can generally get wrong - you either boil it, or you don't

It is never boiled.  It is treated with additional chemicals including drying agents that help it dry faster.  Many of the same driers as used in oil based paints.  Boiled Linseed Oil is really a misnomer.

Tom

[DrmCa]

That explains my confusion then. Where I am from, linseed oil is literally brought to a boiling point and kept that for many hours or even days if it had high moisture content, then had manganese peroxide added, cooled and sold as BLO. And that stuff dries up after 8 hours. I literally used drums of that staff and painted square miles with it in pure form, and with oil based paints thinned with that BLO. If back then it was like you are describing, everyone would be in a severe state of shock, as everyone knew BLO dried up and solidified by the night fall if you painted in the morning. It did not have to be exactly linseed, but that was the most common ingredient, others being flax, sunflower and other oils.

This bottle was the very first one I bought in North America, and without knowing that BLO is not really BLO, I assumed that the label was telling the truth where it said "let dry for 8 hours". It is going to be the last one as well, as I am going to order stuff overseas where they know what they are doing.

[Northmount]

What I was taught many years ago is not quite true!  It is a combination of raw and heated oil. Just looked it up in Wikipedia to refresh my memory.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linseed_oil

Quoted ........................................

Stand oil

Stand oil is generated by heating linseed oil near 300 °C for a few days in the complete absence of air. Under these conditions, the polyunsaturated fatty esters convert to conjugated dienes, which then undergo Diels-Alder reactions, leading to crosslinking. The product, which is highly viscous, gives highly uniform coatings that "dry" to more elastic coatings than linseed oil itself. Soybean oil can be treated similarly, but converts more slowly. On the other hand, tung oil converts very quickly, being complete in minutes at 260 °C. Coatings prepared from stand oils are less prone to yellowing than are coatings derived from the parent oils.^[19]

Boiled linseed oil

Boiled linseed oil is a combination of raw linseed oil, stand oil (see above), and metallic dryers (catalysts to accelerate drying).^[19] In the Medieval era, linseed oil was boiled with lead oxide (litharge) to give a product called boiled linseed oil.^{[20][page needed]} The lead oxide forms lead "soaps" (lead oxide is alkaline) which promotes hardening (polymerisation) of linseed oil by reaction with atmospheric oxygen. Heating shortens its drying time.

End Quote .............................................

Tom

[rodneywt1180b]

Looking at the wood it's very dark, like many of the oilier tropical woods.  Try your oil on a different type of wood.  If it's still a sticky mess it's the oil.  If not then it's a reaction between the oil and the wood.  If it's the wood a thorough cleaning with lacquer thinner or acetone will strip the oils off the surface of the wood and the linseed oil will be able to stick to it.

 

[Fowlingpiece]

Sounds like it was applied too thick.

Take some fine steel wool or a piece of canvas and dip it in the oil, go over the handle vigorously, take a paper towel and vigorously wipe off all of the oil and then buff with a dry cloth.

[mike02130]

If BLO is put on too thick or not wiped off soon enough it has a tendency to not dry and be sticky.  It will eventually dry but will have a rough texture.  It is best to thin it down and apply two coats and wipe it down immediately.  I use my bare hand to rub it in.  I'm of the belief that the heat from the friction opens the pores of the wood allowing deeper penetration.   Rub on rub off and it is ready to use.  There is no need to let it dry like a paint or varnish.  Try it out and let us know if it works or not.  Just a thought, if it is too thick it may polymerize from the outside in, thus cutting off the oxygen to the inside.  

[olfart]

I use BLO cut 50/50 with mineral spirits for gunstock finish, and it dries in just a few hours.  After several coats it makes a beautiful hard finish.

[DrmCa]

18 hours ago, olfart said:

I use BLO cut 50/50 with mineral spirits for gunstock finish, and it dries in just a few hours.  After several coats it makes a beautiful hard finish.

Do you mind sharing the brand that you use?

[garypl]

On 4/12/2018 at 4:20 PM, zuludog said:

You can see that one of my hobbies is knife making; in fact I learned leatherwork in order to make the sheaths

I used to treat the handles with linseed oil, and though I never had problems with it being sticky, I thought it left them dull & matt

Now I use Danish Oil. That's lighter and leaves a finer finish. Just clean off the linseed oil and follow the directions on the can

I also have used Danish oil for years because it is easy to use, provides a nice smooth finish, and is very easy to repair or touch up.  I apply oil liberally and let it soak into the wood.  Then I wet sand starting with 200 grit wet/dry paper and moving up to 400 grit and then 600 grit to finish.  The sanding dust mixes with the oil to create a slurry that fills the wood pores.  You can make a glass like finish (and after curing is also food safe.)

Gary

[zuludog]

I watched an American TV series this morning, ( shown on a British channel ) called 'History in the Making' which features traditional crafts & industries

It showed someone repairing & renovating an M1 Garrand rifle, taking it right back to the components and rebuilding it. They stated that when it was first introduced the wooden parts were treated with linseed oil, but it was found that when the rifles were used in hot countries, or when the rifle became heated through firing a large number of rounds, the linseed oil became sticky and attracted dirt & dust. So from 1943 onwards it was treated with Tung Oil

[Fowlingpiece]

45 minutes ago, zuludog said:

I watched an American TV series this morning, ( shown on a British channel ) called 'History in the Making' which features traditional crafts & industries

It showed someone repairing & renovating an M1 Garrand rifle, taking it right back to the components and rebuilding it. They stated that when it was first introduced the wooden parts were treated with linseed oil, but it was found that when the rifles were used in hot countries, or when the rifle became heated through firing a large number of rounds, the linseed oil became sticky and attracted dirt & dust. So from 1943 onwards it was treated with Tung Oil

They just dipped those stocks in raw linseed IIRC. A linseed varnish made by cooking  with the addition of leaded dryers is more of a finish but not like a modern finish. A raw  linseed dip was more for shovels, picks and hoes etc 

[olfart]

On 4/29/2018 at 10:34 AM, DrmCa said:

Do you mind sharing the brand that you use?

I have a pint of Sunnyside BLO that I picked up at the hardware store a few years ago.  It doesn't take much.  The mineral spirits are Klean Strip brand that I got at Wal-Mart.  I usually use about 1/2 teaspoon of each in a small bowl, stir it with a finger and apply it with my hands.  Rub until it feels almost dry and do it again.  After a couple of coats I let it dry overnight and repeat.

[dikman]

I experimented a bit with BLO but didn't really like it. I had to re-finish the stock on one of my muzzleloaders as the previous owner had varnished it (yuk!). I stripped it back and then used a tung oil-based burnishing oil. This stuff is thin and you have to apply several coats, hand rubbing in between like garypl said. It dries fairly quickly, though, and you can get a finish like glass!