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

[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?