BLO question

[Richard Golde]

I just completed a small bowl of dried butternut that had a great pattern of insect holes. The wood was a little darker than green butternut. I hear you guys talk that BLO really makes the grain pop so I decided to try it. It did bring out the grain but the end grain really soaked it in and darkened it to the color of walnut. It did not look nice. Is it typical for BLO to darken the wood to that extent. The BLO I had has been around for a couple of years but did not appear to be darkened from age. Any ideas?

[Dennis Ford]

BLO will darken the wood and the effect is increased on end grain, especially on wood with open pores like butternut.

[John Keeton]

Richard, the endgrain will lighten a little over a few days. And, you could resand the endgrain at this point, as well. That will relieve some of the darkening.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ditto what John said. It will lighten but only slight is my experience. The end grain unless you sand it will remain fairly dark.

[Jeff Nicol]

Richard, On the butternut, the wood is pretty soft and the end grain will compress if not cut cleanly or be bent over during turning. Either it needs to be sanded out like John said or a sharper tool for the last few cuts. If you feel like it or have the time stop over and I can give you some pointers on how to remedy the issue. I have turned tons of the same wormy wood.

Jeff