Walnut Oil VS Boiled Linseed Oil

[Nathan Clark]

I like the idea of using a natural finish, And I also like the Idea of a product that hardens. The two products that come to mind are boiled linsead oil and walnut oil. I tried searching google to compare the two, but I didn't get any relevant results. What are the advantages of each to a woodturner? Any other products I should consider?

[Mel Fulks]

This is a puzzle to to me. I have tested different oils and see no difference in the look,and that includes engine oil.Some dry better than others. Museum conservators are all against linseed application on antiques .Since we all want our work to go on after us ,why is it so often suggested for new work?

[Nathan Clark]

I think I once read that BOL yellows, can go rancid, and is more rubbery than hard. But to be fair that may have been in regards to paint and not as a finish.

[John Keeton]

There are many differences in the color and clarity of various oils. BLO is often used because it has decades of history, and is cheap. It will darken more over time, and is darker from the outset than other oils.

One I have recently acquired, but have not used, is polymerized tung oil. It certainly has promise, and is used a lot by many.

[Jon Nuckles]

From what I have read, linseed oil and tung oil are two of the few oils that will actually harden. Boiled linseed oil is not actually boiled, but contains metallic driers to speed up the cure time. Read carefully when you buy something labeled tung oil; most products labeled tung oil are actually varnish blends and may not contain any tung oil at all.

[Dan Forman]

You can get raw linseed oil from art supply stores that contains no driers. It's a faster drier than walnut oil, and at least as hard, if not harder. Natural tung oil is rather slow to dry, polymerized will dry faster, but has a little solvent in it, at least the stuff from Lee Valley does. It also has a shorter shelf life once opened.

Dan

[Mel Fulks]

I don't say it's not good. Still wondering why conservators are against it . I don't think it has anything to do with the driers. I did hear something years ago about micro analysis showing that in had broken down and been the cause of splotchiness in some fine antiques. But I got that info from friend of one of the principals,not directly. Can't find anything on line about why they don't like it .Only the warnings.

[Jon Lanier]

What is a natural look? To me natural means left raw as in nature. I assume you mean a 'softer' look? Because there are many different finishes with varying degree of soft to shiny.

[robert baccus]

I had the pleasure of working with a few musuem curators as a forester. The will not allow any finish that cannot be easily reversed. Many antiques are "refinished " to trash every day by well mening people. I have turned pieces, could not give them away, of the same log finished with various items. Raw linseed and raw tung oil are %&*&%. Most "oil finishes" are oil/varnish mixes??? All of these tend to darken and get very old looking in a few years unless overcoated with a film finish. Of all the oils pure tung oil(4/1 thinned with MS) looks the best the longest and can be worked down like lacquers to a piano finish. Non are sun durable, taught me by 26 boats. Don't get too hung up on naturals---arsenic and rosewoods are naturals. Carnuba is great but not easy to get a gloss on. At 300 years of age they look almost new as antiqurs. Avoid owning large boats with a lot of pretty brightwork yeah.

[Mel Fulks]

Robert ,I think we understand that . I understand the reversibility issue ,the issue with the oil seems to be it BREAKS DOWN AND TURNS SPLOTCHY. Heard that from friend of a curator. It does not seem to be related to the personal tastes of the museum people. Why can't their objection to it be found in writing? There are quite a number of warnings ,where are the reasons?

[Hayes Rutherford]

This is a puzzle to to me. I have tested different oils and see no difference in the look,and that includes engine oil.Some dry better than others. Museum conservators are all against linseed application on antiques .Since we all want our work to go on after us ,why is it so often suggested for new work?

Why would museum conservators be against antiques with linseed oil on them. The use of linseed oil predates recorded history and there is a big chance that anything in a museum might have linseed oil on it.

[Mel Fulks]

Hayes ,I see now that I was not clear. I didn't just mean that they don't recommend it for antiques.They say it should not have been used by those who made them. In other words in the long run it is not good.

[robert baccus]

Again, they refuse to use anything not reversible. The oils soak in the wood and requires some wood removed, sanded, to repair or refurbish. Also as you noted it oxidises/darkens making it difficult to match colors and gloss. Different age oil applications end up splotchy and various darkness ect. They do a lot of repairing and matching and film finishes are much easier to work with.

[Mel Fulks]

Again ,since it breaks down over time why is it so often reccommended by modern competent furniture makers and scorned by other professionals dealing with antiques? There is a big divide and it is hard to find much about how the look is altered by time.

[robert baccus]

OK--that's the extent of my limited knowledge.

[Mel Fulks]

And mine. I'd still like to find more information .Thanks ,for trying.

[mark ravensdale]

I actually like BLO as a Finish, it's quick to apply and when used on the right wood and in the right circumstances can add greatly to the look and feel of the object it is being applied to (but then that's just a personal view)
look at it this way, if it wasn't any good then it wouldn't have been used for centuries, one use for it was for it to be applied to cricket bats (if you know what one is ;-) to help resist the repeated impacts from cricket balls (like a baseball but smaller and harder) I remember watching a program on tv a number of years ago where an expert cricket bat maker and a scientist explained why linseed oil was used on cricket bats, and apparently when struck the linseed oil that is soaked into the willow wood fibres on a microscopic scale instantly crystallises and helps resist the repeated impacts from the cricket ball, so if you have a habit of dropping your turnings then linseed oil could be for you ;-)
yes it does yellow the wood, but this can be an advantage (spalted silver birch can look so warm when treated with BLO it has become one of my favourite oils to use on it (the end grain can take on the effect of flames rising from a camp fire after several coats have been applied))
No BLO is not for every wood we turners use, but on some it looks/works outstanding (give it a try!!!)
ohh and I nearly forgot, it smells great too!!!
many of the outstanding carvings in many old English churches and cathedrals were treated with linseed oil and then beeswax, and some of these are 500 - 600 - 700 years old or even older, so it must have something going for it,
ohh and did I mention it smells great too!!! :)

[robert baccus]

I agree a new oil finish is absolutely bueatiful. I started stocking 10$ mausers in the 50's and finished them and some furniture as well and then got into boats. Most of my turned work gets an oil to pop color and then overcoated with a film finish. Carnuba used alone makes a darn good finish and is all I use on many hard tropicals. The big drawback on oils were they oxidised to dull and dark in a few years and made it very difficult to refinish. The big reason you see it used in pre-1500's was that the Columbian revolution had not occured yet. When the new world was explored hundred of new woods, resins, solvents, foods and bacteria came to Europe. It changed the whole world and still is in every way.