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Thread: BLO and tool handles

  1. #1
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    BLO and tool handles

    For new handles, does the old advice, once daily for a week, once weekly for a month and so on, still apply when the BLO is the new stuff with the drying accelerants in it?

    Thanks

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Winners View Post
    For new handles, does the old advice, once daily for a week, once weekly for a month and so on, still apply when the BLO is the new stuff with the drying accelerants in it?

    Thanks
    My recollection is that rule is for Tung Oil.

    BLO tends to darken over time. It gets used on my garden tool handles at the end of growing season. Some really gnarly handles have been saved with a heavy application of BLO.

    At one time it was used on some of my kitchen knife handles. One cheap knife had the wood in the handle separating from all the washing drying it out. The BLO restored it. Since it has been refinished with Tung Oil as needed. It is a small paring knife that probably seemed expensive at $4 over forty years ago.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  3. #3
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    I just put it on handles once, then wipe a little more on whenever I have a rag soaked in oil. If you really want to oil up handles fast, doesn’t seem to hurt to wipe some on twice in the same day.

  4. #4
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    Thanks for the input so far. I was kinda wondering if I could maybe use the new stuff twice daily.

    For tools that don't get used or left outdoors, I am fine with a couple or three coats of BLO over the course of a couple weeks. Like maybe on drawknife handles or my froe.

    My square edge shovel tends to live outdoors in the weather. I am also thinking about my wheelbarrow and my rock pick. Pick axe? Railroad pick in some areas? Like a mattock, or a grub hoe, but with one bit ground to a square point and the other bit like a one inch chisel ground at 60-70 degrees. I use the pick axe for digging a channel in the ice and hardpack snow on my driveway so melt water coming off the roof can run down the driveway to the street.

    Right now this spring I still have melting snow on my lawn in some places, and saturated dirt everywhere the snow has melted. With daytime highs in the +50s dF I can be outdoors within three feet of the house or so on relatively dry ground. I am in the brief window between moving snow and starting yard work; I am oiling up tool handles outdoors, letting them set outside in the sun for a while and then rubbing them down before I bring them in overnight, we are still getting below freezing every night.

    Besides the new handle for the rock pick I have two adze handles, the square shovel, the wheel barrow and an axe getting oiled up right now. I am kinda leaning towards Ben's suggestion that the new BLO can go on twice daily, so once every 12 hours for three and a half days, then I dunno after that.

    I have been paying particular attention the head end of the rock pick handle. When I am using that thing I strongly prefer to stand it upright on the ice so I don't have to lean over to pick it back up. Head end down, the wood is pushing against the wet ice and I want to have that surface as well impregnated as possible. I started daily applications on Saturday, here it is Wednesday night and I can't say the end grain on the business end of the rock pick handle has sucked up appreciable BLO starting Monday afternoon.

    I am using BLO from the homestore, purchased in the last ten years, with all manner of skulls and cautions on the back panel. By the time I get done with the spring round of oiling I should have an empty can and opportunity to buy a safer more old school product. I am going to get some Tung Oil in the same shipment. I don't know that any of my grandfathers or great grandfathers owned any Tung oil, I sure don't remember a can at the shop clean outs; but I do want to try some. I am not too worried about color on what I am starting to think of as tools for labor. As much trouble as it is to find a tool with a straight grained well shaped handle, I want to keep them in service as long as possible.

    Reminds me I need to either find my post hole digger and get the handles oiled up, or remember who I loaned it to last.

  5. #5
    You can apply multiple coats of blo in a day as long as the previous coat isn’t tacky. Always wipe completely off (sure you already knew that).

    I shellac my handles. Not so much as to build a big film. I started doing that 10 years ago and nine of my tools have required a refresh.

  6. #6
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    Some of my outdoor tools have been immersed in BLO to soak up as much as the handle could.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    Some of my outdoor tools have been immersed in BLO to soak up as much as the handle could.

    jtk

    I did this with a Kuksa (wooden cup) I made for camping. Except I used pure, food-grade tung oil and not BLO, though raw or pure boiled linseed oil should work fine.

    To do this I heated the oil (warm, not super hot) and poured it in the cup. Tung oil dries fast, but it still took many weeks to fully dry. If it doesn't, the first cup of hot coffee will mix with the oil.

    Anyway, I say this because I want to impress just how incredibly waterproof and durable this finish is. My Kuksa is totally and completely hot water proof -- not to mention extremely stable. Unfinished it warped really badly with hot drinks (which seeped out of the end grain as well), but finished, it's as stable as a rock. And quite a bit harder and more durable, too -- I used a soft wood, but you'd hardly be able to tell.

  8. #8
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    Use neatsfoot oil on your oilstones and all your tool handles will acquire the necessary patina - a layer of oil, sweat, and grime that in the end gives the tool its 'feel' not to mention an appealing look.

    I can't imagine how you could keep a wooden tool handle from become dark with the sweat and the oil from your own skin alone, or why you'd go to the trouble to try.

    Is the goal to leave behind a kit that appears to have been unused? Why on Earth?

  9. #9
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    I did this with a Kuksa (wooden cup) I made for camping. Except I used pure, food-grade tung oil and not BLO, though raw or pure boiled linseed oil should work fine.
    Linseed oil is an interesting product in the US. The stuff sold in the big box stores is not necessarily a food grade product. Health food stores sell flaxseed oil which is linseed oil labeled for the health food trade. My bottle was purchased on sale at $32/quart. My main use is on cast iron cookware. With heat it produces a great surface on my cast iron frying pans and bakeware.

    It is kind of like mineral oil in that there are many uses and varieties.

    Use neatsfoot oil on your oilstones and all your tool handles will acquire the necessary patina - a layer of oil, sweat, and grime that in the end gives the tool its 'feel' not to mention an appealing look.
    My favorite is Howard Feed-N-Wax for the handles on my shop tools. Over time it does leave a polished finish where the handles are rubbed in use:

    Mallet-Cherry.jpg

    This is my oldest shop made mallet and has lots of use. The wear polish from use shows how it is usually gripped.

    Chisel Handles.jpg

    These are among my most often used chisels. The two on the left have what ever remains of their original finish. The one on the right, with an ash handle, is likely the handle with the most hand polishing from being used. The rosewood handle was pretty smooth when made without the hand rubbed finish.

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 05-05-2022 at 2:18 PM. Reason: wording and punctuation
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

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