BLO Trouble - Help?

[Perry Higgins]

I have/had a beautiful NE Madrone bowl that I intend to finish with BLO and buff. Three coats of BLO and the woods is still soaking up the liquid. Four coats and I'm stuck with a sticky mess even after 48 hours of drying time and it's only 95 degrees with 25% humidity. Any ideas for salvaging my bowl? Thanks

[Jim Becker]

BLO by itself is not something you would generally put multiple coats on expecting it to "build" like a varnish or varnish/oil. You put it on and wipe it off after about 20-30 minutes. Once it's cured (about a week or so), you can wax and buff. 48 hours is not enough time for the oil to cure at any rate, although you could top coat it with shellac at that point.

[Mike Vickery]

I agree with what Jim said.

However if I had a sticky mess I would try putting mineral spritis on a rag and wipe of all the excess. Let it sit over night for any residual oil to dry and reevaluate it.

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Mike. If you need to recover; that is, if there is a thick, gooey, irregular film on the piece - mineral spirits. If it looks OK but just ins't dry, I'd wait it out. A red oak piece I did "weeped" for over a week with me wiping it down everytime I wandered by. Once dry, all was well.

[Perry Higgins]

Thanks guys, I had this all wrong. Some how I thought I understood that 6 coats was the standard application for BLO. Mine were thin alright, but it didn't matter this time. Thanks for the help. We'll see what happens next. Perry

[Jonathon Spafford]

I've put multiple coats of BLO on my stuff with no trouble... you'll find you'll run into problems if you don't wipe off the excess. It will gum up and become very hard to remove. Make sure that you are drying off the excess in between coats and also letting it sit for several days before reapplying a coat. BLO doesn't actually harden for a month or so, but you should be good to reapply some after a bit... at least this is what I've found!!!