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How many coats of BLO?

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Sidney Smith

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How many coats of linseed oil do you normally rub onto a new stock? I'm on probably my sixth or seventh coat of oil. I thin it down with turpentine one to one for the first couple coats tben gradually add more linseed oil to increase the ratio of oil to turp.
 
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Some sort of drying agent is very good. ‘Original oil finish’ from Track of the Wolf, linspeed oil or tru coat by Birchwood cassy is an example.
A good BLO is hard to put on.
First put on a ton, well a bunch any way. Let it stand for a few hours and wipe off with a lint free cloth.
Leave a week then rub down with corse cloth.
Add one light coat of oil a day for a week buffing with bare hand or soft cloth till warm. Then one light coat per week for a month. You can shoot the gun now.
But you add another coat every month for a year. Always make sure the coat is light, just a few drops on your fingers. At the end of the year give it a good waxing
If during that year it gets wet it will get sticky. Rub it down with a rough cloth, add a light coat polish with soft cloth the next day.
Wax at least once a year.... lightly.
Out side of that first slopped on coat you dust wand a bit of oil on your finger tips. An ounce will do a gun
 
Some sort of drying agent is very good. ‘Original oil finish’ from Track of the Wolf, linspeed oil or tru coat by Birchwood cassy is an example.
A good BLO is hard to put on.
First put on a ton, well a bunch any way. Let it stand for a few hours and wipe off with a lint free cloth.
Leave a week then rub down with corse cloth.
Add one light coat of oil a day for a week buffing with bare hand or soft cloth till warm. Then one light coat per week for a month. You can shoot the gun now.
But you add another coat every month for a year. Always make sure the coat is light, just a few drops on your fingers. At the end of the year give it a good waxing
If during that year it gets wet it will get sticky. Rub it down with a rough cloth, add a light coat polish with soft cloth the next day.
Wax at least once a year.... lightly.
Out side of that first slopped on coat you dust wand a bit of oil on your finger tips. An ounce will do a gun
Which is one reason I prefer tung oil.
 
BLO was used on my first LR build and after 5 thin coats it didn't want to completely dry after sitting for a month. Took it hunting and sat in the rain and the entire stock was a gooey mess which I wiped off w/ a hanky. Never used it again seeing there's so many excellent finishes on the market that completely dry w/in 6-8hrs per coat......Fred
 
Boiled linseed oil responds to a little Japan Drier to harden it a bit. Don't remember what chemicals are in Japan Drier , but it makes the stuff that comes in the Qt. size hardware store can dry more quickly like Linspeed and Birchwood Casy ....... oldwood
 
I’ve finished a half-dozen stocks with a technique i learned here: 1/3 boiled linseed, 1/3 tung and 1/3 mineral spirits. Apply lightly, rub with your hands until it warms and the oil disappears, let it dry until tomorrow or longer if necessary. I’ve heard here that the linseed brings color, the tung brings waterproofing and the turpentine brings drying. Of course, i’m rephrasing.

I’m starting to see this as a relationship among my hands, the oil and the wood, in whichever order you please. It becomes more than a project. Now i’m looking around for another beat up Jukar or the like to rebuild and refinish.

Hope this helps. Good Sunday to ya!

don
 
I've been adding a coat each day for the past week. It dries nicely with the turpentine mixed in it. I rub it on with the fingers (rubber gloves on of course), then before the next coat, I've lightly rubbed it with 0000 steel wool, followed by a tack cloth and shop vac for the dust.

I got the turpentine idea from Dixon's book. It mentions using it mixed with the BLO for the first coat only but it's been drying nicely so I'm going to keep some amount of turp in the mix.
 
Straight BLO is a poor choice for a stock finish. It will never completely dry & will ooze out in hot weather. It's much better if you add a "dryer" like Venitian Turp or Japan dryer along with the regular turp & even better if you add some Carnuba wax. Look up Slacom gunstock oil to get the mixing ratios & make your own on the stove.
 
a good place to get BLO is from an art supply store it already has dryers in it, they use it for oil painting, also I have used equal amounts of BLO spar varnish and turpentine it works very well.
 
I too have had no issues with BLO. I have had one can for over 10 years now. The can is labeled Boiled Linseed Oil. Whether or not it has any "driers" added to it I don't know.
First 2-3 coats I rub in liberally with a soft rag and then go back over after a few hours with a dry rag. After that I rub it in sparingly with my fingers. I do this every few days until it doesn't want to take any more oil. Usually about 3 weeks give or take. Then I let it sit at least two weeks before waxing it.
 
boiled linseed oil needs uv light to dry (sun light works great) on my made ram rods 7 coats with 24hrs between very light coats
 
I dont know where you guys are getting your linseed oil but the stuff I have does dry and it hasn't oozed once.
Ditto... maybe folks are putting it on too heavy, and/or not letting it dry long enough between coats. Or maybe it's old in the can? I don't know if linseed oil has a shelf life; I usually buy a fresh can any time I use it.

"Drying " in this case, of course, really means "polymerizing;" the molecules link together to make a solid finish. I flood raw wood with thinned linseed oil, keep rubbing it in until I don't see any dry spots, then wipe it down well. On following coats I apply a thin layer, rub it in with my hands until it's warm to the touch and feels almost dry, then wipe off any excess. Lather, rinse, repeat... Yeah, it's a lot more trouble than something like Minwax. But I like the results, and the ritual of applying it can become almost a soothing mini-meditation.

The traditional advice for a linseed oil finish on furniture was, "once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, once a year for the rest of your life."

If you're going back to touch up linseed oil, which is easy to do, remember to remove any wax on it. I won't use a wax with silicone in it, because it's almost impossible to get rid of it if you want to touch up or recoat.

add: on the second coat, I usually apply it with #600 wet or dry paper, and lightly with the grain, before rubbing it down with my hands and wiping it.
 
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I too have had no issues with BLO. I have had one can for over 10 years now. The can is labeled Boiled Linseed Oil. Whether or not it has any "driers" added to it I don't know.
First 2-3 coats I rub in liberally with a soft rag and then go back over after a few hours with a dry rag. After that I rub it in sparingly with my fingers. I do this every few days until it doesn't want to take any more oil. Usually about 3 weeks give or take. Then I let it sit at least two weeks before waxing it.
Boiled linseed oil used to be literally boiled. Nowadays, I think it has metallic additives of some sort. Plain linseed oil, commonly sold as flaxseed oil in health food stores, is food grade and edible, but you wouldn't want the stuff from Ace in your dinner.

I use flaxseed oil for seasoning my cast iron cookware; it works better than anything else I've ever tried.
 
here is a spot that has been kept wet for a week . Stock was finished with BLO more than 5 yrs ago. image.jpg
Here is stock after wiping stock and allowing maybe 30 sexonds dry ingredients.
image.jpg
 
Valspar Marine Teak oil has those three essential ingredients, Tung oil, linseed oil and a dryer. I get mine at the hardware store. Thin it out with mineral spirits and put on a very heavy coat. Leave it alone for 24 hours. Rub it out with the palm of your hand and recoat every always rubbing it out with your hand. I watch the open pores of the wood with a magnifier until they fill. A professional custom stock maker taught me this and I have used nothing else for about 30 years.
 
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