Boiled or Raw?

[SteveW]

Are there any major advantages or disadvantages to using boiled or raw linseed oil on wood?
I’m having a bit of a play with a cheap axe I bought from the local independent cheap tool shop and want to oil the haft.


Thanks

 

[demographic]

Never used it on either but have read somewhere about the raw stuff causing spontanious combustion in the rags that have been soaked in it in the right conditions.

 

[SteveW]

Never used it on either but have read somewhere about the raw stuff causing spontanious combustion in the rags that have been soaked in it in the right conditions.

Perhaps this should this be moved to Fire making then

So what do you use?

 

[jojo]

They can both cause spontaneous combustion if left in big pile of soaked rags. The raw linseed oil will take absolutely for ever to dry. I would use the boiled linsed oil.

 

[forginhill]

Everything I've read and heard says to use the boiled. I can't remember all the reasons though. Others should know. Todd

 

[British Red]

Honestly? I use sesame oil! Smells great, food safe and protects well. Gives a nice colour too!

Red

 

[Tadpole]

Are there any major advantages or disadvantages to using boiled or raw linseed oil on wood?
I’m having a bit of a play with a cheap axe I bought from the local independent cheap tool shop and want to oil the haft.


Thanks

Linseed oil has been used for centuries on wood to polish and preserve it but in its raw state linseed oil should never be used as a working finish as it contains some slow drying vegetable fats which make for a dull, greasy finish that never really hardens.

Boiled linseed oil can be used if oil finish is desired. Boiled linseed oil hasn’t really been boiled, - it is just raw oil treated with sulphuric acid or caustic soda which then reacts upon the impurities in the oil and allows them to be removed, and it is then heated a little and mixed with a chemical drier.
Traditional driers were lead or manganese based. A concentration of 0.05 per cent cobalt metal introduced caused the oil to dry in two hours; 0.08 per cent manganese cut the drying time to five hours; 0.5 per cent lead to seventeen hours, and 0.5 per cent iron to twenty-four hours. The upper limit for boiled linseed oil is
Lead 0.8 per cent,
manganese 0.1 per cent,
cobalt 0.04 per cent

I have way too much time on my hands

 

[SteveW]

Linseed oil has been used for centuries on wood to polish and preserve it but in its raw state linseed oil should never be used as a working finish as it contains some slow drying vegetable fats which make for a dull, greasy finish that never really hardens.

Boiled linseed oil can be used if oil finish is desired. Boiled linseed oil hasn’t really been boiled, - it is just raw oil treated with sulphuric acid or caustic soda which then reacts upon the impurities in the oil and allows them to be removed, and it is then heated a little and mixed with a chemical drier.
Traditional driers were lead or manganese based. A concentration of 0.05 per cent cobalt metal introduced caused the oil to dry in two hours; 0.08 per cent manganese cut the drying time to five hours; 0.5 per cent lead to seventeen hours, and 0.5 per cent iron to twenty-four hours. The upper limit for boiled linseed oil is
Lead 0.8 per cent,
manganese 0.1 per cent,
cobalt 0.04 per cent

I have way too much time on my hands

I suppose I should have asked the question…Before…I started. :togo:

Oh well, the haft was a bit on the short side anyway

 

[Simon E]

I have 5 axes that I have treated with raw linseed oil. If time is not an issue I dont think you will have problems. All of my handles are dry and they have a lovely colour and feel to them. It will take you a least a week to do a proper job though in winter. YMMV

The GB SFA is missing from this pic.

 

[BOD]

Honestly? I use sesame oil! Smells great, food safe and protects well. Gives a nice colour too!

Red

Would this be raw or boiled sesame oil?

 

[bothyman]

Try a mixture of Boiled Linseed Oil and Turpentine 50/50 .
That will thin it down and help it soak into the wood.
Use Turpentine not White spirit as Turpentine is Wood based.

MickT

 

[British Red]

Would this be raw or boiled sesame oil?

Dunno mate - Ask Sainsbury's

 

[John Fenna]

Personally, I would never again use boiled liseed oil. I used to use it on all my wooden items from canoe gunnels to knife handles but got totally disenchanted with the way it goes dark and obscures the colour and pattern in the wood. After a batch turned to a sticky dark toffee before soaking into the wood, needing a long and difficult scraping of all my canoe fittings, I turned to teak oil for non food and olive oil for food aplication wood work. A mix if either oil and bees wax makes a great polish!
Never looked back!

 

[Alchemist]

I have been dabbling with linseed oil recently. As my first ever wood treatment I can say this.

I have slapped rawlinseed over garden furniture ready for the spring. The furniture was really bad before, and now it is great. Will look really good this summer.

Filled a coffee jar with boiled linseed and soaked a very very old kitchen knife in it for 2 days. It has come up a treat after 2 days drying. But it isnt grrrrrrrrreat. I will try a beeswax and olive oil mix as mentioned for the other one that looks the same.

From my little dabble I would say that raw oil is good for slapping on to tools or furniture that have the time to dry. It is cheap and chearful.
i think if you want to use boiled then there must be other treatments in this category that are much nicer

All that said, give it a go mate, nothing ventured rodney!

 

[oetzi]

Myself, I have no experiences with raw linseed. I use it boiled, with 30% balsam Turpentine added to enhance drying.
The area most important of the axe is the junction handle/head.
I put my axe in a pot with some linseed oil (1cm high) and let it soak. Occassionally some oil is taken up with a brush and applied to the 10cm above the head. It then runs down and gets soaked into the crevasses between handle and eye.
Essential reading for wood preservation:
http://www.dick.biz/mailing/NaturalFinishing.pdf

 

[bent-stick]

Are there any major advantages or disadvantages to using boiled or raw linseed oil on wood?
I’m having a bit of a play with a cheap axe I bought from the local independent cheap tool shop and want to oil the haft.


Thanks

Raw linseed doesn't dry. it stays sticky. I use it when I want deep penentration (ooer missus). Put it on, leave it and wipe of the residue with turps (real).

For most things boiled works best because it isn't sticky.

 

[Cegga]

Hey !
I use boiled linseed oil but the best oil is Biral oil I have done test and it´s the best .I put out some axes and let them be out for a year and the Biral protecect best.See thath you ask about the handle I mean axehead sorry.
Cegga

 

[cyclist]

take thinned raw - a small amount on the area your operating the handle and soak it where the head is mounted....

Guess why they did it for centuries and why Bernie Weisgerber recommends it ? "... A regular application ... Wipe off..."
If you don´t know read this www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/fspubs/99232823/page14.htm

The complete story www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/fspubs/99232823/index.htm

 

[SteveW]

Thanks for the replies chaps, I’ll try the raw linseed as an experiment on the small haft and maybe re-haft if it all goes pear shaped. The Axe was only £3.50 in the first place, so it’s no big deal if I have to spend a bit on a new one.

Thanks for the links Cyclist, I knew I’d seen someone mention raw oil somewhere.