Getting pine tar and raw linseed oil to mix?

[Zender]

Hi all,

For my first post (after introduction) here I would like to start with an issue I am having. I recently aquired some axes that need proper finishing of the handles.

My plan was to sand them (done), and to oil them in raw linseed oil or even coat them in a pine tar linseed mix. For this I've bough some oil and tar, and tried mixing them today. Even after warming up a small batch with about 30-70 tar/oil mix, it just would not mix. I got oil, with slithers of tar in between, and when stirring these tar slithers coagulated again into a single ball of tar in oil. Is there some secret I am missing in order to get pine tar and raw lineseed oil to mix properly?
I also tried adding some turpentine, still not mixing.

I'm looking for a nice darkbrown stain that will weatherproof the handles, feed the wood, while keeping them nice and smooth. s far as I know, this mis should dry without becomming sticky. Why not boiled lineseed? Because that dries faster and penetrates less deep, and as far as I know it contains certain chemicals and possiblty metals that I just don't want.

Looking forward to your responses

 

[Janne]

Should you not use liquid tar/pitch?

 

[Robson Valley]

How do you think that an axe handle should be properly finished?
The most important issue is how the axe feels in the hand. How much control you think you have over your striking accuracy.
How well does your blade finish resist rust? Even bacon fat works well.

Stain will not weatherproof an axe handle. Bring the axe indoors, that's the best weatherproofing , even cold but dry.
Sure, metallic dryers are added to boiled linseed oil, not enough to be a digestive concern.

Nice and warm, nice and dry, one single coat of MinWax Tung Oil Protective Finish will give you a satin finish.
Wet then icy, it does not become slippery as you chop firewood at -20C.

The only thing which can stop any one of my wood carving adzes is a bone in my leg.
Raw birch is slippery. One coat of TOPF seems to add a satin stickiness that gives me some confidence.

I used TOPF on wood carvings which face the sun and snow for 5+ years. They still look OK.

 

[Zender]

Thanks for the replies so far.
I put this topic up here because I was planning to use this same method (oil+tar) to weatherproof (op to some extent) other pieces of wood too, pieces that will remail outside, be it under a roof ledge. I know this method is used, I just can't get it to work yet.

As for caring for my axes, when not in use, they are stored inside, warm and dry. I clean them after use, sharpen when needed, and do all the other things to ensure a long life. How they should be finished? A smooth handle that allows sliding in the hands, and prevents muck from getting to the wood.
My small gransfors wildlife has been getting a yearly cost of raw linseed, and has a chord wrap around the throat to protect the wood and provide a grip when carving. My gransfors scandi has a linseed coating as well. Both of these I sanded down with great care when I got them, down to 600 grit allong with wetting the wood between sands to raise all the small fluffs. Silky smooth before applying the oil.
They feel very much like the necks on my guitars. Increadibly smooth, yet they don't slip from my grip and don't cause any blisters. To me, the perfect finish for high-grade tools.

I Just thought I'd try something new on these other axes. More or less the same finish, just with some added tar for additional weatherproofing and colour. But also, in more general terms, to find a way to make this finish work. I've seen finishes like this before, but the method eludes me. That's why I'm asking

My gransfors are my babies, they sleep cosy warm and dry and get pampered (and are actually on display in my living room when not in use... okay, I might be a bit strange.) , and are shaving sharp after a decade of use.
These other axes will be an experiment in a different finish.

 

[Robson Valley]

Good. You care for your tools.

I put on my botany biochemistry hat.
I cannot understand why the pine tar and the raw linseed oil don't mix.
Mix the tar with a little oil first. Then with the rest of the oil to fully disperse the tar.

If they are heated? One container inside another with boiling water?
Maybe they separate when cold/room temperature?

 

[z_bumbi]

Try to disolve the tar in turpentine or alcohol and then mix it. If it doesn´t disolve then it´s the wrong kind of tar.
But I wouldn´t use that mixture on an ax handle as the tar get sticky in warm weather and will also leak on anything that it´s in contant with. Smells nice but not that practical.

 

[Zender]

If it doesn´t disolve then it´s the wrong kind of tar.

There is such a thing as the wrong kind of tar? Which kinds are there? I thought it was all made from the same source, and roughly in the same way: destructive distillation of pine roots. I got a can of tar that is suitable to smear on horse's hooves.

Given the amount of tar on the handle, I don't see it leaking from the handle. But indeed it might become sticky in warm weather although I haven't found mentions of this in the online resources I've read about this type of finish. Maybe I should try a throw-away handle first.

 

[z_bumbi]

I doesn´t know what the wrong kind is but it´s known in boating circels and among people that renovate old houses that some tars simple doesn´t mix as well as others. It´s doesn´t explain anything but there is also tar from other threes than pine

 

[Toddy]

True, and birch tar melts at a higher temperature than pine.