Oils for axe handles (and other handles)

[Nomad]

My little Bahco hatchet has orange paint at the hand grip, and is probably varnished on the rest. I intend to sand it down and oil it. I have a bottle of teak oil, and some small bottles of artists linseed oils in various grades of gloopiness. Around the forums, I'm sure I've seen tung oil mentioned, and probably one or two others as well.

What differences are there between the various oils, and are any more suitable than others for handles on axes and other tools?

 

[Llwyd]

Any oil will penetrate less than a millimeter even when thinned so use what you have. Linseed, tung, corn or olive oil, they are all pretty good.

I use cooking oils more on cutting boards and wooden bowls but have used it on tools as well in a pinch.

 

[Dave]

The teak oils good stuff. It'll give you a slightly lighter finish than boiled linseed oil. So better on dark woods. I raise the grain on axe handles by steaming over a kettle then using the flat edge of a steel rule to scrape it. Then wipe with white spirit and apply lots of thin coats leaving a day between coats. If you're gonna use li seed oil its best to use the boiled I forget why. Teak oil has li seed oil in it and various hardeners

 

[Sparky415]

If you already have linseed oil I would use that
I use a mix 50/50 linseed to white spirit, helps it to really soak in

 

[rlh2]

Don't forget to air dry or soak in water your oily rags. They can catch fire.

http://youtu.be/9yq6VW-c2Ts

 

[ozzy1977]

If useing linseed oil dilute the first coat 50/50 with white spirt, this will allow greater penitration, them when dry another coat of oil but un diluted

 

[palace]

I use Tung oil ( what teak oil etc is based on) thin first application, non slip very water resistant.

 

[mrcharly]

I've had good results using 50/50 boiled linseed oil and kerosene/paraffin.

Used to have a ply enterprise dinghy. Ran out of money for the expensive Deks Olja stuff so tried the linseed/kero mix. Slosh over the wood so its wet (in your case I'd soak the handle). Leave for a few minutes, then wipe until damp. Don't leave any wet patches. Repeat whenever it is convenient or you think of it.

That dinghy lived outside, uncovered, for 2 years without deterioration.

 

[tombear]

I've a old SRD rum jar I've been emptying the dregs of any wood oils I use for years and I use this mixture to soak any newly fitted tool handles for 24 hrs, ideally some where warm. Finding a container can be a bit of a problem for the larger handles but for a Hatchet a plastic storage box propped op on one side worked for me last time. You can cling film the top if you don't want anything falling into the oil and to keep the smell down.

If you soak like this it doesn't realy matter much what sort of oil you use, linseed, Danish, teak, tung, thinned or whatever. It's what the army used to do with spare stocks if they wanted to make sure they'd never shrink or crack. I've noticed it cures any slight looseness in chisel handles if there's a metal collar.

atb

tom

 

[Nomad]

Thanks all. Methinks the teak oil will do fine.