walnut oil

[scarfell]

I've settled on walnut oil to finish my olive wood handles, wondering if its best to initially soak the handle in the oil, and then sand and do a few more coats?

Would warming and keeping the oil warm while soaking be better? Say around 50C, or would that compromise the epoxy (gorilla)

Or just apply coats/sand and repeat?

Cant find much specific info on walnut oil :-/

 

[Nice65]

For my bowls, beech and chestnut and olive wood I repeat coated several times. Then just put another coat on when they start to look a bit dry. Knife handles get Danish oil as it can be buffed. Whatever you use, be sparing with it or you'll end up with a sticky mess.

 

[KenThis]

I'm no expert but I've used tung oil on handles and have found warming oil and knife help the oil to penetrate.
I tend to warm the oil up and leave the knives somewhere warm then thoroughly coat the handle, leave the excess for 30 mins and then wipe off.
leave for a few days to dry and then repeat as required.

It's been mentioned on here and I've seen it said on other forums to oil "every day for a week, every week for a month, every month for a year and then every year for life."
That seems excessive to me but is probably of the order of necessary maintenance. ie. more to start with and less and less as required just to stop the wood drying out.

 

[Macaroon]

It's been mentioned on here and I've seen it said on other forums to oil "every day for a week, every week for a month, every month for a year and then every year for life."
That seems excessive to me but is probably of the order of necessary maintenance. ie. more to start with and less and less as required just to stop the wood drying out.

This is the traditional way to get a really superb finish with oiled wood; if you can be bothered to do it, it produces superb results. The finished wood looks and feels like nothing else and is unmistakably superior to any of the dipping and soaking you hear so much about. Each to their own, there's no right and wrong about it, it just depends how much you think of your work and how much time you've got.

In my view, if you do it once to see the results you'll never go back to any other method

 

[HillBill]

Danish oil is better. I have a jar full of it, and just put the handle in the oil so its completely submerged and leave it there for a good couple of hours (over night is better) Take it out, wipe off the excess and leave it to cure

 

[HillBill]

That method builds up the oil on the wood, rather than in the wood.

Ideally, the wood should be dipped and soaked prior to any of that to get the oil into it.. once cured.. you're not getting anymore oil into the wood as it won't penetrate the already cured oil, it just builds up on top. If you don't soak first, its only a surface coat as the first layer doesn't really penetrate much, all others are just on top of that.

Thats why i soak the handles well, its then upto the owner to build it up from that.

Danish oil is better for soaking, but i would say boiled linseed is better for the top coats due to viscosity.

This is the traditional way to get a really superb finish with oiled wood; if you can be bothered to do it, it produces superb results. The finished wood looks and feels like nothing else and is unmistakably superior to any of the dipping and soaking you hear so much about. Each to their own, there's no right and wrong about it, it just depends how much you think of your work and how much time you've got.

In my view, if you do it once to see the results you'll never go back to any other method

 

[scarfell]

Will definitly be oiling regularly, thanks for the info!

That method builds up the oil on the wood, rather than in the wood.

Ideally, the wood should be dipped and soaked prior to any of that to get the oil into it.. once cured.. you're not getting anymore oil into the wood as it won't penetrate the already cured oil, it just builds up on top. If you don't soak first, its only a surface coat as the first layer doesn't really penetrate much, all others are just on top of that.

Thats why i soak the handles well, its then upto the owner to build it up from that.

Danish oil is better for soaking, but i would say boiled linseed is better for the top coats due to viscosity.

What is the curing process? (ie is there more it than soaking, how do i know when its cured? Just dry?)

Danish and linseed isnt an option, i'll be using this knife with food and have very sensitive skin that reacts badly to most solvents, so walnut seems to be my best option

 

[HillBill]

Walnut oil is only a semi curing oil, it won't cure fully, and can take weeks to stop feeling tacky if its left on the surface, you can't really build up layers due to that. Also bad for people with nut allergies.

Some info here.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?43034-Walnut-oil-drying-time

http://www.leevalley.com/us/shopping/TechInfo.aspx?p=59385

Also the solvents in danish and linseed evaporate while it cures, so once cured, you should be ok with them... especially is you add a layer of wax like beeswax over the oil once cured.

I only tried walnut oil once on a knife, and didn't like the results... not for a knife handle anyway.. i do use it for wooden utensils though where I'm not trying to build it up on the surface.

 

[tombear]

There's food grade linseed oil, got mine from Tescos

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=287529955

works just like the stuff with additives in made for wood but takes slightly longer to dry. I use it on all my treen I want to keep light coloured like sycamore.

I've not had any trouble with walnut oil myself for treen or with soaking for 24 hours in bog standard warm double boiled linseed, just wipe the wood well when it comes out of the bath and a few hours after in case any has sweated out. Tool handles benefit from it as they swell slightly and tighten on. Never had one dry out or crack in thirty years despite daft tricks like leaving them on top of radiators for a winter. Each to their own.

ATB

Tom

 

[Janne]

Will Walnut Oil darken the wood?

 

[HillBill]

All oil darkens wood. Same as water would... only a little, but it does.

Will Walnut Oil darken the wood?

 

[scarfell]

Lots to think about thanks!

Problem with relying on evaporation, is that industrial (grade) chemicals dont tend to be very pure, i'll see if i can find out more info

Re beeswax, how well can you apply oil later on? Or does it rub off roughly at the same rate?

 

[Macaroon]

Oils that harden do so by polymerisation (sp), evaporation will take you down the wrong road if you're going to research it

 

[scarfell]

Oils that harden do so by polymerisation (sp), evaporation will take you down the wrong road if you're going to research it

Yeah, was referring to the additives like naptha that are used to thin the oil


Seems there is a special type that drys well...

http://bowlmakerinc.com/resources/walnut-oil.html


Although this has confused me further, up till now i assumed walnut oil was from walnuts, not trees, as stated n that artical. But i have found high linoleic walnut oil (not from trees...maybe he means walnuts and i'm misunderstanding his comment..))

 

[Zingmo]

My wood doodlings are getting treated to a coat of this: http://woodsmithexperience.co.uk/shop/product/pre-oxidised-swedish-linseed-oil/

Apparently linseed grown at higher latitudes polymerises quicker, hence the Swedish stuff has been sought after by artists for many years.


Z

 

[Janne]

Yeah, was referring to the additives like naptha that are used to thin the oil


Seems there is a special type that drys well...

http://bowlmakerinc.com/resources/walnut-oil.html


Although this has confused me further, up till now i assumed walnut oil was from walnuts, not trees, as stated n that artical. But i have found high linoleic walnut oil (not from trees...maybe he means walnuts and i'm misunderstanding his comment..))

Walnut Oil IS extracted from the seed of the walnut tree. His oil must be processed, as it is the only way to get a 100% content of Linoleic oil.

 

[Janne]

My wood doodlings are getting treated to a coat of this: http://woodsmithexperience.co.uk/shop/product/pre-oxidised-swedish-linseed-oil/

Apparently linseed grown at higher latitudes polymerises quicker, hence the Swedish stuff has been sought after by artists for many years.


Z

It is excellent to eat too. Nice, nutty flavor. Very healthy!

 

[scarfell]

Walnut Oil IS extracted from the seed of the walnut tree. His oil must be processed, as it is the only way to get a 100% content of Linoleic oil.

Reading up, it seems that Black Walnuts are the only ones with high enough Linoleic ratio (turns out its an omega fat)

But i havent found any black walnut oil yet, i'm guessing it goes by a different name, and is probbly very over priced without the right name

 

[Robson Valley]

Taking advantage of Charles' Law of gas physics, the oven baking process is vastly superior to any soaking and, you are done, completely, in 3mins, 30 secs. Never again.
I've done it with beeswax over raw birch, a carved dish. Works every bit as well but the initial painting with beeswax was an unbelievable spattered mess in my kitchen.

 

[scarfell]

Baking sounds interesting, but i'm concerned about the effect of heat on the epoxy, i've used heat guns to soften epoxy for removal, and i have no idea how much that compromises the epoxy after it cools?


Found an "english walnut oil" for finishing wood, been assured that the additives wont be present in the wood after about a month, just waiting for delivery now...


Last question, i was planning on soaking, then sanding, then another coat, and will repeat until i'm happy (prob 8-10 coats)... but i'm seeing other info saying apply the oil then wipe, leave it 24hrs and do another coat, but no mention of sanding?