doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com A linseed Oil Thread

Of the different mixtures I have all are made using pure linseed oil sold by Grumbacher. I've tried for years to find real boiled linseed oil without luck. I have no interest in the normal dried stuff that has a chemical drier added. I now see that Grumbacher is selling both a sun dried linseed oil and "Stand Oil". The stand oil looks like a dried linseed to me. My question is has anyone used either sun dried or stand oil?

http://www.grumbacherart.com/products/mediums/oil/index.html

Year ago I was swapping oil recipes with Dennis Potter and misread the part about only mixing up what you need at the time. I mixed a large batch, it turned to a jelly and matched the Adolph stock I'm working on now perfectly.

Michael, check out this site http://www.naturalpigments.com I ran across them when I was looking for alkanet root for coloring oil. They have several different Stand Oil plus several other formulations of linseed oil. They also have natural pigments and other mediums and waxes etc that might come in handy. They have a printed catalog and are easy to work with.

Jim A.

Jim, Thanks for the link, all kinds of linseed oil. I will have to spend some time and read up on them all. There is a shop here in town that carries Grumbacher and other makers, I'll have to ask about the different stand oils. looks like the best way to find out is to buy some and try it.

The last alkanet root I bought was from Ebay. I'm now experimenting with the red coloring that is used in agricultural gasoline like Shelhamer is purported to have used.

Ive got some boiled linseed oil, Ace (hardware) Boiled Linseed Oil. Says contains: Boiled Air Oxidized Linseed oil, Cobalt Neodecanoate etc. Colbalt is a dryer. Ive used it straight on some scrap pieces and eventualy it gets dry but still not hard like a hardener type finish, which is ok.

The container label says it can be used as an additive for oil base paints and stains, improves leveling, and more durable paint film

I dont know if its the right stuff to use. Ive only used it by mixing half/ half or 1/4 to 1/3 with Dalys finishes and it works pretty good, takes a day or 2 or 5 more drying time.

I havent experimented with differnt linseed oils yet, so im interested in what others find that works pretty good.

Alkanet root- I googled "Alkanet Root Powder" and found some Ground Alkanet Powder from Pakistan. I was thinking of getting this stuff. Ive read of others who use the powder and let it soak in Naptha, and then strain it, and mix with finish

Rick

All of my gun stocks I have re-finished with boiled linseed oil.
Rubbing it in with my fingers and the palm of my hand, taking any surplus off with a rag before letting it dry after a day or two and then doing it again and again and again.
In between times I lightly rub the stock over with fine steel wool as the linseed oil can build up on the surface.
Just keep doing this until you are happy with the finish.
I read a book years ago by a Scandinavian knife maker ( I think he came from Finland )who used boiled linseed oil for the handles of his knives and he said the idea was to get it into the wood and after a while its composition changed.
I got this book out of my local library and was one of the best books I have ever read on knife making. I tried to buy a copy but it was out of print. It was so good that I made my one and only attempt at knife making.
I will see if the library still has it on the shelves and read up again on what the auther said about how the boiled linseed oil changed as it dried.
Regards.

Alkanet:
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/search/search.php?refine=y&keywords=alkanet

Brent, Thats the same product I found

1 pound for $8.75, Thats beter than 1 oz for $12.00

.

There are two types of boiled linseed oil. The first and original was linseed oil that was boiled until it became thicker and dried faster than raw oil. I'm not sure when but around WWI boiled linseed oil was getting hard to find and the new BLO was linseed oil with drier and other chemicals added. ALL the so called boiled linseed oil that I find is the chemically added stuff. I'm trying to, for lack of a better word, replicate some of the original finishes for restoration work. So far the stand oil seems to be about the same as the original boiled oil.

Each gunmaker had his own mixture and how he applied it. One method was to soak the stock with a mixture of raw linseed oil and turpentine (2-oil 1-turpentine)many put this coat on warm or hot. European thin shell walnut would take about three or so coats, American black walnut could go as high as twenty+. Once the wood would not take anymore oil and once it was dry they then used boiled linseed oil for the top coat(s).

" One method was to soak the stock with a mixture of raw linseed oil and turpentine (2-oil 1-turpentine)many put this coat on warm or hot."

By soak I would think that meant to immerse the stock in the oil/terp mixture which was possibly heated. Is that your understanding?

Or was it just rubbed on until wood would not take more - i.e. was saturated by the mixture?