Question re: Painting Prep Work

[Irish]

Kenny, try cutting the linseed oil half and half with turpentine. That will thin the oil enough that you get a good soaking deep into the grain but will dry much better then one thick coating. I will use three or four thinned coats for a final finish. Plus it doesn't puddle up in the fine v-gouge detailing.

Heavy applications of linseed oil can 'skim' over so that you think it's dry all the way through the oil but really only the top area are dry.

Susan

[Big_Al]

I don't know who is giving you advice on linseed oil - BUT for your information, boiled linseed oil will dry, while regular linseed oil is made NOT TO DRY. Big Al

[Kenny_S]

I have used both and knew BLO would dry and Linseed oil or the kind I got would not dry. However, I am going to try the turpentine and artist linseed mixture.
Thanks

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

Linseed Oil 101: Pure linseed oil is extracted from flax seed and is food grade. Much of the American "pure" inseed oil is not pure, but has been chemically extracted from the seeds and is not food grade. Pure linseed oil is a drying oil, but takes a long time, a week or more in very thin coats. Boiled linseed oil has additives added to facilitate drying time and make it act like boiled pure linseed oil. Boiling pure linseed oil will make it dry faster, but usually the reason for heating it is to enhance it's penetraction qualities when it is used as a preservative on things such as fence posts, wagon beds, etc. Any linseed oil, pure or boiled, to ensure good penetration and faster drying time, should be applied in very thin coats and rubbed in.