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Trying boiled linseed oil finish

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JW_Halverson:
I finished out a hackberry bendy handle Eastern Woodland-inspired bow just the other day. I laid on some walnut stain and gave her 24 hours for the stain to dry. I have been using shellac almost exclusively for a while now because it is such a nice finish, can be laid up quick, and will reduce to a matte finish with a few strokes of some very fine steel wool.

But this bow is gonna look a little more rustic, so I am going with an oil. And that's where the collective hive-mind comes into play. For those of you that use BLO, what are your tips and tricks?

Pat B:
John, on my earlier bows I would wipe down the finished bow with turpentine to remove the dust and to penetrate a little into the wood. Then I would hand rub with boiled linseed oil into the wood. I'd hand rub it to produce heat from the friction to help it penetrate the wood. I'd them give it a few days to dry. I don't think it's enough protection here in the east but the drier west it might be different.
 I know Jay Massey used French polish in his earlier days, even hunting in wet Alaska. French polish is linseed oil and shellac, hand rubbed into the bow wood.
 Maybe adding a little bees wax to the linseed oil would give a little more protection.

Mo_coon-catcher:
I use it in some things like my walking stick or some tools I use enough  to think to apply a coat every now and then. I slather it on heavy to start with, let it soak for a few minutes before I wipe off t he excess and rub the snot out of it. If your hand isn’t wanting to blister your rubbing enough. Repeat a coat every day or two for the next couple weeks. Once this fully cures it’s actually a pretty good finish. I used just BLO on my black cherry walking stick last summer and put a coat on periodically and t looks good. Even after a heavy rain you can’t even tell it’s been wet. It just takes several coats and time to let y he oil polymerize to get a solid finish.

Kyle

Hamish:
 "French polish is linseed oil and shellac, hand rubbed into the bow wood."
True, but to avoid confusion for those that haven't done it, the oil is used as a lubricant on the pad, to help application rather than as a necessary part of the mixture. I personally don't bother with oil when french polishing. I knock down any runs, or spot build up between coats by wiping with alcohol, and or steel wool between coats.

Boiled linseed oil as a finish is OK, but it still takes longer to dry than other finishing oils which have more driers, like tung, or Danish oil. Quicker drying allows a quicker build up of layers, for a rich finish.

Pappy:
I use it quite often on knife and ax handles, horns or bone projects, it's a good finish but like has been said , don't get in a hurry, it helps if you will put it in the sun as it dries, I wipe on another coat every day or 2 for a week or more, then maybe once a year wipe it down with a coat.  :)
 Pappy

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