You're comparing apples with oranges. BLO isn't applied in the thick quantities that you're describing.
It definitely does dry. I have been restoring antique furniture for 35 years from the period that used a lot of oil and it forms a hard skin close to and at the surface of the wood. Maybe your experience is limited or your technique needs reviewing.
Some really nice (and expensive) furniture finished in BLO and wax...and some of it us used heavily in institutional settings.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
The other thing to consider is that BLO requires oxygen to cure. It's well known, or at least it should be well known, that it won't ever cure in a blob as oxygen can't get to most of the BLO, and in fact the whole point of the "boiling" process is to promote this curing. So if you don't apply the BLO correctly, i.e. if you're painting it on like house paint, it will never cure and you will have a perpetually tacky, ugly finish.
You know, there's a reason why BLO soaked rags spontaneously combust, and it has everything to do with the exothermic curing process that it undergoes when exposed to oxygen. Next we'll be claiming this is a myth too.
Your first statement is absolutely TRUE ... I have extremely limited experience with that stuff, as I refuse to use it !!! The second part is FALSE for exactly the same reason ...
Lemme ask you this ... if it won't dry out in the open air, how can you possibly believe it will dry IN the wood ??? or are we back on the magical polymerization track once again ???
Last edited by Chris Padilla; 12-16-2010 at 11:10 AM.
Thanks for making my case ... if it can't dry/cure/whatever in the open air ... it certainly can't do so embedded in a piece of wood with a topcoat over it. Rags soaked in 10-W30 will spontaneooulsy combust as well ... slop some on your next project. Oh ... and it's NOT an EXOTHERMIC CURING PROCESS ... it's an exothermic chemical reaction with oxygen that makes that happen. "CURING" implies a chamical change is taking place ... this stuff will be the same a year from now.
OK .. OK .. you guys find fault with the glass test ... try this ...
A paper towel is made from what ??? Cellulose fibers .. wood. Soak a paper towel in your magic finish .. blot off as much as you can .. hang it out explosed to the atmosphere for a year or so, and see if it ever did dry.
Does it dry? Yes. Does it go hard? No.
Oilcloth used to be made with linseed oil. It dried in the cloth and remained flexible enough to be made into sou'westers, oilskin coats, tents etc. However, if the host is rigid (like wood), then the dry oil will effectively be as hard as the wood it has impregnated.
Well, this is turning into a very informative, albeit lively, discussion. Timely for me because I'm about to start exploring for the best way to finish cherry.
Paul Snyder's website has a pretty good discussion about finishing cherry (www.finishwiz.com). On the home page click on Cherry. In the section on "Oils and Oil Finishes" he has an example where he used both BLO and Danish oil on the same cherry sample piece with lacquer as a top coat. Interesting comment by Paul: "I don't know which is which and they both look the same."
Look to Charles Neil's website for a great perspective on finishing woods that are prone to blotching .. including Cherry. I just finishes a large Federal Style Bookcase using his advice and his product. It turned out great with absolutely no blotching .. no color mismatch between heartwood/sapwood/veneered ply. Blotch control coupled with dye is the easiest and most spectacular method I've seen. Oh ... before anyone comments ... I have no affiliation with Charles other than being a satisfied customer.
https://charlesneilwoodworking.3dcar...trol_p_47.html
Here's some more great advice from a "furniture refinish expert" .. .. .. http://www.refinishfurniture.com/finishwood.htm
Linseed Oil, Boiled
Linseed Oil was the choice of the old timers.
I put the boiled after the linseed oil to draw attention to it rather than to indicate that there will be other types covered. The other type is raw linseed oil, it will never dry, but will become gummy and sticky, so be sure to get BOILED linseeed oil if you decide on that kind of finish.
Linseed oil gives a fantastic finish, but you need a year to apply it. The general rule of thumb for a linseed oil finish is once an hour for a day, once a day for a week, once a week for a month and once a month for a year. The finish was usually french polished once a year after that. That's a lot of work.
Lemme' see .... 24 + 7 + 4 + 12 = 47 COATS of linseed oil and it takes a year ... THEN you topcoat with shellac !!!!