I'm getting near completion of a Huntboard Table and thinking of using an oil finish like Boil Lin Seed Oil (BLO), Danish Oil, or some recipe thereof. I found a recipe using BLO and SPAR varnish. The table is made of white oak and want to have the wood grain show through versus the standard Huntboard paint job.
Your thoughts?
Otoe
1) Forget the spar varnish since it never totally hardens.
I'm no finishing genius, but have made some white oak pieces finished with BLO, followed by bees wax cut with turps.
I'm happy and so is the person who received the stuff.
The instructions are on the BLO can, cut it 2 parts BLO, 3 parts turps or something close.
Apply thin coat with soft rag, allow to drive, then repeat 3-4 times.
Allow to cure a couple of weeks, then wax.
I melted 1/2 lb bees wax in a coffee can that was in a pot of boiling water.
Add 1 cup BLO and 2 cups turps.
(No good reason for the BLO, just did it)
Mix and allow to solidify.
Apply with soft rag.
(If wax is too stiff, remelt and add more turps)
Keep wax covered with plastic lid of the coffee csn.
Nothing special, but I like it.
Lew
Become a label reader. Oil - Danish - X oil "finish" - wipe on X - standard varnishes - are all the same. There's just more resin to solidify the finish with each step. Different resins, too. Alkyd, urethane and phenolic are the three that are most commonly found.
Anything above simple curing oil becomes tougher as the resin to oil ratio increases. I'd go in at the wipe-on level on a huntboard. Stop coating when you have the depth you desire.
Oh yes, spar varnish is a long-oil type with UV inhibiters. Great for outdoor use where temperature changes are regular and ranges are high.
Ingredients lists (sort of) here
Sat, Dec 29, 2007, 8:52pm snipped-for-privacy@none.com (Otoe) doth query: Your thoughts?
I think I'll have a cuppa coffee.
Oh yeah. Use scrap pieces and test finishes until you find one you like.
JOAT If you can read this you're in range.
I've saved end pieces just for this finish testing. Just trying to findout what are the different oil recipes to play with before applying to table.
Otoe
Straight varnish and solvent, 50-50, no oil, or just enough oil to keep the rag from sticking, looks just like oil when hard, with fewer coats and no need to repply every year. Rockhard works well.
Sun, Dec 30, 2007, 8:08pm snipped-for-privacy@none.com (Otoe) doth sayeth: I've saved end pieces just for this finish testing. Just trying to findout what are the different oil recipes to play with before applying to table.
You wants a oil recipe, you gets a oil recipe. Fresh cooking oil. If you don't believe it, check the archives.
JOAT If you can read this you're in range.
try 1 part BLO, 1 part mineral spirits (or turps), 1 part oil based poly.
Wipe it on and let it soak in for about 30 mins. If it get adsorbed during that 30 minutes, wipe on some more tot the dry spots. Wait another 15 minutes or so and wipe off. Repeat after 24 hour. it may take 5-6 coats depending on your taste.
MItch
Go read a book - plenty of good ones out there, but I'd start with Flexner's "Understanding Wood Finishing" or Jeff Jewitt's "Hand- Applied Finishes". His old classic recipes book (can't remember the exact title) is one of the best around for oil recipes, especially if you're doing serious repro work, but it's hard to find.
Apart from that, anything sensible will work and will give you the result it's meant to. The rest is a matter of personal choice, depending on what you want to achieve. You really do need to finish up some decent-size timber samples with a rage of techniques and see how you like them.
I wouldn't use linseed (yellows over time) so use a commercial tung oil-based mixture first, for starters.
I'd also suggest (to get a better looking finish) either plain oil, or shellac over oil, for a piece of furniture, rather than an "oil + varnish" mixture like Danish oil.
Technique can matter too. For producing a "fine finish" to furniture grade, the application technique can often get to be more complex than just slapping it on. Read the index to the last few years of Fine Woodworking.
Thanks, I'll check this out. Rockhard is the brand name?
Otoe
So it's OK to mix BLO with a poly? This would provide a more protective, hard finish as compared to BLO and varnish?
Otoe
Started doing this too. Would you expand on the Danish oil comment? What's with Danish that is unsatisfactory?
I've read about shelac as an undercoating/sanding sealer but does that work OK with BLO, for example. I read an article about a quick finish using oil with shelac before the oil drys.
There are so many combinations and application techniques. I'd hate to spend a lot of time experimenting and then ending up as confused as I started, ha!
Otoe
H. Behlen makes Rockhard Varnish.
I'd second that. I'm partway through Flexner's "Understanding Wood Finishing:" and I'm cursing myself for not getting it sooner. The thing he starts off with is:
You guys are scared of this stuff cause you don't know it. Once you understand it, you won't be.
He also debunks a lot of things he considers myth in the field. Assuming he's right, just that knowledge is going to make my job easier.
Could someone tell me what BLO is please.
Sorry, speed reading problem. Disregard
"varnish" is a general term for any clear coating you put on wood. Poly, alkyd and shellac are all types of varnish (by this definition). I don't think of BLO as a varnish, because it doesn't form a coating (film) on the wood.
Oil based poly can be mixed with MS and BLO is any proportions. The MS evaporates away. the BLO is absorbed into the wood and darkens and enhances the grain. The poly will build up the film finish. So, more poly = more film like finish.
Mitch
Hard to say without more detail - "Danish oil" is a broad term.
There are "short oil" varnishes and "long oil" varnishes. Both are made from mixtures of oil + some varnish resin. "Short" use a little varnish relative to the oil, "long" uses a lot.
Short oil oil varnishes can give excellent results on fine furniture and have a long historical tradition on high-end work. Long oil varnishes are more robust, but never achieve the same finish quality. They have many uses in the workshop, but not on fine furniture. The typical "Daish oil" you might buy today is deliberately intended as a long oil varnish for just this sort of work.
If you want short oil varnishes, then they're still available (try the "Tried & True" range from Lee Valley) but they're quite specialist. They're intended for authenticity and results, not for modern levels of easy use! Many people (myself included) working with short oils are doing it for deliberate repro work of past centuries work and may even be boiling their own oils etc. It's serious stuff and far from trivial "tin-opening" work. Read Jeff Jewitt's "Classic Finishing Techniques" if you want chapter and verse. I spent most of today boiling up a couple of litres of lead-dried linseed oil - filthy job!
Thank you for the clarification,
Otoe
My current favorite finish is similar: 1/3 BLO, 1/3 tung oil, 1/3 poly. This has been attributed to Sam Maloof. The only downside is that it will yellow lighter woods like maple. Actually, that may not be a downside if it appeals.
It makes a good finish for a table -- fairly durable and very easy to repair. Just lightly sand the problem area and wipe on more finish. I used it on a kitchen table a couple of years ago and it is doing fine.
I'll top it off with a wax made of 1/3 BLO, 1/3 Tung oil, 1/3 bees wax. You need to grate the bees wax and dissolve it in the oils while warming them in a double boiler.
If I really want to pop the grain, I'll start with 1/2 tung oil, 1/2 mineral spirits.
-- Doug
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