# Are there any alternatives to boiled linseed oil?



## SmilingFury

If I could trouble the masters out there for some info, that would be great.
I was wondering if there is an alternative to boiled linseed oil for bringing out the grain in wooden naturals? 
What I am looking for is a readily available type of oil or wood treatment for pre wax finishing. A half a liter is like €35-40( $47-$52) here in France due to some eco legislation and it cannot be shipped here from the UK by amazon. Let me know if I am missing an obvious substitute.
Olive oil? Wood stain? I don't know...

Help a city boy out please. I appreciate any info.

Thanks for any help,
SF

PS: for ridiculously annoying reasons that there is no need to get into, a CA finish is not what I am looking for at this time.


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## rockslinger

I really like Tru Oil by Birchwood Casey, a gun stock finishing oil.

I don't know if you have it there.


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## SmilingFury

I will look and see if I can find it. Thanks. Do you have any pics of any slingshots with it on it by any chance?


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## SmilingFury

rockslinger said:


> I really like Tru Oil by Birchwood Casey, a gun stock finishing oil.
> I don't know if you have it there.


Amazon.fr ( french amazon) has it for over 40€ 41.30 which is about $57 . This is for an 8oz bottle! This has to be some kind of joke!






. Is this what it should cost?! Forgive my ignorance if it is...

Nope! This is ridiculous amazon usa won't ship it here but they have it for less than $15!!! I am NOT paying $57 for a $15 item . That is stupid. Amazon.fr is stupid.


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## dan ford

+1 on the tru oil . Try your local gun store they may stock it .


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## e~shot

SmilingFury said:


> Amazon.fr ( french amazon) has it for over 40€ 41.30 which is about $57 . This is for an 8oz bottle! This has to be some kind of joke!


try it from Ebay... or go back to USA


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## rockslinger

I got a small bottle at Sportsmans Warehouse for $6.99 I believe a few days ago. I'm finishing one with it now, will post when complete.

Bob Fionda uses camillia oil.


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## SmilingFury

Ebay france has it for 22-26$ for a 3 ounce bottle! This is crazy the prices here are ridiculous!

NOW YOU GUYS SEE WHY I MAKE ALL MY STUFF OUT OF POLYMORPH??!! No stain no wax no tru oil no BLO.

The french are trying to keep me from making nattys!!! This is an act of passive aggression on their part and I am not going to take it! Hahaha! I will figure out how to get my tru oil and my feednwax!! Mark my words!!

Just F( no smiling)


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## e~shot

Why don't you try Mineral Oil?"


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## SmilingFury

e~shot said:


> Why don't you try Mineral Oil?"


How does that look when it is done? How long does it take to dry?(i have a bottle that I brought from the usa. i use it on all my pocket folding knives so they are safe for food.)


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## e~shot

SmilingFury said:


> e~shot said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why don't you try Mineral Oil?"
> 
> 
> 
> How does that look when it is done? How long does it take to dry?(i have a bottle that I brought from the usa. i use it on all my pocket folding knives so they are safe for food.)
Click to expand...

Still not tried yet... (hard to find here)


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## Withak

How about Tung oil, Lemon Oil, Orange Oil? All are good options and the last two may be products you can more easily obtain in country. If you want to see results for a particular oil finish on different woods, I've found YouTube to be a good resource. For example, search "lemon oil finish" and you're going to find at least one or two videos showing the results.

Here is one to get you started - he happens to use blends of various oils and poly, but you get the general idea:


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## Withak

Oh, and I forgot about Danish Oil - don't know if you can get that there either?

Here's one more video showing various wood finishes - he starts with BLO, but again, it's nice to see how the results vary:


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## Withak

Here is one more I found that I think I'm going to try myself - sells for under $10 here in the US, not sure if it would be available where you are or if there is a similar product - it's a mix of beeswax, carnuba wax and orange oil - maybe France wouldn't be so restrictive of this stuff?


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## rockslinger

Withak said:


> Here is one more I found that I think I'm going to try myself - sells for under $10 here in the US, not sure if it would be available where you are or if there is a similar product - it's a mix of beeswax, carnuba wax and orange oil - maybe France wouldn't be so restrictive of this stuff?


This is pretty good, I use it quite a bit!


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## SmilingFury

I intend on getting the feednwax for a sealer. I thought danish oil is the same as BLO. Is it?

Hey rockslinger, have you tried the feednwax with nothing before? Only using that stuff with no oil treatment previous? Or just as a sealer after another oil?


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## Withak

SmilingFury said:


> I intend on getting the feednwax for a sealer. I thought danish oil is the same as BLO. Is it?
> 
> Hey rockslinger, have you tried the feednwax with nothing before? Only using that stuff with no oil treatment previous? Or just as a sealer after another oil?


Danish oil is usually a blend of oils, including BLO or Tung, depends on the brand and formulation. Tru oil also contains BLO.


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## SmilingFury

Thank you withak, I really appreciate it.

SF


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## rockslinger

SmilingFury said:


> I intend on getting the feednwax for a sealer. I thought danish oil is the same as BLO. Is it?
> 
> Hey rockslinger, have you tried the feednwax with nothing before? Only using that stuff with no oil treatment previous? Or just as a sealer after another oil?


No I haven't, but the directions on it says for finished and unfinished wood so it would be fine.


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## SmilingFury

I happen to have mineral oil here in the house but have never even read of anyone using it here on the forum. Nor have I for wood polish. I will get the feednwax and give this a shot with the mineral oil. I will post the results either way.


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## leon13

äh just in case thats what u looking for :

http://www.birchwoodcasey-deutschland.de/holzpflege.html

drop me a note they send it every where

cheers


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## VillageSniper

Available finishes for prewax are numerous. Namely a French polish technique, which would use several coats of shellac initially. A nice creamy wax you can make is the Finn mix or Tom's 1/3 mix, equal parts bees wax, turpentine and BLO, after a very thin initial coat of linseed oil, and is buffed in with steel wool. I think it looks great and the cream you make can be used for maintenance over time. Thinned tung oil works great when wet sanded and waxed. Like stated Tru-oil is very nice and dries fast. To make grain really pop out of a bland piece of wood you should use a product like bone black filler or artists charcoal, or a very thin dark dark stain, just used to highlight grain. Practially any finish can be waxed over in the end. I really don't know if mineral oil will harden over time or will just soften the wood after application.

Vs


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## eggy22

I use CCL gun-stock oil .


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## SmilingFury

Thanks VS and eggy. I think I might be able to get some tru oil. They have some law that really taxes these liquids heavy here and stuff is 4times the cost. A $10.00 bottle of feednwax back home is $45 here. So crazy. I was really surprised. Thanks for the help fellas. Much appreciated.


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## Hrawk

"Tru-Oil' is made from a mixture of 56% mineral paint thinners, 33% oil varnish and 11% linseed or Tung oil."


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## Withak

SmilingFury said:


> Thanks VS and eggy. I think I might be able to get some tru oil. They have some law that really taxes these liquids heavy here and stuff is 4times the cost. A $10.00 bottle of feednwax back home is $45 here. So crazy. I was really surprised. Thanks for the help fellas. Much appreciated.


That's ridiculous. Does that tax also apply if you receive a 'gift' from someone out of country? Just wondering if there are creative ways to make it a bit cheaper.


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## SmilingFury

It is already in the price. I went to bith ebay and amazon for the usa and for the UK and for France. The UK won't ship here in most cases. The usa price was super cheap compared to the inflated french price. All the same exact product. At first i thought the price difference was because I was comparing a bottle to a box of bottles, but nope. The feednwax is 34€ which is about 45-46$ . It costs less than $10 on amazon and ebay for the usa.

Funny story, my wife had her mother in new york send her a dress that we left back home when we moved here. The dress is worth a few hundred dollars but my wife owned it for over 6months. When it got here, I had to pay the courier 30€ or about $40 tax on the dress! My french is really bad so I spent a half an hour telling the courier that it was already her dress and we were not buying it. Called my wife, paid the man, shook my head. It has been a very cool adventure here, but some days I miss home an awful lot.

Be well,
SF


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## SmilingFury

Hrawk said:


> "Tru-Oil' is made from a mixture of 56% mineral paint thinners, 33% oil varnish and 11% linseed or Tung oil."


Let's just call me thick when it comes to what is good and what is bad about treating wood forks. Is the high level of thinners a bad thing for the slingshot ? Or are you just poking fun at the name? As it is mostly not oil...
I would want to know before I ask someone to buy it for me. Thanks hrawk.


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## Hrawk

No poking fun at all.

I've always used and promoted a 50/50 mix of Mineral Thinner and Linseed oil for best results.

The thinning of the oils allows for deeper penetration of the wood pores and will then evaporate fairly quickly aiding in drying time.

It does create a slightly thinner finish than say linseed alone however I overcome this by using one long soak (24-48 hours) followed by a few wipe on applications of the same mix.

Take a peek at THIS thread for some results pictures.


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## SmilingFury

Thanks Hrawk. I believe this tru oil is wipe on though. Should I be looking to soak a natty in the tru oil? Or just wipe on and repeat after it dries?


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## Hrawk

Pretty much always follow the manufacturers instructions.

Good chance they have done a LOT more testing than me


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## ash

Plenty of good suggestions here so far.

You may find linseed oil also sold as flaxseed oil in supermarkets or health food stores. Could well be cheaper in that form. It may not be boiled, but should still work fine.

I think you want to stick to hardening oils for a slingshot. Mineral oil and olive oil will work, but they won't harden like linseed, tung or others. Walnut oil is another foody one that will work. Or camellia oil as already suggested.

Danish oil and Tru-oil often contain polyurethane varnish or resin based varnish, which is what makes them so easy to apply and dry. You may be able to find a plain old varnish at a hardware store, thin it down with turpentine and add some kind of oil (start with equal parts of each if you want to experiment). Cabinet makers in my workshop use this instead of Danish oil. These kinds of oils are designed to wipe on rather than soak in, hence the high price for a tiny volume.

Beeswax, carnuba wax or a mix of bee/carnuba and candle wax is an alternative to oils. I prefer oil first, then wax, (better colour and depth) so maybe olive, flaxseed or walnut oil followed by beeswax?


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## SmilingFury

Ok, someone out there loves me!! I have BLO and feednwax coming from america and hopefully some tru oil from germany. I have only 5 forks to oil/wax. I hope the learning curve is steep...


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## ruthiexxxx

Rustin's Danish Oil would be my choice too. Liberon make one similar and i think i may have bought this from bricomarche in France.

Strange about Linseed oil...it's for nothing here in Spain and available at every ferreteria.


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## D.Nelson

I use the FeednWax and I think it works great and dries fast.


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## BrotherDave

If you want to try food type hardening oils as Ash suggests ("siccative" oils, learned it on the forum), I found these at Walmart grocery for about $5. (Plus, in a survival situation you can lick the handle for a few calories. Saves more lives than those paracord wrapped handles ever will )


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## filipino_saltik

try to go to a school supplies or oil painting store they have blo they use it to delute oil colors i buy mine in school supplies store.


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## Rathunter

e~shot said:


> Why don't you try Mineral Oil?"


+1

it is non-toxic. Actually it is food safe.

excuse the pun, but Old English brand lemon oil is almost pure mineral oil.


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## Dead Bunny

I like Teak Oil, it gives the wood a nice look and dosent attract ants, whenever I use linseed oil the slingshot is covered in ants within minutes. 

I have also used feed n wax before and it gives nice results with or without a pre-oil finish.


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## stinger

Do not use olive oil. It will/can rot/spoil.....yucky. A small bottle of Tru oil properly stored and properly used will last a LOOOONG time. If you simply can't spend the money. There are great recipes on YouTube for your own. Feed and wax is IMO only so so. Can I ship you tru oil (legally)? Figure it out, pay shipping, I'll send you more than you can use in two years, no sweat. I bought a 16oz bottle that I won't go through in five+ years. PM me, we can work it out. Tru oil is awesome, worth the homework (about legal shipping) and the wait from me.


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## stinger

stinger said:


> Do not use olive oil. It will/can rot/spoil.....yucky. A small bottle of Tru oil properly stored and properly used will last a LOOOONG time. If you simply can't spend the money. There are great recipes on YouTube for your own. Feed and wax is IMO only so so. Can I ship you tru oil (legally)? Figure it out, pay shipping, I'll send you more than you can use in two years, no sweat. I bought a 16oz bottle that I won't go through in five+ years. PM me, we can work it out. Tru oil is awesome, worth the homework (about legal shipping) and the wait from me.


Sorry, looks like you are set. I didn't scan before posting. Something doesn't work out, PM me. Good luck.


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## Chuck Daehler

When I was young before Custer was a private when Washington was a Boy Scout, I tried all sorts of finishes that I could find locally and in a small Midwestern hick town there were not a lot of choices. I tried Spar varnish, light thinned coats, worked pretty well actually, allowing it to dry a week each thin coat for several coats. I tried Linspeed, was a BLO preparation I bought at our local small dusty gun shop with a real pot belly stove to heat it, and it worked quite well giving a lusterous finish like a varnish, hand rubbed on until hot in thin coats and allowed to polymerize a few days, then another thin hand rubbed coat. As to what else was in it I don't know, maybe it was just BLO marketed at a higher price than what you'd pay for raw linseed and boil it yourself.

I tried mineral oil on a couple pretty beaten up crappy old gun stocks laying around from customizations I did in high school, spiffed up with new Fagen stock blanks. It only made them oily and greasy and attracted dirt...it never polymerized/dried. I later chucked them in the fire place giving them a good Christian rite of death. With the oil in them they burned like sixty as tinder. Afterall, mineral oil comes from crude oil that's been around for millions of years and is still liquid. I would stay away from mineral oils unless you want an oily sort of gunky result. (gunky is a tech word of course).

Last year I made a frame and used only a 24 hour soak in raw linseed. I wiped it off and allowed it sit in my warm solarium for two weeks, the oil polymerized pretty well by then. I wiped it again and sort of buffed with a T shirt rag and it looked pretty good. Boiling linseed only speeds up the polymerization process once it's applied to the wood, and thickens and darkens it a bit.

Cactus Juice as it's affectionately termed, with immersion in it in a bath, inside a vacuum chamber seems to work very well for some members here who've posted the results, it's a catalyzing liquid that has an "activator" and shelf life of about a year if sealed after the catalyst is added...but in the presence of oxygen it hardens up to seal and impregnate the wood well, as reported by those who use it. Essentially it plasticizes the wood.

Other than the mixes of turpentine, bee's wax and other stuff and such that are concocted by members with good results, I dunno of any more.


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## Slingster

I carve a lot of spoons and bowls and always use walnut oil or flaxseed oil. Flaxseed oil is also the same as raw linseed oil. I think the flaxseed oil works best, but walnut works well too.


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## Shawn Rorrer

Withak said:


> How about Tung oil, Lemon Oil, Orange Oil? All are good options and the last two may be products you can more easily obtain in country. If you want to see results for a particular oil finish on different woods, I've found YouTube to be a good resource. For example, search "lemon oil finish" and you're going to find at least one or two videos showing the results.
> 
> Here is one to get you started - he happens to use blends of various oils and poly, but you get the general idea:


I use all of them. Tung oil, orange oil, linseed. Just depends on the look I'm after.


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## snydes

I just use Danish Oil - works fine for the "exotic" woods - has a great feel to it. For american hardwoods, I prefer a harder lacquer finish.


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## High Desert Flipper

Echoing much of what was said above- not a master but I prefer tung oil to BLO. And while great, tung oil is second to tru-oil oil for me, tru-oil is the best I have found but costs about twice what tung oil does, and the tung still does a bang up great job. I am about 50/50 between them for the bows I make.


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## SJAaz

Martin guitars uses 3in1 oil on the finger boards of their guitars. 
Can you get tung oil?
Can you get varnish?
Can you get turpentine?
If so...Mix a small amount of that 1/3 of each. Can't be all bad, people using it for hundreds of years. A little slow to dry because the oil is soaking in to the wood. Once dry very durable.


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