I love boiled linseed oil. But I only love it for color.
  BLO helps bleed woods' natural color onto itself, and bring it out.
  One or two wiped coats (wipe on, wipe off) is all you get though.
    More is not better.

   I have learned over years and bitter experience, that BLO wants 
something else on top of it to hold that color. Something that was once 
beautifully rich can turn into grungy looking muck if you don't rub off 
all excess, let that dry, and overcoat the oil with shellac, varnish or 
lacquer.

    Oil with no dryer basically never dries. Or rather it takes so long 
to dry that it gives all manner of things time to collect or grow and 
stain the crap out of your work.
   Even BOL with dryer takes so long to dry, that too much of it invites 
the same thing.

   and,

    No, you can't take a crappy piece of wood and make it rosewood by 
soaking it in a barrel of oil, whatever somebodies granny said or some 
newbie woodworker heard and repeated.
   If you want rosewood, just go get some rosewood and make your tool 
out of that instead.

    If you want to stabilize punky wood (spalted) into a slightly more 
durable object? Thin down shellac, varnish or lacquer with the proper 
solvent and spoon or eyedropper it onto the wood.
  4 to one solvent to start, so it soaks in deepest. Couple coats of that.
  Then 3 to one solvent, and so on.
  It will never be as strong as sound wood, but you don't always need 
full strength wood and the colors of spalt can be dynamite.

   No this treatment won't make it rosewood either.
  Once again, if you want rosewood, use rosewood.
        yours Scott



-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.n
et/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcr
est.net/kitty/hpages/index.html



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