OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

81031 TomPrice@a... 2000‑07‑16 Re: Cleaning and refinishing wooden planes
Gary wrote:

>In response to the oily substance that never dried. In all 
>likelyhood... boiled linseed oil or even raw linseed oil. Neither of 
>which will ever dry to a hard film. Apply enough boiled linseed oil 
>and you WILL end up with a gloppy sticky mess. In particular when it 
>is warm out.
>
>As for Mr. Jones, whom I have the utmost respect for, he spoke from 
>the accepted knowledge base of the day. Which is to say he spoke from 
>handed down 'truisms' that had little if any basis in hard scientific 
>fact. Jones, as well as Paul Hasluck, wrote regular columns in 
>various craftsman and home handyman journals of the later 19th and 
>early 20th Centuries. Some of their writings where their own and some 
>simply re-tellings of folklore and myth.
(snip)
>If you read the reprints of various early planemakers catalogs, 
>you'll find reference to 'French' and to 'Bright' and to "Best" 
>finish. Oil finish, if referred to, was down the list. My assumption 
>is that most planemakers assumed that if the buyer did not ask for 
>the shellac finish, then the buyer would apply whatever finish was 
>preferred.

Roy Underhill and Michael Dunbar both describe the soaking of unfinished 
wooden planes in linseed oil as a once common practice. I expect that it 
did help stabilize the dimensional movement to some extent and certainly 
would add weight. A lot of wooden planes were used by carpenters in 
more-or-less outdoor settings. Somehow, I don't think those guys cared if 
they had to wipe some oil off of their planes from time to time. 
Thankfully, it wasn't a universal practice.

I've tried to track down references in the Univ. of Delaware libraries to 
degradation of wood via linseed oil and was only able to find a couple of 
abtracts. Apparently raw linseed oil will support the (slow) growth of 
certain fungi. These fungi produce enzymes that will slowly degrade wood, 
which would explain why some wooden planes, without obvious signs of rot, 
don't seem as hard as they should be. I was not able to find articles 
that measured the degradation in hardness, etc. of antique wooden planes 
per se. Such references may exist, but if so are deeply buried in 
conservator's journals and not widely available.

In any event, I seriously doubt that applying small amounts of boiled 
linseed oil as a rubbed on finish would lead to the same problem. Also, 
if you want linseed oil to dry to a nice finish, you have to hand rub on 
several thin coats - simply brushing or wiping it on doesn't work as 
well, in my experience (mainly with gunstocks). The exception is if you 
wipe a thin coat on to 'pop' the grain before following with shellac. The 
shellac dries well with no adhesion problems.
****************************
Tom Price (TomPrice@a...
Will Work For Tools
The Galoot's Progress Old Tools site is at:
http://members.aol.com/tomprice/galootp/galtprog.html



Recent Bios FAQ