What oil to finish a pine stool?

[Russell Cook]

Hi all,

I'm making a small pine stool, and was wondering what kind of oil would be best to finish it. The wood is a light yellow with golden stripes, very beautiful in my opinion.

I'm looking to give the stool a durable finish if possible, and would prefer a non-toxic oil.

Any advice would be great.

P.S. The pine comes from Finland, but I don't know what species it is

[Christos]

I am thinking boiled linseed oil. I use this for my tool handles.

[Ilya]

I made a set of chairs and used OSMO oil that is available from our local supplier in Canberra. I is quite durable - they use it for flooring. Easy to apply and produces quite a pleasant clear finish - not too glossy, not too dull.

[Robson Valley]

Besides beds, tables, chairs and coffee tables, the Diamond Willow shop down my street makes canes and hiking sticks, about 50 at a time. They use Minwax Tung Oil Finish (3 coats). When they can't smell it, time for the next coat.
DW has amazing color shifts around the diamond figure in the wood. TOF really pulls that up and makes a good, hard finish.

So, I began to use the same thing on a variety of wood carvings, some pine and the rest Western Red Cedar.
I am very pleased with the result. It's faintly yellow, that's OK, really warms up the grain patterns. Satin Varathane and Artist's Gloss Acrylic Varnish are not as nice at all.

[rsser]

If non-toxic is key, Minwax WOP. But I don't have experience with its durability.

For an oil finish with a high resin content, look at FW Scandinavian Oil. You can vary the build and sheen with the number of coats.

[Russell Cook]

Thanks all.

Two more questions if that's OK...

Would any kind of pure oil (e.g. pure tung oil rather than tung oil finish) do the job?

Does boiled linseed oil come ready-boiled or does one have to do that yourself?

[rsser]

BLO is linseed oil with a solvent. Use it out of the bottle. It wouldn't be my first choice on pine.

Another option for an oil finish that has minimal bad stuff (IMO) is Howard's Orange Tung wood oil.

[Big Shed]

Sorry Ern, have to disagree with you.

BLO is Raw Linseed Oil with a small quantity of metallic driers added.

The reason it is called Boiled Linseed Oil, BLO for short, is that it used to be Raw Linseed Oil that was heated to partly polymerise it to make it dry quicker. These days metallic driers achieve the same effect.

[rsser]

I defer to the expert; good to have your opinion here Fred.

Sceneys, if that's the variety in question, say they use non-lead metallic driers.

Lead has been banned from paints and finishes for some time.

My experience with Sceneys is that nonetheless it's slow drying.

[Big Shed]

Yes Ern, that is correct, Lead has been banned for some time. It was used as Lead Naphthenate, but there are other metallic driers that can, and are, used as paint driers.

Even when Lead was used, it was usually a cocktail of Lead, Cobalt and Manganese or Calcium, BLO was very slow in drying.

I am not a great fan of BLO being used as a finish, particularly not used for exterior use.

In combination with poly it makes a useful wipe on finish (eg Danish Oil).