What should I do

[tazchris]

Howdy to you all,I have a piece of furniture that has about 4 coats of Linseed oil on.The oil has not hardened,after at least 2 years since applied,and I can see finger prints in the surface.I am wondering what should I do?I want to bring out the timber's beautiful grain and thought oiling was the best way.Is a total re-pollishing the only way to fix this?Any suggestions would be great.Cheers

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

2 years? It sounds like you may've well'n'truly over-saturated the wood... a coat of Linseed should be dry well within a week and BLO within a couple of days.

Personally, I'd wipe it down with a cloth lightly dampened with thinners (only enough to remove excess surface oil) and then buff it with a good beeswax/carnauba combo. It'd still be a high-maintenance finish though.

I guess you could lightly wash it down with thinners, waiting a few days between applications, until the oil stops rising to the surface and then apply a different finish, but you run the risk of overdoing it and having the thinners penetrate the surface, affecting colour or causing splotchiness.

Mind you, all the above is only based on my experiences with using Linseed Oil as a finish on turnings... so it may be different when used on panels/furniture. I shouldn't think so, though.

(I'm sure one of the more knowledgable finishing gurus will give better advice, but sometimes I can't help throwing my 2c worth in the ring. )

[tazchris]

Thanks for the suggestion.I shall give it a go.
Here goes the start of another project.