Boiled Linseed Oil Questions

[Seeking 56]

I've recently finished a Leopard wood lure.  I chose this wood because of it's unique grain pattern and desire to clear coat it with etex. 

 

Fearing that the clearcoat would eventually get punctured, I thought about waterproofing it with boiled linseed oil.

 

I've never worked with linseed oil but from what I've read it seems to be the best waterproofer for wood.

 

Does anyone know first off, if linseed oil will darken the wood and wether or not it will allow etex to adhere to it.

 

Thanks

s54

[diemai]

I have years of experience with boiled linseed oil , it was recommended in a certain luremaking book over here well about 12 years ago or maybe even more .

 

It says to soak your lure blanks in a 50/50 mixture of turpentine and boiled linseed oil for 3-5 days , after let dry for 2-3 weeks , ....at least until the timber would have lost the smell of it .

 

Through the years I have tried this method on abachewood , lime(basswood) , teak and local pinewood lure blanks , ......and I've found , that it is only suited for the lighter and less dense abache wood .

 

During the past two years I've also done it with a few natural slingshot forks from birchwood , but not painted these afterwards , but just waxed them .

 

As for lures again , ......lime did lose too much of its yet already smaller buoyancy , teak remains somewhat tacky due to it's oil contents and pine also generates some kind of reactions caused by the resin contents , some blanks did split up or I had problems with paint adhesion .

 

Finally abache reacts quite well , ......the waterproofing works well either , .....I have some abache lures more than 10 years old , their bite marks and hook rashes reach down to the sheer wood , ...still using them each season again , and they do not seem to soak up water , .......being topwater lures , I never sensed them to get to hang deeper in the water after a while of use .

 

But also a big drawback with these :

 

After months or years the linseed oil treatment might cause brighter colors on your lures to become somewhat brownish , in worst case some very ugly and dark brown stains would evolve underneath the lures topcoat .

 

It will not neccessarely happen to every lure , but also it is unpredictable , ......I believe , that it depends on the individual grain of every single piece of timber used , .......somehow a little share of the linseedoil mixture sets inside of it and does not entirely evaporate from the blank during the drying process and causes the problem after a longer period of time .

 

But as I've said , does not happen to all of my lures .

 

Also it is more likely to happen , when solvent based primers and color paints are used , .........so any acrylic paints should be a better option .

 

I've also found , that if a lure turns brown on it's white belly after while , this would not happen on spots , where ballast was glued into the belly , ....my last bunch of linseed oil treated abache lures I've primed with two coats of epoxy prior to the acrylic white primer and acrylic paint pattern(after 3 epoxy topcoats again) , ...just to separate the primer and color paints from the sheer wood , ........but just did it recently , ...time will tell , whether my theory would be right and no more brown stains would reach the surface of the lure .

 

Even , if everything should work out well , ...your wood would turn a little darker after the treatment , woodgrains will show more pronounced , ....looking good on ntural slingshot forks IMO .

 

So well , ....you see , that linseed oil is quite tricky in conjunction with paints , ......guess , it's rather more suited for gun stocks , natural slingshots or similar , .......all of other timbers but abache I'm dipping into ordinary liquid wood sealer from the tool mart , just to have a little protection ,......there are better sealing methods around , f. e. just yesterday I've started to dissolve propionate pellets in acetone , wanna try this sealing method for the first time , as I've finally found a source for the pellets in Europe .

 

                          good luck , diemai

Edited January 17, 2013 by diemai

[diemai]

Forgot to mention , ......when applying epoxy topcoat straight on sealer treated timber , no matter what linseed oil or the wood sealer from the tool mart , it tends to "de-mix" on the blanks surface somehow , leaving some spots uncovered after having cured .

 

To encounter this problem , one should use the  brush to spread the setting epoxy over the blanks surface as long as possible , just almost until it reaches it's jelly condition(I'm using fast curing epoxy exclusively) .

 

But a second or even third epoxy layer would even out the problem entirely .

 

                            Good luck , diemai

.

[littleriver]

Seeking 54

 

I have tried similar with making naked red cedar baits. It did darken the wood a bit and the epoxy would pull away from the wood when the bait was bruised(dented) from a drop or hitting a rock. the bruises were readily visible. I suggest you try a test piece before using your lure.

[Seeking 56]

This is exactly what I needed to hear guys!!  Thanks so much!

 

As a result, I will experiment on some Leopardwood scraps and see the results.  If it works I will build another one.

 

But for now, I have a theory on to waterproof the wood prior to etex.  Let me know if I'm in left field on this one.  I plan on progressively sanding it up to 2000 grit sandpaper, to achieve a mirror shine.  I believe this would thighten the grain and not easily absorb water if the wood gets punctured.

 

Your thoughts on this?

 

s54

[Ggeorge]

As woodworker by trade I can tell you that regardless of how you sand, the capillary (veins that carry sap) structure of the wood remains the same. In other words whatever size the pores in the wood are, they remain that size despite appearing smoother due to fine sanding or machining. It is thru these veins or pores that moisture enters wood and begins the rotting process. You can't change that and realistically you can't prevent it either. There is always some moisture content in wood so you trap that inside with sealants such as linseed or lacquer or whatever. Eventually your lure or furniture or whatever wood item you've tried to seal will break the seal because the moisture trapped inside will cause expansion when there are barometric or temperature changes outside the wood. This expansion results in microscopic cracks in an otherwise perfect seal coat. Over time these increase and grow until new moisture from outside can now enter the wood and the process accelerates.

 

So no simple fine sanding will not seal wood. In reality nothing really can seal wood perfectly. You choose the best option for the function you want, apply sensible maintenance and get the best mileage you can. I'd look to the experts here for the best option for sealing lures with clear coats.

[Sonny.Barile]

Salt water surf plug builders use BLO all the time. It is an absolutely necessary step for the type of plug that has a hole thru the center and a swivel as the belly hanger.  The thru wiring in these plugs is usually done after the lure is painted and top coated. They pass the wire thru the body hole and the swivel and then wrap the ends. Poke around on some eastcoast striper sites and you will see plenty of how to's.............

[Sonny.Barile]

The site listed here has a wealth of info on sealing woods with BLO.

 

Hope this helps....

 

http://www.stripers247.com/phpBB2/

[Seeking 56]

Will check that link out Sonny!

 

Thanks for the input guys.

 

 

s54

Edited January 18, 2013 by seeking 54

[Nathan]

Seeking54,

It stands for Boiled Linseed Oil....Nathan

[Seeking 56]

Thanks Nathan, I clued in. I was editing when you were replying LoL!