Rowney Purified Linseed Oil... What have I gone and done?!?

[Krome10]

Hi all

I'm a complete novice - as you're about to find out!

I have a blessing and a curse. Usually I research everything to the hilt, which means I learn a lot and (try to) do things properly. But the research phase takes an age and the doing is delayed.

But then I went and done the complete opposite. I'm restoring some old retro G-Plan furniture and similar to sell, and the plan was just to clean it up. But it still looked a bit dull afterwards. I then came by a small bottle of Rowney Purified Linseed Oil; I've no idea where it came from! Instead of checking what it was, I just slapped a bit on. It looked good, so I've gone ahead and covered all the furniture in the stuff. Working in the reverse of my usual fashion I then checked out what this stuff is and found that it is used by artists to "reduce the consistency of oil colour and slow down the drying time of your painting".

So have I done something stupid? Or have I accidentally come across a nice finishing oil that hopefully dries quickly and leave a lovely soft sheen while bringing up the grain beautifully?

Cheers

 

[--Tom--]

Linseed oil is a nice finish, takes a while to cure so wipe on and remove any excess. I use it on tool handles and after years of giving them a top up every now and then they have a really nice finish on them. If you can cope with the drying time, and the yellowing of pale woods, linseed oil is great

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Linseed oil is a nice finish, takes a while to cure so wipe on and remove any excess. I use it on tool handles and after years of giving them a top up every now and then they have a really nice finish on them. If you can cope with the drying time, and the yellowing of pale woods, linseed oil is great

True, but the drying time can be weeks or months, unless you use boiled linseed oil that has metallic dryers added. Almost certainly the oil that @Krome10 used is the raw kind

 

[sometimewoodworker]

So have I done something stupid? Or have I accidentally come across a nice finishing oil that hopefully dries quickly and leave a lovely soft sheen while bringing up the grain beautifully?

Stupid? That depends on what you want. Probably yes. Dries quickly? Almost definitely no. “Daler Rowney Purified Linseed Oil reduces the consistency of your oil colours and slows down their drying time.”

For your job I recommend Osmo Polyx

 

[pe2dave]

Having learned a lesson, take another one? Oil products can be removed with white spirits?
And patience.
Then do your research.

 

[Ttrees]

And watch those rags don't self ignite!

 

[Jacob]

Needs rubbing out thin and energetically, several times over a few weeks. Highly recommended for durable and attractive polish but hard work and slow.
French polish caught on and replaced it as a cheap and speedy alternative - shinier but much less durable.
Keep rags in a jam jar or tin with a lid or they can spontaneously burn - not often but there are youtube demos of this and the circumstances have to be just right for it to happen.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

I have no experience of this oil but I think Danish oil would have been a better product to use. You could wipe some Danish oil over the top of the linseed you already have on the furniture, the driers in the Danish oil will mix with the linseed and speed up the drying.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

^^^ I have used BLO over raw linseed with some success, but Danish or a wiping varnish would have been a better one to start with.

 

[Jacob]

If speed isn't the issue then raw linseed on its own produces excellent durable finish. "Better" usually only means "faster".
Cliffe says to rub it out thin and polish energetically with a pad wrapped around a brick.
Woodworker Manual of Finishing and Polishing, Cliffe, Charles D.

 

[thetyreman]

alan peters mentions it in his book and says it takes at least 3 months to fully cure after the final layer of oil, that's presuming it's a pure oil, tung or linseed.

sounds like you have some sort of artists oil which slows down the process of drying? which might explain why it is taking so long.

 

[Jacob]

Thinking about the slow drying time of raw linseed oil - artist painters put paint on thick and it will take a long time.
Polishers and linseed-oil house painters put it on as thin as they can and will dry in a day or so.
Don't know about other oils
PS "dry" - it doesn't "dry" it oxides. If it's been thinned with solvent they will evaporate and dry off but the oil left behind still has to oxidise. Thinners of any sort not needed with linseed-oil house paints, though you can add more oil.

 

[Krome10]

Hi all

So sorry for the radio silence. It's amazing how the days fly by! And with some dry weather of late I've been mostly outdoors and too knackered to do as much as I normally would once back in. Or too lazy maybe

What's odd is that the furniture seemed to be dry by the next day. It certainly felt (and continues to feel) dry and smooth. But maybe someone who knows more about such things would say otherwise if they were here to feel to for themselves.

I'm no artist, but am trying to think of it from the artist's point of view... Without an additive, how quickly would their oil paint dry? With the additive, how long would they WANT the paint to remain "wet"? Surely not weeks / months?

I've written to Daler Rowney to explain what I did and will update here if I get a response.

In terms of rags, I usually put them in a bag and fill the bag with plenty of water. Is that sufficient drfense against spontaneous combustion??

Cheers

 

[smackie]

In terms of rags, I usually put them in a bag and fill the bag with plenty of water. Is that sufficient drfense against spontaneous combustion??

Yup. That’s fine. The main danger is leaving a wad of them discarded in free air. I‘ve had rags catch and smoulder surprisingly quickly just leaving them to one side whilst I worked on a large finish (an arbor being treated with BLO). It was an eye-opener and I’ve been careful working with BLO since.

Now I work with a scrap bucket full of water and the rags go straight in there when they’re used

 

[MARK.B.]

I'm no artist, but am trying to think of it from the artist's point of view... Without an additive, how quickly would their oil paint dry? With the additive, how long would they WANT the paint to remain "wet"? Surely not weeks / months?

Some of the bigger paintings were done over long period sometimes many months often with a palette knife (if that is the correct thing) The artist would still need to be able to work this thicker stuff each time they returned to the picture ,hence the need to slow down the drying.

 

[Krome10]

Thanks for confirming @smackie

And yes, that makes sense @MARK.B. Seems obvious now you've said it, but I hadn't thought of that at all!

Cheers