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Old December 23, 2013, 11:51 AM   #35
MadMetalManiac74
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Join Date: December 23, 2013
Posts: 7
Quote:
Good quality BLO works perfectly well & the finish is absolutely indistinguishable from regular linseed oil once it has dried. Avoid the cheap bargain brands & you'll be perfectly fine. The only real world difference is the drying time, everything else is pretty much the same in practical terms.
There seems to be a huge misunderstanding of the differences of oils especially cold pressed raw vs. boiled which are two completely different oils and will NOT give you the same finish.

inseed oil is probably the most confusing of oils to choose from. This is due to several variations of the oil that are commonly available. Linseed oil in its most pure form is pressed from the flax seed and filtered. This oil is also known as flax seed oil. This cold pressed oil is rich in fatty acids. These fatty acid's are responsible for the deep red patina that develops on our rifle stocks with age. The acid specifically responsible for this is linolenic acid. These fatty acids also slow the cure process making raw linseed oil one of the slowest curing oils available. This unprocessed oil is the one we want to use on our rifle stocks to produce an authentic patina with time.

Raw linseed oil sold by many companies today isn't raw in the form we discussed above. This type of oil should be called refined linseed oil. The art community around the 15th century began to seek ways to convert raw linseed oil into a form that didn't yellow or change colors with time. This was important because the artists didn't want their colors to yellow with time. To address the problems of yellowing the method of refining the oil was developed.

A process was devised where the fatty acids could be extracted from the linseed oil. Refined linseed oil is slightly faster curing then its raw form but will not develop the red patina with time. To add to the confusion, products marketed by companies like the Sunnyside Corporation as "Pure Raw Linseed oil" are actually "Pure Refined Linseed oil". These oils are solvent extracted from the flax seed and the fatty acids are removed.

Before you purchase a raw linseed oil product, verify with the manufacturer that the oil has NOT been refined. A form of refined linseed oil called "Bleached linseed oil" is sometimes available at art stores. This is a refined oil that has undergone additional refining to allow it flow better in paint.

Boiled linseed oil is the form that most users are familiar with. This oil is commonly available at all hardware outlets today. Boiled linseed oil starts out as a refined linseed oil with the fatty acids removed. Metallic additives, known as "Siccatives" are added to the oil to speed up the crosslinking process. These additives can be Cobalt or manganese salts. Zirconium, Calcium or Zinc salts are also used. In some cases Lead and barium salts are sometimes added. This allows the oil to cure in 12-24 hours. Boiled linseed oil will never develop the deep red patina that we see on USGI stocks today. I'll say that again :-)

Boiled linseed oil will never developed the red oxidation that cold pressed raw oil will.
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