bto

Bachman-Turner Overdrive?

BLO is foodsafe as long as I leave it set for a long enough period of time as I am confident that the metalic driers/salts/chemicals are sufficiently evaporated, bound or otherwise inert to not cause potential problems. That pretty much amounts to a month or two .... or three. Whatever makes you feel comfortable.

I use all kinds of things for my kitchenware. I don't use commercial formulas. I can't trust what they have in there from one batch to the next. I make my own and know exactly what's there every time. Various ingredients include mineral oil, walnut oil, tung oil (the real stuff and not "Tung Oil Finish" which may or may not have any Tung Oil in there but will almost certainly have solvents, etc.) beeswax, carnauba wax, paraffin wax and about anything naturally non-toxic in nature.

Walnut oil is great and I use it all the time too. It's fairly cheap; easy to use; penetrates wood well enough; dries/cures pretty quickly. Just to be safe, I always note in my tags that the item is finished in walnut oil in case there's concern with customers about walnut allergies. I'm not aware that walnut oil causes problems with those with nut allergies but I'll let them make up their own minds.

- Andrew

I missed a thread about Bachman Turner Overdrive?

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September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

how does it compare to tung oil(I'm looking for something to really make the grain stand out.

Walnut, BLO and Tung Oil (again, I always remind people that there's also Tung Oil Finish which is different stuff) will all make the grain "pop" or stand out. Personally, I think the Tung Oil does better at that on spalted woods but it's not a great amount different. Most BLO's will yellow with age but will dry quicker if nothing else is done to the Tung or Walnut. Tung tends to darken with age and just plain make the wood darker than the others upon application. Walnut is easier to find than Tung but isn't as durable. I could go on but suffice it to say that there's all kinds of considerations.

Purely to answer your question: Walnut or Tung (as most oils and mixtures such as varnishes, etc. with them as ingredients) will make the grain stand out especially on lighter woods. Not a ton of difference between the two in that regard. Of course, you have to have a wood with a noticable grain to begin with .... not something like balsa, basswood or sycamore.

- Andrew

Here I thought he was referring to a Big Time Operator! *G*