Walnut Oil with Vitamin E

I've been buying walnut oil for my turnings and on my last trip to the grocer. They had walnut oil with 10% vitamin E for half the price of

100% walnut oil. ANyone used the with Vitamin E version?

-TH

Reply to
THumphr
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I think the vitamin E minimizes the appearance of stretch marks in the wood from over-tightening your expanding 4 jaw chuck.

Jr

Reply to
Rob

Anti-oxidant, isn't it? You want oxidation to cure the oil.

Reply to
George

Isn't that sold for cooking purposes?

Max

Reply to
Maxprop

Hah! Got pretty good snort out that one. Now if it will just help repair the damage done to the fibers by cutting with a dull gouge or over sanding...

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Unchararcteristic of you, George.

No worries about the antioxidants keeping the oil from curing, unless of course the tocopherols stop the free radicals from aging the oil in a destructive manner.

The tocopherals found in natural curing vitamin E are a water soluble esterized oil found in many nuts, olive, soybeans, and some other plants. Synthetic viatmin E (most likely in this oil) is found in the labs of manufacturer, and although almost worthless in the eyes of many researchers as a health supplement or treatment, is still water soluble.

The vitamin E shouldn' hurt a thing in regards to an oil finish.

It will NOT be the same as the Mahoney oil, though.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

"George" wrote: Anti-oxidant, isn't it? You want oxidation to cure the oil. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I don't believe walnut oil is a "drying oil" like linseed oil or tung oil, which means it does not polymerize by reacting with oxygen. If you were kidding, my apologies for jumping in like this.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Wipe some on a piece of glass and let it cure. You'll notice it's clearer than tung, lighter in color than linseed if you do comparison wipes.

Reply to
George

Don't know how to put tongue in cheek in chatroom-ese. Nonetheless, having bought some with calcium propionate or some such in it on the store shelves, I learned that oxidation is what others call "spoilage." Never cured.

Reply to
George

. . . and you can cook with it.

Max

Reply to
Maxprop

Should have known you were funnin'. I am bad about not putting the smiley faced winks at the end of mine, too.

And those oils NEVER will cure, either. Nothing in there to make them cure.

I may or may not be correct in assuming that someone is trying to mimic Mike Mahoney's Walnut oil finish, but the stuff at Walgreens or at your local supermarket won't do it.

I remember a group conversation with Stuart Batty (pretty sure it was him) when he was down here on a demo, and he said that he though they heat treated Mike's walnut oil he sells in a very specific way, and only add one ingredient of some sort to make his product cure.

And by the way for anyone still following this thread, Boiled Linseed Oil isn't actually boiled. Like most tung oil, it is infused with metallic dryers that cause it to cure. And like most finishes, both these oil products are not used in the kitchen as cooking ingredients, and are sold as products, not a ingredients. Kinda of like saying you want a "Coke" when you want some kind of carbonated drink. So you can never be 100% sure exactly what the ingredients are, or their percentages.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

wrote: (clip) And by the way for anyone still following this thread, Boiled Linseed Oil isn't actually boiled. Like most tung oil, it is infused with metallic dryers that cause it to cure. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The term "boiled" comes from the fact that the oil is heated to dissolve the driers. The other kind is called "raw," and it also dries by oxidation, but much more slowly.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Learn something new every day. I didn't know they heated the oil at all, I just assumed that it was some kind of metal that had a compatible carrier solvent.

As for the raw stuff, I haven't had much luck with it drying on its own. I have done OK with it in some homebrews, but that is because it is mixed with miscible solvents that thin it to the point it dries more quickly.

Leo - I know for years until the days of modern chemistry they used psyllium/flax as the source of linseed oils. Some still do. As much finishing as I do, I don't use BLO or LO for much anymore due to "the need for speed".

Do you know what BLO is made from now? Same stuff? Blend?

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote:

(clipped for brevity)

Googling on "walnut oil finish' turned up some interesting observations regarding walnut oil.

"Unlike some vegetable oils, walnut oil eventually will polymerize to a hardened finish, and it contains no potentially harmful metallic driers."

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(this after noting that a cloth soaked in Mahoneys Walnut Oil had not hardened after a week and had been set in the coldest part of the room. It was a sabotaged experiment, as Mahoneys oil is not meant to be used in that fashion and cooling will slow the hardening of almost any finish.) "Non-catalyzed oils: It takes some searching to find linseed in a non-catalyzed form. Tung oil is readily available in both forms and walnut oil is usually only available as non-catalyzed. Although all three oils are edible, walnut oil is the only one available in the oil section of your grocery store. Basically, the only difference between catalyzed and non-catalyzed oils is the time it takes for the oil to dry, harden and cure. Catalyzed oils dry in 10-24 hours, non-catalyzed will take 75-90 days. That walnut oil from Hain you may have been applying to your flute takes three months to mature, during which time oils go through sticky to gummy to semi-hard to hard phases. Should you have any doubt about the drying time of non-catalyzed oils pour out a thin layer into a lid (or other thin flat container) and observe the hardening process over its course."
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While a three month drying time (at ambient conditions) seems like a long time, it IS somewhat shorter than 'never'. Moreover, we typically rough turn bowls as much as a year ahead, so what's an additional 3 months for a deep soaking in walnut oil IF there is a reason for using walnut oil (such as its clarity) over some other? I found several similar observations as well as this rather long write-up from a fellow practitioner who has found a way to skip with the lengthy dry times. Basically he is doing what Mahoney does, applying heat to hasten the polymerization of the oil but, whereas Mahoney stops while he still has a shippable product, this guy carries it through to its conclusion.

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Bill

PS -- I am in full agreement to skip the walnut oil with anti-oxidants added -- the walnut oil needs to oxidize.

Reply to
Bill in Detroit

Yep, those commercials that promise smooth ageless young skin from topical vitamin E keep me laughing. FWIW, walnut oil warmed in the sun will cure to the touch in about three days when things are fairly dry. You can peel it off the surface and discover it's tacky underneath, but it does work well for medium coloration and a bit of water resistance. Linseed can be boiled, as in having oxygen bubbled through it (at 20%) until it actually begins to gel.

As to what BLO is, it's Linseed - flax - from which linen is made. I remember the beautiful fields of flax in North Dakota from back when. Then there's the flexible gel version used with canvas to make linoleum, a flexible, durable floor covering.

Reply to
George
*Snip* of good links and good info

Bill - if it takes weeks, to me, that means it never cures. If it takes more than a week, sadly... to me it never cures. I don't have the time, temperment, or inclination to let things like that go on too long.

I have marked those links, though. There is some really good info on them.

I was suspicious when I read George's post, as he usually doesn't miss. That's why I didn't really sound off. HE WAS KIDDING. The antioxidants properties in vitamin E work only upon live, organic organims. Here is how vitamin E is used:

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Read the "definition" and "function" parts of that page. The reference of having antioxidants has no pertinance as to the catalysing properties of the oil esters and resins in walnut oil as a wood finish. Zero. Its only relevance to the phrase "anti oxidant" is the fact that when ingested it will combat the effects of ill health and aging on a cellular level, mostly as pertains to human beings.

Mechanically, it does not affect the molecular activity of the Walnut oil when catalysing as the polymeric reaction to oxygen (mechanical) is not the same thing as killing free radicals on an organic level.

BTW, further reading of the benefits of vitamin E as an emolient seem to be no better than any other oil as when it isn't directly ingested as to flow into the bloodstream it cannot function as a killer of free radicals.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote: m.

Actually I had in mind the calcium propionate, which is, I believe added to improve product stability in the bottle.

At any rate, I've had reasonable success using walnut oil on my pens. I apply it generously, wipe the excess and then go straight to CA without waiting for the oil to dry. Overnight is the most it ever gets and I actually think that I get better results if I apply the CA immediately.

YMMV, void where prohibited, and so on.

Bill

Reply to
Bill in Detroit

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