Mads - it was a bit of an experiment really. I'd never used BLO before, but I tried it on a piece of scrap and liked the richness it gave to the wood. It is important that you sand very carefully first though, as any scratches will show up with BLO. I thought I'd been quite thorough, but it could have been better in places.
The first coat was BLO straight from the bottle. The wood soaked that up straight way and I swear it burped out a "Thank you". However, I thought I needed it a bit thinner, so I added some turps until I got a consistency that wiped on easily. I added the oil-based Poly, to improve the protection level. Not sure if it made any difference really.
I didn't sand between coats at all, but rubbing out with paste wax and steel wool got rid of any dust nibs and the odd fly that had settled in the finish. Like I said, I was just experimenting.
Although it turned out Ok, I don't think it is my ideal saw handle finish.
I think my ideal would be:
1. 1 coat of BLO. Allow to dry thoroughly. Add more coats until you are happy with the colour.
2. 1 barrier coat of dewaxed shellac. You can use the different colours of shellac flakes to further tint the colour if desired.
3. 3 coats of water-based diamond hard acrylic satin varnish. I love this finish and it is touch dry in 15 mins, recoat after 2 hours. You have to work very fast and don't expect it to flow out like oil-based varnish.
After the last coat has thoroughly dried, rub out with fine scotchbrite pad and paste wax.
Although I haven't tried this yet, I think it will give the beauty of BLO, the strength and endurance of Daimond hard acrylic varnish and the wonderful smell of Liberon paste wax. The acrylic varnish continues to harden over 2 months to become incredibly tough.
The nice thing about this though is that you use the BLO to get the colour you want. If after one coat it isn't dark enough for you, just apply more coats until you are happy with the shade. The shellac won't change the collour that much and the acrylic won't change it at all, just add depth to the finish.
Whereas with a BLO, turps and Oil-based poly mix, you have to kind of guess at how much the colour is going to continue to change with each successive coat of the mix. So you could end up with needing to apply another coat to get the right level of protection, but not wanting to because one more coat will make it too dark.
One thing I have learnt in the past though, is that you can't rush a good finish, although I have often tried. You need to be patient.
Must get back to work now.