# Odorless oils with a fast drying time.



## CanKuhn (Feb 21, 2010)

I'm a woodshop teacher and have used Boiled Linseed oil for finishing our projects. I like it because it drys fast, protects the wood, and enhances the look of the projects. Recently we've been making Cutting Board and Nut Crackers and every food grade oil I have tried on these projects doesn't dry very fast or at all. When put on paper there are stains left from the projects. Students are also telling me when they are put on table clothes they leave a stain. Is there a faster drying food grade oil? Also my students are complaining that the Boiled Linseed Oil smells so if I can find a fast or faster drying food grade oil that is odorless I'd like to use that my other projects as well. Thanks in advance for your help.

Steve
http://cankuhnster.com


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## OSU55 (Dec 14, 2012)

Might try regular oil based poly thinned 50%. Apply for 5 min or so, wipe off, let dry. Repeat for more film thickness but not on cutting boards. Food safe when cured. Shellac is another option but trickier to apply due to fast dry time. I think most of the salad bowl/cutting board finishes are non drying.


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## conifur (Apr 1, 2015)

Come on, your a wood shop teacher and dont know much about finishes, get Flexners books on finishing. First no lead, all is food safe.
Dry time get Flexner latest book, lacquer and shellac are the fastest, wipe on a mix of BLO cut in half with MS or thinner, wipe clean, let dry for an hour ish, use a 1-2lb cut non wax shellac, Seal coat is a 2lb cut non waxed shellac, add some DNA to thin to 1-1 1/2lb cut, wipe on, done. No charge.


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## conifur (Apr 1, 2015)

Stevie, come on, teaching wood shop since 88, and you need to ask this, get your nose out of Nancy P's ? No wonder why CA is so f&%K up and kids if they do know something cant put it to use in the real world when they graduate, if they ever do.


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## conifur (Apr 1, 2015)

Stevie, just a bit curious, which one of you is the engineer and the brake man on your little train???


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## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

Sorry that someone feels the need to make statements like this. I am happy that someone is teaching wood shop.

I do not make cutting boards but hope someone will have a good suggestion.


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## jdh122 (Sep 8, 2010)

Personally I wouldn't use film finish on a cutting board or nut cracker. But for other types of projects if you need fast drying finish shellac is a very good suggestion, as the students could apply finish in class and take the projects home at the end of the day (after a quick rub with steel wool).
For the cutting boards you could use mineral oil, lots of people do. No odor at all, feels dry almost instantly. It's a non-drying oil, though, and so it needs to be reapplied frequently to have any kind of luster. I'd suggest that you keep using BLO and that the students just need to be patient, it can take a month for the smell to go away entirely. Of course I know the students are unlikely to want to wait that long before proudly using their projects.
One other possibility that some people advocate (woodwhisperer, for example) is to use a varnish, but dilute it (by 75% with mineral spirits) and apply it like BLO (apply with a rag, let sit 10 minutes, wipe off all excess). Do a couple of coats.


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## bondogaposis (Dec 18, 2011)

General Finishes, salad bowl finish is what I use, 2 coats is all you need.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

Check out Tried and True Finishes (http://www.triedandtruewoodfinish.com/about/environmental-standards). I recently tried the their varnish oil on some trivets and they were dry to the touch overnight and had minimal smell after a couple of days. It has only been a couple of days so I cannot tell you how long until zero smell. I think that their finishes are mostly based upon linseed oil and are food contact safe when dry. My local Woodsmith carries it and it is about the same price on Amazon. I have not tried anything but the Varnish oil yet but I certainly would after my first try. If you have questions you can ask them through their website, though it may take a few days for them to get back to you.


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## jdh122 (Sep 8, 2010)

Lazyman,
I've used both their varnish oil and polymerized linseed oil and like them a lot. I think they will feel dry more quickly than regular BLO due to the fact that they get applied in very small quantities (their motto: if you've applied any finish, you've applied enough, or something close to that). The smell will go away, but it may still be longer than most impatient students will want to wait.

Concerning General Finishes, here is what their website says: 
"Can I use Salad Bowl to finish my cutting board?
Salad Bowl Finish is a film finish it is not recommended for cutting boards at full strength. To use for depth of grain and color, cut with 50% mineral spirits, apply, let soak in, and wipe back all excess leaving no film on surface, use GF Butcher Block Oil to maintain. GF Butcher Block Oil is a food grade mineral oil used to maintain butcher blocks, cutting board, knife handles, and wooden spoons for an oiled finish." 
It seems like this is pretty much exactly the method that the woodwhisperer uses.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

One more thought. One of the biggest problems with using the Tried and True finishes, or any oil finish for that matter, in a classroom setting may be that you need to wipe off the excess after about an hour. I think that the friction of vigorous rubbing may also help the drying oils set faster. There wasn't much to wipe off on the first coat of the varnish oil but multiple coats will probably have more residue to remove. I am not planning multiple coats on my trivets because I don't want to build up a thick film of varnish due to the heat of setting hot pots on it. Note that I did contact T&T and they told me that the varnish oil is suitable for use on trivets.

Also, I used mineral oil, which is a non-drying oil, the last time I wanted a food safe finish and it took a while before it stopped leaving an oily spot when set on a paper bag so it might not be the best option for something that might be set on a nice table cloth for example.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

This is the first time I've heard that BLO dry's quickly? I'm very sensitive to odors and would never use BLO so I feel for your students
Here's a thread about using mineral oil as a treatment on cutting boards,take note what Charles Neil says about a poly finish on cutting boards plus the government report on the subject.

http://lumberjocks.com/replies/on/2124484

here's what the government says about poly finishes on cutting board

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=175.300

If you want an up to date book on finishing get a copy of Charles Neils book "finishing Simply put"

http://charlesneilwoodworking.3dcartstores.com/Finishing-Simply-Put--pdf-download-version_p_254.html


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

> This is the first time I ve heard that BLO dry s quickly? I m very sensitive to odors and would never use BLO so I feel for your students
> 
> - a1Jim


I can tell you that the Tried and True Varnish oil, which has a linseed oil base, dried very quickly. I'm making some more trivets and the attached picture shows after 1 coat less that 24 hours ago. I brought these in from my garage last night to keep them a little warmer while the finished cured and I notice no odor this morning unless I put my nose right up to the wood. The scrap is a cutoff showing what it looked like before the first coat. After looking at it closely this morning, it is completely dry. I've done nothing but wipe on the varnish oil and vigorously wipe it down about an hour later. It doesn't have as much sheen as I would like but I think that further burnishing and additional coats will help with that.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Lazy
I'm use to water born products that are ready for a recoat in 2 hours,So all oils dry slower than that.Tried and true has dryers in it that makes it dry much quicker than just straight Blo.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

Jim,
I've only tried a couple of water based finishes and haven't gotten great results, though I could be using the wrong finish or doing something wrong. Personally, I find the smell of the ones I have tried just as annoying during application though it does diminish quickly.

According their website, it sounds like T&T doesn't add any driers. Here is a quote:

"How is it made?

After the impurities are removed, the linseed oils we use are polymerized or "aged", this means they have enhanced drying properties. No petroleum distillates, or other solvents, or their derivatives are added. No heavy metal driers are used. The methods we employ are adapted from 18th to early 20th century finish making. We combine quality control, current technology and traditional formulations to enhance the properties of the natural ingredients used in Tried & True."

That doesn't exactly say they didn't add ANY driers but if they did, they aren't the heavy metal driers that are not food contact safe that most commonly available finishes that are labeled BLO have. The varnish oil safety data sheet doesn't show any ingredients other than linseed oil and the resin derived from pine resin. When I have tried common BLO in the past it did take days for them to dry even with the addition of the driers. Also, the T&T Danish Oil product says that additional coats can be applied after 8 hours. Still longer than 2 hours but most of the time I end up waiting overnight anyway.

This is my first time to use this (Varnish Oil) finish so we will see how it does over time but my first impression is very good. Their Danish Oil may be better for cutting boards? I decided to try it because it gets great reviews too. In my first try, the varnish oil certainly seems to meet the posted need of a finish that doesn't bleed for days, much less weeks, after application and the smell is already at a level that you don't notice it stinking up the room after 24 hours. So far, I have applied the varnish oil to oak, cherry, hickory, yellow pine and silver maple with the same results.


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

Here are my two wax / oil finishes of choice. They both dry quickly to a nice satin finish overnight. I usually only apply one coat. The Howards butcher block conditioner doesn't change the wood color much. The Feed-n-wax makes light colored woods a little yellow, but looks great on darker woods. It's really nice stuff to work with.


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

While I was reading, Pinto was posting 

I use that top one he pictured. Works, soaks in well, and holds up pretty darn good.


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