I am currently soaking 2 beech mallets in raw linseed oil, and I plan to keep them soaking for a month to give them additional weight. (I read about this strategy on another forum.) Once I remove them from the linseed oil, how do I dry them to get them ready to mail them out? (They're gifts for family members.)
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Drying Mallets
- Thread starter jflavin
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You should dry the wood first, then soak in oil.
If you are starting with green or uncured wood, the oil would effectively seal the moisture in the wood and slow the evaporation of bound moisture in the wood cells. And I would think that the moisture would also act as a barrier to the oil's penetration into the wood.
Look into DNA soaking (Denatured Alcohol), boiling the wood, and/or freeze-drying--three methods that would minimize cracking of solid blanks of wood.
If you are starting with green or uncured wood, the oil would effectively seal the moisture in the wood and slow the evaporation of bound moisture in the wood cells. And I would think that the moisture would also act as a barrier to the oil's penetration into the wood.
Look into DNA soaking (Denatured Alcohol), boiling the wood, and/or freeze-drying--three methods that would minimize cracking of solid blanks of wood.
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Well, oil and water don't mix, as they say, so you are filling the spaces not bulking the fibers. They will shrink when they finally dry, so all you gain is weight. A mallet already dry will soak fine, and the risk of splitting will be past. How much sludge are you getting with the soak? If you said not much, then you can tell how effective the soak is at filling the spaces originally occupied by water.
Personally, I soak carving mallets in PEG for a few months to bulk the fibers and add weight by filling lumens. They suck water from the air when it's available, so the surfaces remain a bit softer, which keeps me from jarring my elbow.
Of course, if the proponents of alcohol "drying" are right, I'm on a fool's errand, because the lower boiling point water will cause the higher boiling point alcohol to evaporate. 🙄 But I think the chemists are right.
If you are speaking of a head and handle, rather than a carving type, you can play the game and put a reverse taper dry handle into a damper head and let the shrink tighten it up for you.
Personally, I soak carving mallets in PEG for a few months to bulk the fibers and add weight by filling lumens. They suck water from the air when it's available, so the surfaces remain a bit softer, which keeps me from jarring my elbow.
Of course, if the proponents of alcohol "drying" are right, I'm on a fool's errand, because the lower boiling point water will cause the higher boiling point alcohol to evaporate. 🙄 But I think the chemists are right.
If you are speaking of a head and handle, rather than a carving type, you can play the game and put a reverse taper dry handle into a damper head and let the shrink tighten it up for you.
R
Ron Sardo
Guest
I've heard about this technique before, not really sure how well it works.
Once I tired soaking a black walnut hollow form that was to be carved. I soaked in oil, under a vacuum for a month. When I started to carve the form I noticed that (on average) the oil penetrated less than a 1/16" into the wood.
Of course where there was end grain it soaked a little deeper, but where there was side grain, it soak a bit less.
I'm sure different woods will act differently, but walnut is a pretty soft wood. YMMV
BTW, have you considered filling the mallet with lead shot?
Once I tired soaking a black walnut hollow form that was to be carved. I soaked in oil, under a vacuum for a month. When I started to carve the form I noticed that (on average) the oil penetrated less than a 1/16" into the wood.
Of course where there was end grain it soaked a little deeper, but where there was side grain, it soak a bit less.
I'm sure different woods will act differently, but walnut is a pretty soft wood. YMMV
BTW, have you considered filling the mallet with lead shot?
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You can lower the viscosity for better penetration. Addition of solvent or warming will do that, and help it get in a bit farther. If the wood's pretty dry to start with you'll get some benefit with no further effort.
In terms of time, it'll be like starting afresh, of course, because the heavy stuff you've soaked in already will have to be thinned to the break-through point before much else happens.
Once you pull them out, warm them to get the oil to come to the surface and just wipe off the excess. As the piece cools again, the surface stuff will be drawn back in. Won't slip out of your hand that way.
I hate rain showers. Ten minutes to get stuff inside out of the way of a five-minute downpour! Of course, the rainbow's nice, but I'd rather be outside roughing blanks.
Any partular reason you used Beech?
The only reason I used beech is that I understand it's a very hard wood. The wood came from a tree limb on the property, one that's been down for several years. I split the limb, turned the mallets, and am now soaking them. I have to eventually ship them from Ohio to South Dakota, and I don't want to leave a trail of linseed oil across the midwest. (I'm a novice woodturner at 62, hoping to learn as I enjoy retirement.)
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Linseed oil takes forever to dry. You could just set them out on a shelf for a few weeks, then give them a coat or two of polyurethane to seal in the oil. That might keep it from bleeding all over the shipping trail 😉
Is it actually raw Linseed or Boiled Linseed? Raw does take forever to dry. You can always wipe them as dry as possible with paper towels and place in the oven at 100 degrees for several hours. 100 degrees is low enough temp not to do any damage and it's a real dry heat to aid in drying. Place them on a pizzia pan or something simular.
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
I read this with interest. I find it hard to believe you can get enough oil in the pieces to increase their weight. Once it hardens and the solvents evaporate you've lost a lot of weight. It seems like it would be like putting several more coats of finish on a piece. That isn't a lot of weight, probably measured in gram's or less. I'm not even remotely a chemist so someone will have to enlighten me. I can see how the wet wood would weigh more but not the dry cured finish.
I think maybe I would have used Watco instead of BLO. At least when the Watco dries it will have reinforced the fibres somewhat. Of course there is a lot of bleed back with Watco.
Saturating wood with linseed oil
I use boiled linseed oil (BLO) to treat utensil handles and other small items that are frequently immersed in water.
The way I do it is to heat the linseed oil in a glass container to near the boiling point of water. I usually use a short bursts in the microwave, but a double boiler or an oven set to 210°F also work. I put the item into the hot oil. The heat makes the air inside the wood expand and it will bubble out. If the item doesn't contain metal and will fit into the microwave, I'll heat the oil with the item immersed in the oil. Otherwise I'll remove the item, reheat the oil and put the item back in. If I'm using the oven or a double boiler, I'll heat the item in the oil. If you get the oil too hot, the water will boil out of the wood, the oil will foam up, and you'll have a mess to deal with. (DAMHIKT 🙁 )
Let the item cool in the oil. As it cools, the air inside the wood will contract, drawing the linseed oil into the wood. Cooling overnight is good. Then wipe the excess oil off and let the wood dry for a couple of days so the oil has a chance to start curing.
I usually repeat this process two more times. After the third time, the wood will stop accepting more oil.
I have some kitchen knife handles treated this way that have survived twenty years of use, including trips through the dishwasher.
I use boiled linseed oil (BLO) to treat utensil handles and other small items that are frequently immersed in water.
The way I do it is to heat the linseed oil in a glass container to near the boiling point of water. I usually use a short bursts in the microwave, but a double boiler or an oven set to 210°F also work. I put the item into the hot oil. The heat makes the air inside the wood expand and it will bubble out. If the item doesn't contain metal and will fit into the microwave, I'll heat the oil with the item immersed in the oil. Otherwise I'll remove the item, reheat the oil and put the item back in. If I'm using the oven or a double boiler, I'll heat the item in the oil. If you get the oil too hot, the water will boil out of the wood, the oil will foam up, and you'll have a mess to deal with. (DAMHIKT 🙁 )
Let the item cool in the oil. As it cools, the air inside the wood will contract, drawing the linseed oil into the wood. Cooling overnight is good. Then wipe the excess oil off and let the wood dry for a couple of days so the oil has a chance to start curing.
I usually repeat this process two more times. After the third time, the wood will stop accepting more oil.
I have some kitchen knife handles treated this way that have survived twenty years of use, including trips through the dishwasher.
One can always add a little bit of Japan Dryer to the oil to make it dry much faster. It even works on Linseed Oil. I have done this with duck calls and it seems to work fine. Just wipe the excess oil off a number of times as the oil is drying.
Hugh
Hugh
Even a small amount of lead shot is going to add more weight than any oil which will not penetrate very far into the wood unless it is applied in a pressure chamber and even then on a mallet, I doubt that you would be adding a lot of weight other than in that you might be sealing in moisture in wood that is not completely dry. It will still continue to dry. I would simply use shot or a heavier wood. I made a mallet for a friend out of hardwood and when I visit him, I note that it sits on display on a shelf un-used. Is yours for a friend or do you plan to market a batch of them?
Malcolm Smith.
Malcolm Smith.