How to take away bad finishes?

[squirrel]

I turned some plaaters and finished them with linseed oil.
Unfortunately, the wood took up more linseed at some places then at some other places.
It is dry now, but it is a pity!
Is there some way to do it over and better?
Squirrel

 

[Ken Grunke]

A hunch tells me that a soak in soap solution might work. The well-known LDD technique (Liquid Dish Detergent) calls for a 50% solution in water but I would try a weaker solution, say, 25%, that might soak in better. After the soak, boiling in plain water may leach out the soap, carrying the oil with it. Pure conjecture on my part, somewhat drastic, but I don't think it can hurt.

 

[Jim Keenan]

Buff with tripoly and white diamond back to wood and wipe with BLO again. Repeat the process of drying, buffing and wiping untill the finish is uniform.

 

[Malcolm Smith]

I turned some plaaters and finished them with linseed oil.
Unfortunately, the wood took up more linseed at some places then at some other places.
It is dry now, but it is a pity!
Is there some way to do it over and better?
Squirrel

I would certainly try additional coats of oil. I use tung oil, not linseed and it's often several coats to achieve what I want. I don't use that oil so I don't know if it should be thinned. Someone else can answer that. Some woods will sponge it up more than others and of course end grain will do this. If you have several platters, you could do this with one to see if it works.

Malcolm Smith.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Suggestions to soak the parts that didn't take as much oil with more of the same are the ones I'd follow. That's the only "problem" here. Some end grain took up more oil than the face grain, and looks darker for the time being. Linseed is fine, of course. Nothing magic about soy or tung. Linseed's got a nice warm look a lot of people love.

You can put oil-based varnish rather than BLO on for a harder finish.

If you're set on removing what you have, it will be pretty tough. Rather than soak and raise all the commotion and grain, I'd iron the surface with absorbent towels between the heat and the oil. As it flows it'll get absorbed. Long, unnecessary project, really. Longer the oil has had to cure, the less effective this will be.

Here's some maple with the first coat of linseed. Looks uneven, but two coats of dilute varnish brightened and evened it up delightfully.