Handle preparation

Dicko

Dicko

Joined
Dec 28, 2014
Messages
332
G'day team! First post in this forum. 👍

I scored myself a Müller 'Biber Classic' Forest axe for Christmas and it's inspired me to give some TLC to the handles on my hatchets, club hammers etc... all cheap but useful.

What's the deal with using boiled linseed oil please?

Straight?
Mixed with mineral turpentine?
Mixed with gum turpentine?
Ratios?

I understand the application, it's just the 'mix'. I want to use old school, no fancy store bought fandangled timber Preparation if you follow.

Thanks in advance! I feel the start of healthy obsession coming on!
 
I will use it either straight or cut with a little mineral spirits - 3:1 or there abouts. On old weather worn handles the straight stuff seems to soak in well. On new hafts the cut stuff seems to absorb a little better. I see no reason why turpentine wouldn't do just as well as mineral spirits.
 
I gather the turpentine is just a carrier to thin the oil a little to enable better penetration? And therefore a 'dry' handle would take more treatments with the cut BLO to preserve & protect? Vs straight BLO, which may not soak in as deep...
 
The cut stuff penetrates better. Otherwise a fresh won't take up much BLO except on the end grain.
 
If it's a new handle, my first step is to adjust a spokeshave to take off a very thin shaving, and remove the lacquer layer. If your spokeshave is good and sharp and you keep an eye peeled for tearout you should not have to sand after, unless the NEXT thing you do after taking off the lacquer is to reshape the handle to your personal preference (which is what I do).

After that, I go in the house where it's warm and let the handle warm up a little, then put on multiple coats of flax-seed oil. ("Lin" is, IIRC, French for "flax.") It's the same oil, just expeller pressed and not boiled out. I find that raw flax seed oil soaks in much faster, and the handle will take 6 or 8 coats. I've had straight BLO gum up with just one coat, so I have cut it with a little turp to make it flow.

A trick I picked up recently is to gently apply heat to the handle after coating it with BLO. Some guys I know just lay it in a nice sunny spot and turn it occasionally -- works best in summer. This not only makes the BLO flow better, but it opens the pores in the wood so it soaks in better as well.
 
pine tar mixed 50/50 with boiled linseed oil, let dry for a day or so.
heat handle with torch or other source to drive mixture into wood.

buzz
 
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