Quick- Step to White Oak Seasoning???

[powder2burn]

As I was weaving my way through the threads today, I noticed there has been some talk about having to wait for white oak to dry or how much it will split if not dried and used in a project.

Some while back (could have been yesterday or a couple of years ago) while pondering this question while trying to locate a source of kilm or air dried white oak, I remember  or a least  to best of my ability, some old timer's advice/trick of the trade:

Take your wood put it on saw horse's, rub in several coats of boiled linseed oil, thinned with mineral spirit's or turpentine, apply liberally.
After the initial coats, rub the wood daily with undiluted linseed oil, or more frequently if the oil is absorbed into the wood, continue this until the wood is saturated, oil can been seen coming through the wood from the bottom.  (Don't remember how long this takes-days? or weeks? thinking maybe weeks.)

Anyone else heard of this or something like it?

Any comments on this procedure?---think it would work?

See y'all  at the Mansfield cannon show,------Noon right?----------Cannon building.

FRED...................................................

[Rickk]

dunno about what the linseed oil would do, but the mineral spirits would tend to displace the water and make it dry quicker. I do a lot of leather work, and mineral spirits diluted dye dries leather out right quick. I would thing that just applying linseed oil would take a long time to saturate the wood. Also, boiled linseed oil is alot like varnish - it dries quickly and seals the wood. Raw linseed oil will pretty much never dry, leaving you with a mess on your hands that will leak forever.

The downside of drying too quickly is that the results may be unpredictable as far as warpage.

But I'm not an old timer, or at least I am denying it, so if you try it and it works, let me know about the details 

[powder2burn]

Not sure if it was raw or boiled linseed oil.  The mineral spirits were added to dilute the linseed oil so it would seep into the wood.  If the moisture in the wood was replaced with the oil, I would think the warp-age/shrinkage, would not be any worse than air dried wood.
 
Civil War cannon trails were treated with linseed oil I believe.

FRED..................................

[radio2]

We used raw linseed oil on the boards of our flat bed trailer when we built it, took about 6 mo. to dry, never treated it again and the wood never split.  It was on a 45 ft. low boy with T&G wood, lasted for for at least 4 years that I had it

[Double D]

Not sure if it was raw or boiled linseed oil.  The mineral spirits were added to dilute the linseed oil so it would seep into the wood.  If the moisture in the wood was replaced with the oil, I would think the warp-age/shrinkage, would not be any worse than air dried wood.
 
Civil War cannon trails were treated with linseed oil I believe.

FRED..................................

Actually Fred Civil War carriages were painted.  The only CW unpainted carriage or base that I am aware of is the Confederate Coehorn mortar base made of Pine.  That base was linseed oiled.

[gary michie]

I was told by a wheel wright that first you use linseed then white lead then paint

[Articifer Tom]

 White oak is near impervious to water that's why they make barrels out of it . Even PEG would work effectively on it.
  I don't know about the new microwaving tech. effectively. I air drying ; kiln only do about 1" depth per 6 months. You may want to try red oak or ash  90 % people can't tell different. Paint will hide from the rest of us.

[CU_Cannon]

One of the problems with trying to dry oak too fast is honeycombing.  If the water leaves the wood too quickly the cells will break down leaving voids in the wood.  That is the reason drying takes so long even in a kiln. 

I’m not sure about the linseed oil.  It may replace the water in the cells.  It seems like it would make the wood awful heavy if that is the case.

[powder2burn]

Lutz's 12pdr. book sez, prime with white lead paint and if not to be primed immediately apply linseed oil to the wood.

I was not inferring that linseed oil was the final finish.

FRED............................

[Double D]

Fred, that's what I thought you meant....that's why my comment.  I knew the carriages were all painted but thet's all I know about the process.

[Don Krag]

Lutz's 12pdr. book sez, prime with white lead paint and if not to be primed immediately apply linseed oil to the wood.

Hmmm...I plan on a bit of woodwork on my piles this weekend. Guess I better pick up a gallon or two of boiled linseed oil on the way home tonight!

For knife handles, I place the handle in a small bottle of thinned linseed oil for a couple days. After removing, it will "sweat" oil for a day or two, then cure over the next couple weeks. The woods take a real nice polish after that and are fairly water resistant. They don't swell/shrink with humidity changes either, and that's a big plus for knife fittings. I've never cut a block in half to see how deep it penetrated, though. For an oak slab, you could slather it up good with oil, then lay a plastic sheet over it to stop it from air drying. If the wood is dry, it will suck up the oil pretty fast. The biggest I've ever done was a 1.75" oak slab table I made. It took six coats before the oil started to pool on the surface, and several weeks before it was cured enough to buff.