Totaly Stressed Out With Linseed Oil Application

[michaelrandrews]

The linseed oil made the wood darker than I expected. However I did achieve a even tone across the whole canoe, until the oil started to dry now I have found some graying areas and a very uneven tone of the wood. I am thinking I may have to start over with the snappy teak-nu again. See the attached photos and tell me what you think. The first photo is when I first applied the oil and the second two days later. I am pretty stressed out about this.

Michael

 

[Michael Grace]

I've never oiled the interior of a canoe for fear of it darkening over time. I have no idea how much darkening would occur, or whether this is a myth, but I haven't done it. That said, I think your canoe is just fine. The same thing that you are seeing happens with varnish. Your first picture shows the wet look, just as you would see with the first coat of varnish. After either material soaks in and dries (with thinned varnish, this occurs faster), the surface looks dark and maybe even a little blotchy because of uneven surface roughness. As you start building varnish coats, it will even out more and more. No need to start over with the cleaner/bleach.

M

 

[Dan Lindberg]

I agree with Mike, I think your canoe looks just fine, and with more coats of varnish, you'll get that deep,translusent look.

As for darkening from oil, that's (reported to be) a long term thing when using linseed oil. Like Mike, I've never seen it, (that I know of) as I haven't had my canoes anywhere near that long.

But just in case, I now only use tung oil on the inside when oiling the canoe, and linseed on the outside, as reportedly, tung oil doesn't darken with time.

Also, in case your wondering, as I was just starting out, I was curious what the finish would look like with different combinations of things, ie, oils/varnish. So I made some test pieces, some got linseed oil, some tung and some nothing, then they got different varnishes. The bottom line is that I couldn't tell any difference in color, between samples with either oil or nothing as a bottom "coat", or between the different varnishes. They were all traditional varnishes.

Dan