Popping the Grain - Linseed Oil

I was reading the other day that people sometimes apply Linseed Oil to pop the grain. I also read that this is often done prior to applying shellac. I presume they are talking about raw linseed oil here. Neil's bit about applying a Linseed Oil finish in the bible puts me off a bit because it sounds like raw oil takes forever to go off. I suppose you'd want it to be completely dry before applying anything over it.

I put a bit of boiled oil on a scrap of Red River Gum I've been working with. It certainly makes the figure stand out but it made the colour change from a brown orange (when wiped with a bit of metho) to a quite dark red. I've also read that Linseed will yellow over time.

Has anyone tried this? Are the results more effective than you would get with just plain shellac?

I have not tried the linseed oil thing, shellac sanding sealer works really well to get that grain up and keep the other bits tied down. From what i understand Linseed oil takes a long time to polymerise but can be finished to a high gloss, where other oils are more difficult. Boiled linseed oil is no longer really boiled, but salts of calcium, Manganese, Zinc and Cobalt are added to speed the drying. It has been noted before that linseed darkens the timber substantially, the yellowing is not an issue on red timber but would be on lighter timber.

When they say 'popping the grain', it's more a matter of how the oil increases the contrast between the dark and light areas and makes the figure stand out, as opposed to 'raising the grain' which is what the sanding sealer does.

I've been using 3 coats of Ubeaut Sanding Sealer sanded to 600 grit and then waxed with Traditional Wax, which makes for a very nice waxed finish. What I wondered was whether a coat of oil first would make the figure in the grain stand out and whether it would be advisable to give it a try.

If I recall, the problem with the boiled oil is that the dryers can react with the shellac, although that might only be if used during french polishing. There was also something about the oil rotting and causing white spots. I'd better read the Polisher's Handbook again...

if you want to keep the natural color of redgum use lacquer or white shellac as they dont darken the finish as much as oils. I expect water based finishes could be similar

From memory wax over oil is fine, and certainly I have used organoil and then traditional wax. It was with a hoop pine blanket box top, the organoil alone was not that great, but with the wax over the top is was brilliant-better than the sanding sealer/wax combo.

Oil will only pop the grain if the timber is the right one. eg a timber like mahogany will show amazing lights when oiled prior to polishing it will flash out with golden highlights and when viewed from another angle will look a rich deep maroon colour. Something like fiddleback eucalyptus should almost have the figure jump out of the timber and hit you in the eye.


However, on the other hand some timbers look absolutely terrible when oil is applied eg. some redgum will just go a deep dark dirty red and lose some of its brilliance. Others will just look dead and dark.

The idea of the oil is to catch the rays of light and shoot them back out of the timber giving the illusion of brilliance and depth to some timbers.

The problem with white spot comes from oil trapped in the French polish during the polishing process and not being properly drawn out of the final finish.

Oil should be used sparingly and all traces wiped away then left for a few days during which time any oil that bleeds out to the surface should be wiped off. Shellac can then be used over the top without a problem, this will give a great base for your waxed finish or for a polish of almost any kind.

Hope this helps.

Cheers - Neil :)

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some redgum will just go a deep dark dirty red

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That's pretty much what happened with the scrap of red river gum I tried it on. I'll give the oil a miss this time. It looks pretty good with just the sanding sealer and the wax over it. Thanks for the reply.

I was doing a bit of experimentation with oils (Organoil Danish and Hard Burnishing) and white shellac (Ubeaut, of course :D) on some scrap Sydney Blue Gum (E. saligna). Compared the oil finish only vs shellac only vs oil under shellac. The oil under shellac gave a bit more depth to the grain but, like Neil said, it will depend on the timber used, its figure, etc. It's also good to put the finished bit of scrap in the same room as the intended piece of furniture, to see how the light in that room will show off the finish.

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Originally Posted by ubeaut

However, on the other hand some timbers look absolutely terrible when oil is applied eg. some redgum will just go a deep dark dirty red and lose some of its brilliance. Others will just look dead and dark.

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I'm not disputing Neil's experience. He's had a lot more than I have.

However, I have used Organoil on Redgum and the results were very nice indeed. I applied it using the method recommended by Organoil with power wet sanding then finished up with UBeaut wax.

I experimented with plain shellac on scrap and with Organoil underneath also. The Organoil/shellac combination was also very nice. Plain shellac looked washed out by comparison though I was using blonde shellac. Buttonlac is another option though I didn't test it.