I applied too much linseed oil

Hi guys and hallo from Auckland.
The reason for my very first post here is that massively screwed up. First thing first, I'm not a woodworker. Just very unexperienced wannabe guitar maker.

My first ever attempt (not counting 1-2 necks) to use boiled linseed oil as an electric guitar body finish is ending in a disaster.
I wanted to finish a swamp kauri body in linseed oil. Probably due to the inconsistency of the wood - burling, change of grain direction etc. when I started coating the body I had some nicely covered parts after the first 1-2 applications and some spots that completely soaked the oil no matter how many layers I applied. And I applied a lot - twice daily for at least 10 - 15 days. The "dry: spots remained "dry" no matter what I finally realized I did something stupid and gave up. Two weeks later the body is still very tacky. After a long day of scrubbing and sanding the result is a gooey mess. Even though I'm 99% certain I'm sanding the bare wood now, it still feels wet. So, I'm not sure I'm going anywhere with the sanding.
Is there a way I recover from this? Should I leave it alone and wait as long as it takes to cure/dry?
How would you recommend proceeding from now on?

Welcome nikolav.
If no one comes up with a better solution,
maybe try wiping off with turpentine using a rag.
Going easy at first, and in a small area.
It may require a few applications.
Good luck.

BLO, while usually workable within 2-3 days, doesn't really dry properly for a month or two. In cooler climates this time span can stretch out to the best part of a year. DAMHIKT.

Raw Linseed Oil takes more than double that, if you mistakenly confused the two.

Theoretically you could wash down in solvents, etc. but personally I've found that to be a wasted effort.

Waiting is probably your best bet at this time,

If you have the time you could leave it for a month or two to cure then re-apply another coat and see if the first coat will act as a sealer, preventing the dry spots. Of course, whether it worked or not you'd need to wait a similar time for the new coat to dry fully.

Some photos would be useful.

If its pooling on a flat surface despite being constantly wiped that means some LO is coming back out of the wood. This is not that unusual but it should be removed otherwise if too much comes out it will take weeks or months to dry and you may end up with a wrinkly scaly mess.
If its liquid enough to wipe up with a rag then just do that. If it has become sticky they you may need some turps on the LO and the rag and some elbow grease. If that doesn't work then some steel wool that you can throw away afterwards.

I haven't used BLO much myself, but the first couple of times I applied it to tool handles I applied straight from the bottle and things felt tacky and took a long time to dry. I subsequently read the instructions on the bottle and found I should have been thinning with mineral turps before application. The next time I used it thinned and it seemed to apply easier and dry much quicker.

Thank y9ou for your input, guys!
Some pictures bellow. I think I was able to remove (almost) all of the BLO from the which was on top of the wood. It wasn't easy. I used scrapers, lot's of sanding paper and even a heatgun. With the heatgun I noticed at some spots some dark brown liquid (I reckon the oil) blinking out of the wood. So what you see now is bare wood, but still feeling very moist. And the wood was completely dry before I started applying the BLO.
I can certainly leave it to dry as much longer as needed as this is just a project for fun. No rush here.
And indeed the the instruction suggest that I can dilute it with turp if I need deeper penetration. It is the boiled not the raw oil.

I need to say taht the wood looked much better before I stared sanding. The pale spots appeared after that. I think that's some kind of dust mixed with oil that clogged the pores.

So, is there a point cleaning with turp now, when all the excess oil is removed and only penetrated is still there into the wood?

PS. The darker orange thing is epoxy.

https://i.ibb.co/SVvTtr0/IMG-20210216-143817.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/Nm6HvmM/IMG-20210216-143826.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/Hd50rMp/IMG-20210216-143833.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/1fDBryF/IMG-20210216-144121.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/kxpg9tz/IMG-20210216-144126.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/RQcJbfH/IMG-20210216-144159.jpg

It does sounds like you just applied too much oil and now it's going to ooze oil for many weeks.
Usually 3-5 coats is more than enough.
I'd leave it to see if more oil oozes out and wipe it away once a day with turps until it stops.

The patchiness of the absorbed LO suggests that something anti absorbent may have somehow got in/on to the wood. This could be another oil or wax like car polish. Once that stuff gets on there short of sanding it out (and that's not easy to do without spreading it everywhere) there's no way of getting rid of it.

Have you tried spraying/wiping it with turps - this should give you an approximation of what it should like like if you were to apply a wax.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BobL

It sounds like you just applied too much oil and now it's going to ooze oil for weeks.

Usually 3-5 coats is more than enough. On guitar bodies something like 7 coats of Danish oil is usually heaps.

The patchiness of the absorbed LO suggests that something anti absorbent may have somehow got in/on to the wood. This could be another oil or wax like car polish. Once that stuff gets on there short of sanding it out (and that's not easy to do without spreading it everywhere) there's no way of getting rid of it.

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Hi BobL
There was nothing applied before. The original slab was about 6-7 cm. thick and I myself thicknessesed it down to 4.5 cm.
I used Danish oil (I prepared it myself from the very same BLO + Wipe on poly + more turps) and it took by memory around 10 coats. Different slab, but similar result - lots of dry spotrs, but at the end everything was OK and it was dry enough to be sanded in about a week.

My other only experience with BLO was coating a maple + mahogany neck. It all went perfectly well and it only took 2-3 coats. This wood (the swamp kauri) acted completely differently.

Hi
Well to start off I can say - 'been there done that' so I know how you feel. It brings back bad memories especially as I was new in business and the same mistake cost me a fortune and a big dent to my confidence.
I was lucky that I knew a retired French polisher (a real one) who had basically worked on just about everything you can polish. When I rang him in total despair he just said 'oh I can fix that, its easy', what he did not say was it will take some time and patience.
Firstly do not sand, there is no point. You got to get out of the wood as much of the oil as possible. He used a commercial lacquer/paint thinner and over the period of about a week, wiped the timber with a linen rag a few times a day to remove as much oil as possible. He did fix it for me and it did work.
Now for the best part, he then explained, if I applied a very thin coat of shellac before I used the boiled linseed oil, I would never have had this problem as the shellac soaks in and seals the timber, I have done this ever since and it always works just fine. He told me his master taught him this. It just proves how so much has been lost in this day and age. Unfortunately he passed away 4 years ago at 92 and was still polishing up until he was 90!
Hope this helps
Kevin

Welcome to the forum Nikolav.

Thanks Kevin!
Do you reckon I still have to wipe it with paint thinner since I already sanded all excess oil off?