I have a 5 year old mahogany deck which was in dire need of attention. In an effort to revitalize the deck I decided to use boiled linseed oil. I thinned the initial two coats greatly with mineral spirits to aid in absorption. The wood sucked it up nicely. The final coat, thinned only slightly, did not fully absorb. My mistake was not removing the product that did not absorb after several minutes. As a result I have a tacky film on the deck. I tried to lift the tacky residue with mineral spirits. This helped, but the deck remains tacky. It has been this way for about a week now.
I have since discovered that the oil does not actually dry from exposer to oxygen and it must be fully absorbed into the wood grain to dry.
Any suggestions short of stripping the deck?
Adam Barton
Replies
See if more time will help, it's only been a week. Maybe a thinned coat of spar varnish would seal it down.
It doesn't dry, it cures.
Oxygen is what cures it, causing it to harden.
If you put anything else over it before it hardens, you will permanently seal in a soft gel coat and live to regret it.
Linseed would have been my last choice for this job. Now that it is there you may have no choice but to wait it out. Turpentine or acetone and lots of rags and elbowgrease might pull it up to cure but that will either crackle or muddy the finish.
Posting this over at the finishing forum at Knots might bring you more knowledge.
Excellence is its own reward!
Edited 8/2/2002 9:13:13 PM ET by piffin