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Cooking green wood in linseed oil

2/12/15       
Heinrich Spillmann Member

Website: http://www.heinrichspillmann.com

not sure if this is the right Forum to talk about this, but yesterday I stumbled over a Russian online article which I translated with Google Translate. The Russian wood worker talked about curing his chairs, carved from green logs by “cooking” them for several days in linseed oil. He further mentioned that this is a historic method used in Russia a long time ago. I have never heard of such a process and was wondering if anybody heard of this or has an experience with it on this side of the ocean. I similarly to the Russian wood worker carve chairs from green logs but then go to elaborate processes to dry and then reassemble them as I have talked about here before.

2/12/15       #2: Cooking green wood in linseed oil ...
Keith Newton

Well, I will say that I like carving green wood much better than KD.

I started my woodworking career about 50 years ago as a carver for a Frenchman interior designer down in Dallas. Besides what we custom made, he was importing a lot of wonderful carved antiques from Europe, that to my eye appeared to have been carved green, just judging by the way the cuts were made relative to the grain, and would hole the detail without the tendency split down the grain the way it would have if it were dry.

But, I just assumed that if they were doing that, they were also being very careful about how they dried these parts, like I do now when I carve green things.

There are a lot of turners who turn green, then boil, claiming that it helps prevent a lot of splitting. I've never tried that, nor felt a need to.

One thing that I would question, if what effect this oil soaked wood would have on gluing?

I think if I were going to experiment with something else after the carving was complete, would be to let the work dry naturally inside a paper sack, or cardboard box, which slows down the surface loss closer to what the moisture can come up from the inside to replace it, preventing surface checking. I would then soak it good with CPES, Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer.

I've not been using this product long, but I'm favorably impress with the results, especially in some soft woods. It isn't cheap, but then again, I wouldn't be too fond of having a flammable liquid boiling in my shop for several days.

If you try the boiling, I'd sure like to hear back from you. Otherwise, try this, and welcome to a new century. ha

I like your chairs. And while I don't know if there were any insects already living in your wood, if the CEPS would keep them from chewing out, but I'll bet it would keep them out in the future better than linseed oil. It is slow curing, so you can keep flowing it on as long as it will absorb.

After it has cured, a single coat of wipe on finish will look like 10 coats, but feel much harder.

2/12/15       #3: Cooking green wood in linseed oil ...
Gene Wengert-Wood Doc

This technique is called boiling in oil. It is in the literature here in the U.S.

2/13/15       #4: Cooking green wood in linseed oil ...
Heinrich Spillmann Member

Website: http://www.heinrichspillmann.com

Thanks Gene, I found the report by J.M.McMillen from 1961 (and a later one together with you?) and it doesn't doesn't
sound too promising for my needs. But it explains some of what I saw in the on-line photos from the Russian woodworker, checking and grey weathered look of the finished oak piece. I am still hoping to somehow find a way to stabilize the large carved oak bench, so it could be used in a controlled indoor environment

2/13/15       #5: Cooking green wood in linseed oil ...
EC Aumiller Member

PEG will stabilize it if you soak it... see this link from the Knowledge Base

Stabilizing Wood with PEG

2/13/15       #6: Cooking green wood in linseed oil ...
Heinrich Spillmann Member

Website: http://www.heinrichspillmann.com

Keith, thank you for you comments. I love your wild life and nature photography, beautiful. (Luckily I don’t have to decide which one I like better, your wood work or your photography, both stunning! Plus it looks like you live in a beautiful part of this country which I am sure helps with both) I know the comparison to turners and their processes keeps coming up with my stuff, but my stuff is harder to handle because of the size and so some of the turner’s experiences are harder to apply. Insects of course are an issue. With the chairs, I managed them by drying the quartered chairs in a kiln at temps over 130 degrees and afterwards I reassemble the pieces to the finished chair. But for the large bench, I am still searching for methods to control the processes. And large pieces are what I am drawn too……

2/13/15       #7: Cooking green wood in linseed oil ...
Heinrich Spillmann Member

Thanks EC Aumiller, looks like I missed that post from last July. That thread might be very helpful


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