Mahogany Wheel, Linseed Oil

[johngsandusky]

The Edson Wheel on my ketch is mahogany I think, somewhay dried out. It has been refastened, but still the fits aren't perfect and it has a lttle play. It's been suggested to soak it in linseed oil. How? Brushing can't penetrate very deeply, even with many coats. I once treated oak planks for a samson post by standing them in a bucket of oil. Over time it soasked right up the grain to the top. Of course the wheel is made of many parts, the ends of which cannot all bre immersed at once. I would need a bucket of more than 26" diameter, and a lot of oil. I could dis-assemble the wheel, but some of the old fasteners would have to be drilled out. I also wonder how hard it might be to reassemble. I thought of wrapping with rags or towels and soaking them. If I do this I'll varnish it afterward. Any success with this treatment?

[Sailor]

I think a bucket of oil with a cloth "wick" placed in a plastic bag. Wrap the whole wheel in oil soaked cloths, put it in a large plastic bag, place the bucket in there with it and place a wick to connect the bucket and cloth covered wheel. I don't know how well the oil will wick up and spread but I imagine over time ( you don't seem in a hurry if you're contemplating taking it appart and reassembling it) it should soak up and fill the whole thing. The last step, and this is a CRITICAL step in the whole process is to REPORT BACK HERE and tell us how it went! :D

[Sailor]

Or make a small slot shaped trough that the wheel could stand up in. Line it with a plastic bag and fill it up. Rotate the wheel daily so it soaks up evenly and tightens evenly without distorting it. I would imagine after a few weeks you'd have a wheel that is pretty soaked up and much tightened.

[Matti]

I think that linseed oil with rags are dangerous combination, it might heat and flame.

Matti

[Sailor]

As the oil dries it might heat but if it's continually fed and the rags are kept soaked, I think it should be safe. Caution about allowing them to dry out would certainly be in order though. I agree it's a dangerous thing for oily rags to be left. Mabye the thing to do is to have it off to the side in the shop (or on the driveway, even better) when he's working nearby. Monitor it. A few hours in the shop can do alot to allow it to soak up.
How about this:
Make a flour type plaster mould material, stick it in a trough type box. Apply a a few wraps of tape on the wheel to give some thickness. insert it into the mould. (only need one spoke to go in.) remove it once it's dry, remove the tape. Plastic bag in the mould, pour oil in, insert wheel, rotate regularly.
Just thinking out loud, might not be worth the effort.

[Sailor]

Or just lay the wheel on a flat surface and spray it with oil every night before bed. Flip it over and do the other side the next day. It will soak in, no rags, no mucking about with other stuff. Simple safe, easy. I think that's the thing to do now that I think about it for a bit. It will soak in slower but that's not a bad thing really.

[lae52]

Cut the linseed oil with mineral spirits, about 50/50 will do, and keep the wheel wet with oil. Do not allow it to dry out in between coats of the oil mixture. When the wheel won't take up any more oil, you're pretty much done. Wipe off the excess with your hands while working it in. If you leave the oil to puddle and dry it will get very "plasticy". I haven't done this with mahogany, but do have a lot of experience with this method when making flintlock rifles out of curly maple. I have been able to shoot all day in the rain without the stock being affected

[fishrswim]

How about placing it in one of those vacuum storage bags. Fill with enough oil to cover it when it's laying flat. Press or suck out the air and let it go for a couple of weeks. No air, no fire. When you're done, pour the remaining oil back into the can and dispose of the bag properly.

[Eddiebou]

I like to mix raw linseed oil with turpentine and add a little stockholm tar just for the heck of it. Mix it in a coffee can or something with a lid. Keep your rag in the can with the oil mixture, and just slather it on every chance you get. Like lae52 said, don't let it puddle, just keep rubbin it on and turnin it over and round and round. Just leave the wheel on a piece of plastic or in a garbage bag. This does your hands good, too, makes 'em soft, your wife will notice.

[JoshuaIII]

I mix boiled linseed oil with kerosene (To make it thinner), then I heat the pot to get it warm/hot and apply this way. It flow in really really well, but smell bad until everything cool off.

[johngsandusky]

All interesting ideas. Good point about rags and potential danger. Things to think about, thank you. I'm away for a week, so there will be no immediate results.

[Sailor]

I like the vacuum bag idea. Saves my mouldmaking time. I think it's the best idea yet.

[Soundman67]

you can use any airtight bag and the air inlet on your air compressor to make a quick vacuum bagging setup.

[Bob Smalser]

However you do it, you should use raw linseed. Boiled linseed polymerizes inside the wood, preventing further takeup of oil. Adding pine tar to the linseed also defeats your purpose here. Limit additives to turps for thinning.

[Wayne Jeffers]

However you do it, you should use raw linseed. Boiled linseed polymerizes inside the wood, preventing further takeup of oil.

Yes. Also, any boiled linseed that doesn't soak in will dry and leave a not-so-hard surface film. Not what you want here.

Wayne

[Don S]

However you do it, you should use raw linseed. Boiled linseed polymerizes inside the wood, preventing further takeup of oil. Adding pine tar to the linseed also defeats your purpose here. Limit additives to turps for thinning.

Ach! Now I read this. I made a bunch of oak cleats and chocks (even though I don't even have the boat built) and have soaked them in the boiled stuff. Oh well.

[ron ll]

I have a wheel in the pilot house in similar condition, loose and gaps. I've always thought someday I would take it apart, clean each piece, and glue and reassemble. Probably ain't gonna happen, at least anytime soon. Not sure what the wood is, maybe harder than mohagany. Should I try the soaking trick? Is raw linseed oil prohibitively expensive? How about laying the wheel flat on a large piece of visqueen in a large pan, then pull the visqueen up thru the spokes and openings as much as possible to reduce the amount of oil required?

http://www.ronlloyd.com/oddstuff/wheel.jpg

[Bob Smalser]

Ach! Now I read this. I made a bunch of oak cleats and chocks (even though I don't even have the boat built) and have soaked them in the boiled stuff. Oh well.

Linseed used as a finish om new wood and linseed used for the purpose of swelling dry, old wood are two different applications. For a finish I generally add pine tar and Japan dryer, too. The down side is that it all turns black in the sun in places where it isn't rubbed by wear, but that feature can be used selectively for a traditional, salty appearance.

[Don S]

[QUOTE=Bob Smalser;3299170]Linseed used as a finish om new wood and linseed used for the purpose of swelling dry, old wood are two different applications.

Well I guess all is not lost. I'm just not going to get the amount of penetration of the oil I had hoped for. But, then again, I guess the straight boiled oil wont turn black.

[Wayne Jeffers]

. . . Is raw linseed oil prohibitively expensive? . . .

No.

The last gallon I bought still has a price sticker of $9.99. That was at the local True Value Hardware, maybe 6 or 8 years ago.

Wayne

[ron ll]

No.

The last gallon I bought still has a price sticker of $9.99. That was at the local True Value Hardware, maybe 6 or 8 years ago.

Wayne

So if I try this, is it going to take weeks to soak up and then more weeks to dry? And is it better to thin it?

[Wayne Jeffers]

I've never used raw linseed for soaking, or for steering wheels, so I can't give advice based on first-hand experience in that.

My usual approach has been to flood the wood with linseed, and use a lot of elbow grease and a scrap of oil-soaked terrycloth to rub it in. Keep rubbing until it seems to soak up no more oil. Wait 15 minutes. With a clean cloth, wipe off any oil that hasn't soaked in. Leave it until the next day (or longer.) Repeat until you're satisfied. I often do this 4 or 5 (or more) times when applying oil for the first time to wood that has seriously dried out. You should be able to tell when it's not soaking up much more.

Drying after the last coat should not be much of an issue. With raw oil applied this way in tolerably warm conditions, you get little surface film left the day after the last wipe-down. It should have soaked in.

I do not thin the oil. If you like, you can warm it in a bucket of hot water before brushing it on. (Don't get it near flames, or you may have more fire than you intend. ;) Linseed oil is very flammable.)

And dispose of the oily rags properly -- they can spontaneously combust if you just drop/toss them in a heap.

Wayne

[S B]

The problem with saturating wood with linseed oil is it's viscosity and surface tension. If you cover the wood with oil it soaks in from all sides trapping air in the middle, preventing saturation. Boiled linseed oil, sun thickened and stand oil are all versions of cold or steam separated to increase viscosity, which makes penetration slow. All drying oils will eventualy polymerize inside the wood, not much of a problem as the process could take several hundred years to complete. To decrease surface tension and speed capillary action add an appropriate solvent. Lay the wheel in the mixture so that part of each piece is sticking out, to allow air to escape. Do a few experiments, on scrap wood first. Drop a bead of all mixtures on a dry stick, allow all to sink in, time, saw through each spot to evaluate penetration.

A straight linseed oil film is not impervious to water, it doesn't darken in sunlight the wood under it does.

[johngsandusky]

Results: the vaccuum storage bag wasn't strong enough, I used clear contractor's bags. Double bag for safety. I put the wheel in and bound it up with duct tape to decrease volume. It still took almost three gallons of oil. Then I put tennis balls and rocks under it between the spokes to raise the level of the oil. I let it soak four days. Four weeks might have been better. It does not seem to have swelled much. Worse, the oil darkened the wood to almost black. In the past I've oiled oak and spruce, they came out amber. In any case, I'll varnish it soon, and it will be shiny and black!

[Mrleft8]

If you wonder why the cost of lins has gone up so much at the store, it's because all the seeds are being harvested for pressing to make oil.... I'm starting a foundation to limit the use of poor defensless unborn lins in this manner..... "SAVE THE LINS!"
Aside from the horrible fate of those unborn lins, I have never found soaking anything in linseed oil to help tighten up loose joinery. Gum it up, maybe, but nothing more.
If your wheel has sloppy joinery it needs to be disassembled to assess whether it can be repaired properly, or needs to have parts replaced, or needs replacing completely.... Let's not forget, this is your steering wheel..... not a piece of wall art.