Linseed Oil

[Victor]

Is it still a component of varnish? Could it be used as a stain? I just sanded down a large piece and I'm tired of fooling around with the Minwax. The Red Mahagony is too damn dark, the Sedona is no better, ditto the Red Oak. If anyone has had any luck putting the other colors on mahogany I'd like to hear about it.

[alteran]

Have you tried "Natural" stain. Very little color to it, just enhances whats there. Have not used on mahogany but have on many other woods and it looks nice.

[Victor]

I have some of that stuff. The guy at the store said it can be used as a sealer. There was a nice tan color on the piece but it was splotchy so I had to take it all off. One of the other colors might work, but the linseed gives it a pretty good tone.

[Buzz73]

I've used the Minwax "Natural" stain on my sailing dinghy with fair results. But I don't think I will do it again. A good marine varnish should bring out the color of the grain very well on it's own, especially if you're using mahogany.
My personal preference is to use boiled linseed oil diluted with a thinner. Linseed oil is used with good results in wood & canvas canoes. But it will turn black with extended exposure to sunlight. Diluting it with appropriate thinners should decrease this tendency. Marine varnish with the best UV protection you can find is recommended if you take this approach.

[Tom Dugan]

You don't really say what your application is here, so I'm shooting in the dark. But mahogany is generally used (boats and furniture) because it looks great without any staining. Applying a good marine varnish will provide enough (IMO) gold/orange tint to warm the color up considerably. When you stain wood you're laying down a layer of pigment on the surface, obscuring the subtler characteristics of the wood. A dye penetrates the wood with much smaller particulates and lets the wood's inherent characteristics come through. I've dyed mahogany to redden it up a bit with good results, but that was on an interior application, and I don't know the long-term effects of sun and weather on the typical water- and alcohol-based stains.

Bottom line: Without knowing exactly what you want to do here, I'd suggest just applying a varnish to mahogany.

-T

[Dan Lindberg]

For what it's worth, I did some sample tests a few years ago on Northern white cedar and western red cedar.

I made several samples of each (different grains and colors) applying tung oil, linseed oil or nothing and then 2 coats of marine varnish.

When all was said and done, I couldn't tell any difference in color between any of the bottom coat options.

Now this was with cedar, mahogany may be different, also, if you don't want it to darken, (using linseed oil) use tung oil instead.

Dan

[Victor]

For some reason this 44-year-old piece of mahogany came out quite dull after sanding, as if it had been bleached. Same with some of the cedar seat planks. I avoid stain if at all possible, esp. on mahogany, but it needs a little something this time.