Boat Oil

[SBrookman]

I mixed up my first batch of boat oil (soup) last week. 1 part BLO, 1 part Turpentine, a blob of pine tar and a dash of J. drier. (yes, the same stuff that almost burnt my shop down in a previous post) Smells great, but my spars are still tacky days later.
Question: is that the nature of the beast, or did I go too heavy on the pine tar, not wipe it down thoroughly, or is it not suitable as a final finish?
I'm going for a workboat finish, and won't mind when it turns grey/black, but I don't really care for tackiness...who would?
And if not boat oil, what other low maintenence finish is recommended?

[Yeadon]

My experience with stuff like that ... put it on, soak it in, wipe it off, wipe it off, wipe it off. You don't want a residual film to get too thick on the outside, as you'll end up with a sticky mess. You're really just soaking it in and sealing it up. You can always hit it with more if certain areas seem to not be coated properly.

If it's too tacky, can you use turps or something to break it down a bit?

[hansp77]

I've have never used this 'boat oil' yet but have had a bit of experience with oil finishes in general. I would mix up a bit of turpentine and driers (heavy on the driers) and rub it in really well, and then off really well as it starts to thicken- Worked for my hardwood floors (BLO and turpentine) when I couldn't wait any longer for the BLO to dry (made up a drier heavy BLO and turpentine mix).

Just rubbing in some turpentine and rubbing it off again, and again, as Yeadon says, would no doubt help- I don't mind getting a very slight build up of dried oil on timber- but only after many many coats.

[ishmael]

It could be that the atmosphere of late has been so saturated that it's not drying completely yet. Give it a few days with dryer weather. If they are easily movable put them in the sun.

You could also be heavy on the pine tar and light on the Japan drier.

An old Downeast recipe.

One quart turps
One quart boiled linseed
1/2 pint pint tar
1/2 pint Japan dryer