BLO finishing tips

[bglenden]

Hello -

I'm finishing a small piece of cherry (wood) furniture using BLO for the first time. I am three coats in (last coat 3 days old), and about half of each board is very slightly tacky (much less so than a post-it note glue strip). Up until this point I have been leaving each coat pretty wet but not dripping. (And it's starting to look great!)

My questions:

1. My guess is that the fact that some of each board is slightly tacky must mean that the wood pores are getting full and the BLO will start to build a surface finish.

2. Should I wait until the oil is completely dry before putting on subsequent coats. And how wet should subsequent coats be?

3. When should I stop - when the entire surface has the same appearance? (I'll finish with some shellac, so I don't particularly need to build a finish).

4. I have some some dust here and there - eliminate with steel wool or fine sandpaper?

Thanks for any advice, and sorry for the newbie questions.

Cheers,

Brian

[Bombarde16]

I've never gone more than two coats of linseed oil. Beyond three and you're getting into the realm of building a film, for which some sort of varnish would be a better choice.

Linseed oil can be flooded on to a surface and you have plenty of working time; but it's best to wipe off the excess before leaving it. If it's an open-pore wood such as oak, you may need to come back and wipe it down again as oil comes back out of the pores.

Wait a day or so, hit it with steel wool and then start building your shellac.