Oil for bossing mallets

[Chipper]

What oil do people use? Is Linseed OK (got that, and maybe Danish), or is there another glop of choice.
Ta.

 

[Hitch]

I would imagine Danish oil would be ideal. Thats what i use on most woods.

Avoid the Colron stuff though, its weird, as is their wax.
Liberon is the brand of choice for me. Not that it matters if you already have it.

 

[mike os]

anything,,,,, danish, teak, linseed, mineral...... given its use, does not make a lot of difference

 

[brightspark]

anything,,,,, danish, teak, linseed, mineral...... given its use, does not make a lot of difference

just cosmetic

 

[rikrobson]

As cricketers use linseed oil on their bats, it would be suitable for mallets

 

[Shox Dr]

Is there only function in Oiling. If they are lignum vitae, all it will do is put a shine on it. Not sure about the other hard woods used

 

[brightspark]

Is there only function in Oiling. If they are lignum vitae, all it will do is put a shine on it. Not sure about the other hard woods used

beech and the new ones are made of plastic

 

[mike os]

most are not LV these days so oiling helps prevent it drying & getting too brittle... but thats it, its a tinbashing tool so cosmetic it aint... besides Avon would be a better choice for cosmetics

 

[Chipper]

Pretty sure they're Lignum Vitae, re-shaped one and a sander with 60 grit barely bothered it. They're old ones, feel like they've been oiled in their past life. Although I'm not sure why, moisture probs wouldn't make these move much/split etc. I'll slap some on anyway.

 

[Paul.]

For a simple test Lignum vitae will sink in water, it is also a naturally oily timber so may not have been treated at all, up until fairly recently a customer of mine had a very old conveyor which had lignum vitae bearings, used because of its self lubricating properties.

 

[Drains]

Even Lignum Vitae will crack over time if it's not oiled (takes a while though).

As TP says - used to be used for bearings. The Germans used it in WW2 for lots of stuff as they had limited supplies of phosphor bronze etc.

 

[Chipper]

Interesting about the bearings...
Thanks all.

 

[the artfull-codger]

my bossing mallets, lead dressers setting in sticks & chase wedges were all made out of box & we never bothered to oil them at all allthough they would have probably benefitted from a drop of linseed oil, we were too busy dressing lead [on bonus] to bother,when they were kna**ered the firm supplied us with new ones.
slan go fol