Opinions on Linseed Oil.

[Lizbet_Di'Battori]

Hi, I'm a veteran smoker, but very new to pipe making, and I have learned that a lot of finishes tend to blister after being smoked for a while. I have done other projects with wood, and I have always used linseed oil, which I finished my first pipe with, but I was wondering if other people have tried this and encountered problems. I am trying to get an idea of what to expect, and whether I can continue to use linseed oil, as I tend to have fair amounts on hand, or if I need to go get some shellac, which I have noticed seems to be quite popular. Opinions anyone?

[KurtHuhn]

There have been some pipe makers that have experimented with Danish Oil, including myself. It contains, among other things, linseed oil. The drawback is that it contains other, sometimes unknown, components. It all depends on the brand, and the particular recipe of the oil.

I use a linseed oil mix of my own recipe for gun stocks and grips, knife handles, wooden utensils, table tops, and other stuff. I prefer it to anything else in that use case because it soaks in to the wood and polymerizes there - basically becoming a plastic.

When using shellac, I use it primarily as a sanding sealer in cases where linseed oil won't be used. It's not permanent, and other than wax, there's usually no other finish applied. In the case of pipes, this is just carnuba (carnauba?) wax.

So, all that having been said, I personally arrived at the decision not to use linseed oil on pipes. Not for any reason of 'elfin safety', but because it simply took too long to cure and results were inconsistent. It wears unevenly as well, and is difficult to bring back to a "new" finish, while a carnuba wax finish is trivial to maintain. Mainly a decision based on quality, consistency, and maintainability.

[LatakiaLover]

IAWK

[Lizbet_Di'Battori]

Kurt, thank you for the information, based on that, I'll probably continue using linseed for my personal pipes, but if I decide to start making pipes for other people I'll probably swith to carnuba.

[DocAitch]

There are other polymerizing oils out there- among them tung and walnut. If you read up on wood finishes you might get some idea of what is appropriate. I believe Todd Bannard (Sasquatch) has used most of these finishes and one his major objections has been the curing time as mentioned by Kurt.
The curing time for tung can be reduced by thinning with a solvent.
DocAitch

[dogcatcher]

You might consider looking at sun bleached linseed oil.
https://youtu.be/GUyXm2IL4OQ

You can also melt carnauba wax and add it to the sun bleached linseed oil. I use a mix of beeswax on my homemade wood tool handles, Mind you I am not a pipemaker, only in this for my woodworking hobby to learn the techniques of how they are shaped. Making a few practice pipes was about my limit.

[Sasquatch]

I think you can finish a pipe with just about anything, but you have to understand what look you are going for, and what methods will achieve it. I've had good luck with linseed and tung (except one tung oil pipe that took about 3 months to dry). I can get a very high shine from danish oil if I polish on top of it, same with shellac. If I had to choose one do-all pipe finish, I'd take super thin shellac.