>>2283187>I heard that boiled linseed oil is just flaxseed oil with added heavy metals to help it dry quickly which makes it dangerous when ingested.The fuck? No, the difference is whether it's considered edible and whether it's cold-pressed or not. Boiled linseed oil absorbs into wood readily and is extremely common for finishing wood furniture and gun stocks. Flaxseed oil is the same oil, obtained from the seeds differently to retain edibility, but it doesn't absorb into the wood or dry properly and leaves things sticky. There's no heavy metals involved. It's simply processed differently for different purposes. The linseed oil will make the wood more resistant to water, cooking oils, etc.
>I thought that was the point of it taking a lot more time to cure.No, tacky, making it easy to grip when wet, is good. Sticky is bad.
>>keep it under sunlight or near a fireThat is an excellent way of catching your wooden knife handle on fire. I specifically said to keep it out of direct sunlight and away from sources of ignition.
>use beeswax every now and thenBeeswax is the final step, you don't interchange them.
>I guess I'm back to my initial question which is whether or not I can just get whatever 100% flaxseed oil from the grocery?The hardware store is a more reliable source, generally in the wood working section. You may also find it in a dedicated gun store, with the chemicals and tools for refinishing wood and metal.
>I guess there's the whole spontaneous combustion thing, but somehow I've never heard of it once it has dried.It's perfectly safe once dried. The spontaneous combustion is the fumes from evaporating oil, in a rag, in an enclosed space or direct sunlight.
>Fuck, I'll just stick to the shopkeeper's advise of using beeswax or mineral oil on it regularly then.Don't get discouraged, it's much easier than you think, and the results are worth the effort. Just look up a tutorial on youtube and you'll see how simple it really is.
