Linseed oil on cedar

[archie_MN]

A new 1 to me fellas, bit of an FYI for you.

HO had been resealing every year with linseed oil for 8 years. Deck was so black it looked painted. I used mild SH to clean it up, a little oxalic to neutralize. When i came back 5 days later, the oil had resurfaced. It looked like I hadn't even cleaned yet. Cleaned it again, same deal 3 days later. Third cleaning did the trick. Next time, I'd recommend bidding the cleaning at least 2x and insist on a dark stain. Either way, if the HO doesn't understand the complications of linseed oil, walk away.



...only good news from it is that I booked his fence Friday...

 

[Doug Rucker]

Thanks for sharing that. Great info to have.

 

[Xtreme]

Straight linseed oil is a great food for those things we don't want growing on our wood surfaces.

Next time you are wanting to remove the oil use a deck stain stripper and you will only be there one time. The stripper will lift the oils so they can be washed away.

Contrary to what a lot of people think, Bleach does NOTHING to remove oils and stains. It is the pressure they are using that does that, unfortunately. This gives them the false idea that the bleach is doing the work.

Congrats on getting it done, now sell them some stain.... LOL