Q:

I finished some cabinets with an oil-based stain and two coats of thinned boiled linseed oil. The second coat of oil hasn’t dried. Scrubbing with steel wool and thinner removed some, but not all of it. How can I get the rest of it off?

Randy Werkoven, Convay, SC

A:

It’s not a good idea to use boiled linseed oil over a pigment stain, because the pigments seal the wood and prevent the oil from penetrating it. As a result, the oil will certainly gum up on the surface.

You can remove the gummy linseed oil with paint stripper or a liquid refinisher. If you use paint stripper, let it sit for a while and then scrape it off with a putty knife. If you use a liquid refinisher, rub it in with 0000 steel wool, following the manufacturer’s instructions. This process also will remove some of your stain, so you’ll need to reapply it.

When the stain is dry, skip the boiled linseed oil (and any other penetrating oil) and go directly to a true topcoat such as shellac or varnish.

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Liberon Steel Wool

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