[mike16]

I like linseed oil. the boiled stuff may darken the wood as it oxidises, the unboiled linseed oil supposedly does not. BLO is available at just about any hardwar store or section of a big box store. \

Un boiled linseed oil seems for some reason to be more difficult to find, is not often sold in qt or gallon containers and is more expensive. Art supply stores sell it in rediculous small and expensive quantities(volumes?) Medical/pharmicutical grade unboiled linseed oil is available from those sources. Resturant food grade unboiled linseed oil is available from those sources.

linseed oil is what the factory used, it has a nice smell and takes pigment well. It was found by the british navy severlal hundred years ago that linseed oil when soaked into planks preserves the wood for upwards of 125 years and splinters dont cause infection

several coats applied initialy are critical. 5% linseed oil and 95% gum turpintine are soaked into the wood and allowed to soak in and dry. Next coat in 10% linseed oil and 90% turpinetine. each additional coat the ratio changes by 5% and allowed to soak in and dry. After that a quart painted on the top surface every six months will pretty much preserve the wood indefinately.

another advantage to linseed oil is that it can be used to do localised or spot repaires. no need to sand down the spar varnish down to bare wood and refinish it. no pealing and cracking or yellowing when exposed to sunlite. . it is also very compatible with water based stain or oil based stain. try to stay away from petrolium oil based stain. And if you use a water based stain be sure that all moisture/water drys completly befor applying linseed oil as it will seal in the water and the wood may discolour or rot. Ditto if you wet sand your wood first. or cut your own wood. let it dry to like 6% or less moisture content befor cutting or sealing with linseed oil. here in southern AZ it takes about a year to dry the wood to that level of dryness. in the north and the east it can take longer. dry your wood befor you cut it.

also if you harvest your own wood study where and when to cut trees down. it a small detail but very important to the quality of the finished product.

there is no reason to use wood with knots in it. some people think it adds character to the wood, wood specialishs do NOT. plus the knots shrink and expand at a different rate than the wood around it and often pop out leaving a silly hole that must be repaired and does not look proffessional. stay away from knotty wood; it cheaper for a reason. vendors often demand a price premioum from ignorant people who buy knotty wood. spend the extra money to buy un knotted wood from a reputable dealer.

pine is what the manufacturer used. there are other really nice woods on the market but some, no matter what are horrible. I have seen beautiful woodie wagons ruined with wierd ugly wood choices. dont get weird or resale value will go down..

tung oil is another oil based finish, beatiful and very expensive. most tung oil is not tung oil, its a mixture of recycled petrolium and waste vegitable oil. transmission motor and gear oil mixed with unusable food grade recycled oil. marvel mystry oil comes to mind when describing commercially available tung oil. also all tung oil i am aware of has a component of the mix that leaves a had plastic or resinous surface coating on it. so when your first coat goes on and drys, its more like a spar varnish and additional laters or coats do not sink in to the wood but simply build up on the surface like a plastic coating. easily recognisable and kinda ugly. real tung oil is hard to come by. I had a one gallon can i inheireted from my dad who owned it since the 50's. worth gold now but sadly long gone. Even the tung oil advertised in the gunsmithing/stock making business is not tung oil. its junk too.