Is linseed oil a “green” alternative to typical wood preservative products?
I have received many inquiries from people who are interested in using “environmentally friendly” products to seal their decks, and want to use linseed oil instead of branded products. Raw linseed oil does not, to my knowledge, contain any dangerous chemicals. However, any specific brand may or may not be suitable for food surfaces such as cutting boards, wood bowls, etc. (There are other drawbacks, as mentioned above, to using raw linseed oil.) Then, there are those dang additives. Let me quote the warning label from a typical hardware-store can of boiled linseed oil I read the other day… “Use of this product will expose you to arsenic, beryllium, chromium, cadmium and nickel, which are known to cause cancer; and lead which is known to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm.” These metals are used in conjunction with solvents to improve the drying time of linseed oil… the “boiled” linseed oil I mentioned earlier in this article. Typical hardware store boiled linseed oil,
