rice bran oil as a finish?

[Steve Tiedman]

I was watching a June 2024 Richard Raffan video this morning-

View: https://youtu.be/E9lenkr3Dbc?si=Z1p_p1PwvEy_7XXq

and at about 9:15 he shows a bottle of rice bran oil (he states in the comments it is Aldi Australia supplied) he is going to use, without explanation, as a substitute to his normal unnamed boiled linseed oil. Screenshot from the video-


I wonder to myself- but does it cure (polymerize)? Searching here on this board brought up a thread from a year ago where @Mick Fagan used it, based on watching Raffan use it. This was the only thread I found referring to rice bran oil.

Post in thread 'Bigleaf Maple: minimum size for bowl turning?'

Jan 26, 2025

Hi Mick,
I'm unfamiliar with rice bran oil as a bowl finish. Does it polymerize? Are there particular kinds of pieces you like using it on? Lovely little bowl, by the way. Thanks!

I quickly turned this reasonably small bowl a couple of weeks ago from some scrap wood laying around. ... Finish is rice bran oil

• Sarah S Elkind

In the discussion, the answer to the question from @Sarah S Elkind about the ability of rice bran oil to fully polymerize into a hard cured finish remained unclear (and even I looked right past the use of this oil when I was part of that thread), so I did what any curious person would do nowadays, I asked Goo-Guhl, "Does rice bran oil polymerize as a wood finish?" Since the art. intel. answer can't seem to be linked directly for posting here, here is a screenshot giving the gist of the answer. If you want to see more, including the AI search result source, search that same question, but the point is made here. Reading further at the source, rice bran oil needs high temperatures, near its smoke temp of about 450°F, to polymerize into a hard, cured film. But, it seems this oil, and this high temp quality, make it ideal for seasoning cast iron and carbon steel cook pans. A silver lining.

Would I use rice bran oil as a wood finish? No. Hopefully, as Mick explained, linseed is once again available in Australia at this time.
As Paul Harvey always used to tell us, "Now you know... the rest of the story."

 

[Richard Raffan]

I don't want a hard finish on anything utilitarian. Throughout the 1970s and early 80s I finished everything with a cooking oil and beeswax mix. The cooking oils rarely dried, but mixed with the beeswax never leached on to gallery shelves. Then in the mid-1980s I was selling mostly burl bowls full of fissures. I needed an oil that dries and started using boiled linseed oil as my only finish, later mixing that with beeswax on everything without fissures. I’d prefer to use Mike Mahoney’s walnut oil but that’s not available in Australia. I purchased the rice oil when I couldn't find any BLO at my nearest Bunnings.

To me, the advantage of an oil/beeswax finish is that when utilitarian bowls are washed the finish comes off, after which a patina develops with use as it does on a wooden chopping or serving board, wooden plate, wooden salad bowl, or cup. On pieces that won’t get wet, the oil/beeswax is a good base for ongoing care and regular polishing with wax polish or boiled linseed oil that can build to a glossy patina in a few months. My observation is that hard finishes and sealers eventually crack, look terrible, and need refurbishing, whereas my bowls tend to look better with age, use, and ongoing care.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Hello @Richard Raffan, I agree with you, I do not care for a hard cured film finish on any woodturnings, utilitarian or display-only. For me, the appeal of penetrating finishes is the ability to feel the wood and its characteristics while seeing the visual enhancements of the finish. Pure tung oil, and for many years now the Tried & True linseed oils, are all that I use. Utilitarian pieces (turnings, utinsels, cutting boards) stay close to home, so for these I use no finishes at all, and just let the natural appearance develop with use.

Congratulations with your new VL200 lathe. Vicmarc lathes have been in my shop for 25 years. What became of your VL150 lathe?

All the best...

 

[Gord Cameron]

I too was puzzled by Richard's use of rice bran oil. For me, there is no place for a non-drying oil in wood finishing unless, as in the situation Richard encountered, there was simply no drying oil to be had and the piece had to be finished.

Even then, I wouldn't feel comfortable sending into the world a piece that presents itself as being finished but (as it is only finished with a non-drying oil) will very soon be bare. While it is true that even a drying oil finish will fade away over time, there is a world of difference between the longevity of the finish on a piece with several coats of tung oil versus one finished with a non-drying oil. A good drying oil finish (I prefer tung oil) will have the sought-after in-the-wood oil finish appearance, will endure for a few years, and can be easily renewed.

I also have a number of unfinished items that get stained and generally rough-looking, because I am OK with that: sometimes this has an attractiveness of its own. But when a utility piece is leaving my house, it either has a decent drying oil finish on it or--because the recipient has requested an unfinished piece--it has nothing on it.