Val Oil and wood sealer questions

BillS

BillS

Well-known member
Guys I am thinking of ordering a case of Val-oil for sealing some restoration decoys I am doing. My question though is how does oil paint adhere to it? From what I heard you used to be able to add powdered pigment to color it, not anymore correct? do you put one or 2 layers? I am looking for a soaking sealant that is paintable any others to consider?

Thanks

Bill
 
You can paint over Val-Oil Wood Sealer with an oil-based paint. I do it all the time when I re-paint old LL Bean Decoys, I use Rust-Oleum [flat black, flat white, gray primer] as a primer and haven't had any problems.


TIM
 
Bill,
See if you can get in touch with Bill Wasson. I know he uses it as a sealer.
On his advice I used it on some BSC blacks and it worked well, but I didn't
paint over it.
 
You will have no problem painting over Val-Oil with oils or acrylic paint. I've been using it since the '70's when Joe Wooster put me onto it as a sealer. Joe's words at the time: "Two coats of Val-Oil will seal a cotton ball." As usual, the old curmudgeon was right.

The formulation in the past decade has probably changed a bit, but the only result I have seen there is that it no longer is prone to coagulating in the can when an open can is stored for long periods of time between use. Used to have some issues with that, but no longer. In fact I used to drop marbles in open can to fill up dead air space and prevent this. Haven't done that in 15 years.

View attachment Val-Oil2 (600 x 399).jpg

Now that it's getting harder to come by (although I can usually find it on the net), I sometimes will order another case, regardless of whether I need it or not, just to keep a good supply on hand.
 
Thanks guys, I didn't see that post pete thanks, but a report I read showed linseed as a not very good sealer compared to val oil and some others. However I wonder if you could add pigment to it? I read paint used to have a lot more linseed oil in it so it must be compatible. The decoys I am working on, I have stripped, yet most still have paint soaked into the wood. When I asked a local carver/collector/historian he said it was becuase many of the upper bay carvers used val oil, and way back it came in colors. So I am quessing these decoys still have sealer in them becuase I see the staining from the paint, and would like to recreate the process as close to orginal.

Thanks
 
Bill,

I've never used it that way.

Seems I remember a house painter telling me that he added it to his OIL paint to aid durability and adhesion, but that was a long time ago, and I don't know if it's still a recommended application or what the proportions are.
 
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