healing wood types

iris b
on 3 Mar 13 (13:26)

hello
i recently recieved very old wood types, but the wood is very dry and almost have no weight.
i was wondering if there is any way to restore it to a better condition, or revive the wood.
i doubt i will use the types for printing since many of them are chipped but i still would like to try and heal them.
thanks

inky
on 3 Mar 13 (17:44)

I would use linseed oil. Pure linseed oil, not boiled linseed oil. You may or may not find the pure at the hardware store. You may have to go to the art supply store. Pour a bit in a container and dip all four sides and then stand the piece on the base in the oil. You want it to drink up all the oil it can. Probably give it a couple of days. Then dunk the top and wipe the whole piece dry.

mephits
on 3 Mar 13 (23:41)

Inky, are you sure you mean un-boiled linseed oil? That means it will basically never dry. Boiling it pre-polymerizes it and makes dry in weeks rather than years. The hardware store stuff usually has metallic additives that make it dry faster yet, but these additives leave behind a residue. Un-boiled pure linseed oil is a food additive, though it’s usually sold as flax seed oil (Linseed was originally linen seed and flax is the plant linen fabric is made from).

inky
on 4 Mar 13 (02:48)

Yes, I realize that boiled linseed oil dries. That is why I suggested the pure oil. Dried boiled oil gives a varnish like finish and that is what I would want to avoid. I would want the type piece to take up as much oil as possible. Then I would wipe it dry.
One could try the boiled oil.

iris b
on 14 Apr 13 (15:16)

Updated 16 Apr 13 (14:34)

hi everybody!
i just wanted to thank you for the great tip about the linseed oil.
i used it on some of my very very dry types and it made wonders!