Thank you Ed and Michael. That's why I joined the ABS for good insight for sometimes silly questions.

Matthew thank you for the answer for both questions I found it very helpful

thank you for your response. after posting my question I tried some linseed oil on a scrap piece and realized it wasn't soaking in and I began to thin...

Thank you for your answer. That's what I thought just wanted to make sure . thank you again it was very helpful

I got a little impatient and since I'm making two knives I tried both ways and their in the tempering oven right now the clean one took a nice little ...