After reading your idea of using Danish Oil as an alternative to Linseed Oil, I took a look at some of those walnut blocks I glued and finished several years ago to see how my Watco Danish Oil fared. It was actually right in the middle of the pack as far as darkening the wood. Other brands of Danish Oil might give a different result. The very least darkening was finished with Zar semi-gloss Polyurethane, and a very close second in light coloration was done with Gillespie Tung Oil. Neither the Tung Oil or the Watco Danish Oil gave any significant surface build, but I only applied a couple coats for my little experiment. Tung Oil is slower to harden than many finishes, and needs a light sanding between coats, but no worse than BLO for curing time. The Laurel Mountain Permalyn and Minwax Oil Modified Urethane were very close in coloration to the Watco Daish Oil, but had much more gloss and surface build. The darkest coloration I got in walnut was with the Sherwin Williams Spar Varnish which was very close to Tru-Oil. But I didn't even try Raw or Boiled Linseed Oils because I feel they are inferior gun stock finishes. A few other finishes I tried were lost during my destructive testing of my glue joints. As a caution, some brands of Tung Oil are not 100% Tung Oil, but actually mixtures of Tung, Varnish, and Mineral Spirits. As always, it is best to try any finish out on a piece of scrap walnut that is similar in color and density before doing your stock.
