Call me old fashioned, but I like a real boiled linseed oil finish. Problem is, you cannot just buy a little plastic bottle of real boiled linseed oil. Ya gotta make it. I have some of differing consistencies that I use. It has lead carbonate and burnt Umber driers added. Some is boiled only a little, and not much thicker than raw oil. I use this, along with some aged turpentine for the first few applications so it soaks into the wood well. Each L I G H T application will take a day or two of all day FULL sunlight to dry (though I will leave it out another day or so to make sure). I can tell by the changing smell when it's dry. Wipe it on lightly (do NOT "flood and soak"), and wipe off ALL the excess from the surface of the wood. Linseed oil is an in-the-wood finish, not an on-the-wood finish. A few applications will get the grain started to fill up and then I switch to the good stuff. Linseed oil that is boiled until it is T H I C K. So thick and stiff that you can't do anything with it without a lot of turpentine. Don't worry about putting this stuff on lightly. Lay it on, and leave a thin amount on the surface. This stuff will easily dry within a day of sun. You have to watch it. You want it ALMOST dry, but preferably not really dry (if it dries all the way, it gets even tougher to get off the surface, but it can be done). Now, here is where all the "hand rubbing" is in a "hand rubbed linseed oil finish". With burlap, cut all the oil off the surface of the stock. It's best, if at all possible, to run the burlap across the grain in a shoe shine motion. This cuts it off the surface without sucking too much out of the grain, as it can do if you run along with the grain (but is necessary in some areas). It's not easy. It's hard work. It hurts.
If necessary, a little bit of turpentine can be added to the burlap to help cut off too-stiff oil, but not too much, as you don't want it softening up and removing oil in the grain. Two or three of these thick coats are usually sufficient to get a fully filled and finished stock.
Hard work? Yes. But nothing looks or feels as good as a good linseed oil finish.
As for store-bought stuff, I have read good things about Lin-Speed, but I have no experience with it. It is supposed to be a highly refined and purified oil, with nothing added. The purer the oil, the faster it dries. I've been intending to give it a try, but haven't gotten around to it.
Tried and True "Danish Oil" is a pre-polymerized linseed oil, with nothing added (I'm not sure how they polymerize it... I think it's lightly heated, but not boiled). I've fooled with it a little, and it seems to do well. Still, you're not gonna be able to put two or three coats on in a day, and like all these linseed oil finishes, without sunlight, it won't dry much at all.
I once finished a stock with the Tried and True "Varnish oil". This is linseed oil with a little rosin added. Now, I think this works fairly well as an oil finish, with the added water resistance of the rosin. However, the stock I did, I did use it as a top coat too, and I think it just doesn't have enough resin in it to be hard enough for a top varnish. So, I have taken a half a can of it, and then dissolved some rosin (no, I don't know how much) into some red turpentine I've had aging for some time, and put in as much as would dissolve, and poured that into my can to fill it up. This does NOT work as a cut-off-the-surface oil finish, as it is way too stiff and hard, but as a built up varnish, it seems to do pretty well. Dries quick enough for me (but probably not quick enough for most people) and makes a pretty tough finish that is clearly more water resistant than oil alone.
I personally do not like on-the-surface varnish finishes, though, as I have never come up with a way to do it and keep the carving clean and not globbed up too bad. A major pain. So I generally stick with the good ol' linseed oil.
