I'd go with the manufacturers rec unless someone has something better to offer. Linseed oil is often used to treat and protect wood so there is that benefit if you go this route. If you use linseed oil, be careful how you store or dispose of rags with linseed on them, they can auto combust. "A common example of chemically induced combustion occurs with linseed oil soaked rags. As with all plant based drying oils, linseed oil heats by the chemical process of oxidation. When rags saturated with linseed oil are confined in a space which allows ample exposure to air for oxidation, but not enough air to dissipate the heat,the temperature of the rags will rise and can reach the ignition point of about 212 degrees F. At this point, they will spontaneously combust if sufficient oxygen is present." Another method that may or may not work is one used to put grips on handlebars for motorcycles and bicycles. I have used dish detergent and hairspray. I liked the dish detergent less as it was difficult to clean up the residue under the grip and took awhile for the grip to set. The hairspray worked perfectly in that the stuff dried fairly quickly and actually provided some bonding to keep the grips from rotating. Though, I don't think hair spray would work very well on a porous surface like wood.

It's allways great to hear when some one has a great experience with a contractor. Funny story, we used the same great painter indoors and out for many years. Did fantastic work. Never saw him sober.

I feel your pain/indecision about your gift. My Nana cooked with a pressure cooker on a regular basis so I didn't have the "fear" of it as so many do but I sure had fear about making something safe for my family due to my incompetence with canning. I disagree somewhat with the others (who know way more than me), I would keep the gift and follow all guidelines and instructions from the canner manual and approved recipes. Yes, you can can many yummy things in the water bath and you should start there but you won't know until you try with the pressure canner. As Dave has said, Ball's Blue Book is one of the safe and approved sources for recipes, so try to follow them. There are a lot of sources online who have really yummy sounding recipes but they are NOT approved. Just because someone proclaims that their Grandma did the same recipe and nobody died from it....there has been research since Grandma's day and there is always that risk. I would like to encourage you to come here and ask questions. Sometimes you may get a response that you don't necessarily like (found a recipe you think sounds awesome but it is taken down here) but we are favored here with several experts who will tell it like it is. I appreciate safety above all. Don't be scared to try, is what I'm trying to say:) Lori

My sweet hubby drove his giant trailer that he hauls our tractor on to a friend's stable and brought me a huge trailer load of horse manure for V Day. He also got me a potted tulip and a turquoise ring, but the best by far was the manure. We are all so weird. The really ridiculous part is we have cows and horses, but they just don't "go" enough to satisfy my manure requirements.