I just read Patrick Kelly's article on sword care and he mentions treating the grip of the sword with boiled linseed oil. I'm all new to this so how would you go about treating the grip with the oil? Thanks

yeah thanks. my sword has a wooden handle so that should help. :)

To add to what Steve said I cover with oil let sit 1/2 an hour and wipe dry what hasn't penetrated into the wood.

The thing is that one treatment like this will bring out the grain nicely but it will take regular applications to build up a nice hard finish. If you just leave the linseed oil on the surface it will eventually dry but as a tacky and gummy finish that sits on top of the wood. A slow oil and wipe once a week for months will seep into the grain of the wood and after a while just an occasional refreshing of the finish or using " renaissance " wax will give a nice soft sheen.

One thing that is good is that after you have wiped of the excess you can use the object as it will be neither sticky or tacky or so oily to stain anything: The only side effect being that your hand will smell of linseed oil. :D ( A smell I like and unless someone is allergic to the oil it should not be a problem ).

Note: Oily rags can spontaneously combust I've read but I just use my hand to apply the oil and rub it into the wood and toilet paper to remove the excess. I then wet the toilet paper heavily before I throw into the garbage or if it's a small piece I just flush it. So far I haven't caused any problem with this plugging up the toilet but I don't throw in huge amounts of oil soaked paper at one time.