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I went to Home Depot and bought a quart of boiled linseed oil.
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| Before applying any oil. |
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| A light base coat applied and doing the ten minute soak. |
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| Excess wiped off and sitting for the overnight dry. |
Linseed oil smells familiar. I can't remember where I've smelled it before, but the memories are saying I have without telling me where. I don't do woodworking, and nobody in my family really does either. Strange.
Linseed oil is something of a mythical substance to me because we had many manuals about the care of the pioneer tools for the tank that specified using linseed oil to protect the wood, but I never once saw a can while I was in the Army.
Back pre mid 70's, when a glass window pane had to be re-installed in a wooden frame. you used mastic made from fine powder clay and linseed oil. After drying a bit, the frame and mastic could be painted with oil based paint. Same stuff was used to seat drain sinks in the pre-silicone era. I am probably 10 or so years older than you, so remember this clearly as one of my uncles was a house painter and lived with the stuff for these and other paint related use.
ReplyDeleteIt actually smells pleasant to me, mainly because of the related memories.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever break in a baseball glove by rubbing it with linseed oil? That might be where the remembered smell comes from.
ReplyDeleteThe only organized sport I ever played was hockey, so that's not it.
DeleteThe memory is vaguely of a whole room smelling like this. A place I went often.
Regarding baseball gloves, I think you're confusing linseed oil with Neatsfoot Oil.
DeleteAs for linseed oil, it's often cut 50-50 with mineral spirits when used for finishing wood, it penetrates more deeply when you do so. An old empty glass bottle or jar is good for keeping a mix available.
PLEASE NOTE: RAGS USED TO APPLY BOILED LINSEED OIL SHOULD NOT BE WADDED UP AND PILED UP IN A CORNER, THEY CAN SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST AND START A FIRE.
The rags used were wadded up and thrown into a fire! We have a firepit in the back; it seemed a prudent way to make sure they didn't burn where we didn't want them burning.
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