Curbly

Hi I just stumbled upon your page as I was looking how to make genuine oilcloth. I am going to make reusable snack bags with the oilcloth and had a  question... Which side would touch the food? (there will be an untreated cotton sewn to it for the outer seen part).

Thanks!!! :)

How do you store an oilcloth?  If you are not 100 percent sure it is dry, then there is a possiblity of it heating up and catching fire, true?  I would like to make one, but want to keep it fairly clean inbetween uses.  Thanks.

I have been using beeswax oil to oilour soapstone counters.   I tried it as a "renewer" on a French oilcloth tablecloth, and it worked beautifully.  This is completely nontoxic--use light mineral oil and melted beeswax in roughly equal proportions and put in a squat jar or deli container.  Keep a rag in it and oil your wooden cutting boards, soapstone counters, knife blades, and knife handles too.  After rubbing it on, let it sit 20 minutes or so then polish.  I am n ot sure if t his would work on canvas, but will experiment and see. 

Carlos...Thanks so much for your response.  I am going to try organic flaxseed oil and see how it dries...I am in no rush, but want to be sure if my kids are eating at the table I have put something safe on it for them.

To Sally and Angela about the type of oil.

Linseed and flaxseed are the same thing, however, linseed oil is processed with solvents that makes it inedible. Some of those solvents are what might have health risks.

Boiling linseed oil can, depending on the amount of time and temp, quicken drying times. Most "boiled" linseed oil, however, is instead mixed with chemical driers (like lead) to cut down on wait time.

I have bought the gallon jugs of raw oil from the hardware store (think it's processed with alkali). And also gallons of refined (usually processed with alkali) from Daniel Smith in Seattle or online. I dont remember what I have researched on drying times and quality but there are books and online resources that can help you find that out. Daniel Smith sells cold-pressed (which might have less added solvents) and stand oil too.

There is information you can find on additives and pigments that are added to linseed oil to make artist oils that can adjust characteristics.

-Carlos from Olympia, Wa.

To Angela regarding thickness of base material:

A thicker canvas will indeed become very stiff. Theincreased material will absorb more of the oil and it will become very tough. Sometimes that is exactlly what you want. Carhart's cotton duck canvas (12oz) is a common type of fabric and you have to be carefull about making it too stiff. I have accidentally made a jacket into a suit of armor. Usually a thinner material is used more like a linen (maybe a medium weight will be perfect for your application). That is what Filson's does up here in Seattle. When you use a thicker (ABSORBENT) material you have to be careful about overlayering it too quick which will retard the oxidation (drying times).

Carlos G. Olympia Wa

After doing some more research I found that raw linseed oil is the same thing as flaxseed oil...does anyone know if they dry at the same rate...the linseed oil I am trying to avoid is boiled or refined oils...so they are safe for my children

 Have really been excited to try this new project...but when I read the linseed oil can at walmart...it says it contains lead and other harmful ingredients...am I looking at the wrong kind of linseed oil, or is this just not the right project for a family with kids?

Wallpaper as oilcloth floor covering design?  I'd like to make my own, and have seen many references to _painting_ a design on it before, or during, the process of coating it with oil.  But, I doubt I'll be happy with my own efforts, and am considering using a wallpaper border instead.  Do you think it would work?  Would it STAY stuck through the process?  Thanks!

I can't seem to find the link about getting 'custom fabric laminated with a PVC coating'. Can you please list those companies? Thanks

Know this was started some time ago but I have some questions.  

Which type of linseed is recommended Refined or I know winsor and newton offer drying linseed that dries up faster??? 

Secondly,  I'm wanting to make oil cloth for art smocks for kids and didnt know if I could use linseed oil on a medium weight fabric and if so would it make the fabric so rigid that it cannot be pliable for sewing and such??  

Hope to get a response!  Thanks for posting this! 

Hey Jim,

Soaking it over-saturated the canvas. I imagine a film slowly dries on the surface and becomes somewhat sticky/not adhering to the surface/kinda gooey but that the layer is preventing the oil impregnating the cloth from curing.

You can attempt to remove/pick/scrape/wash the outer layers of sticky oil off maybe? Even if you got the oil to dry (linseed oil primarily cures through oxidation, not heat) it would be very stiff.

Carlos G. from Washington

Hi. I treated a canvas bag by soaking it in boiled linseed oil, and it never fully dried. It's been over a year, and the thing is still tacky. Is it supposed to be that way? Is there anything I can do at this point to make it dry further?

Thanks for any help.

Jim Crutchfield
Long Island City, NY

Jeesh Helen, Thanks for the warning. I hope everyone reads this and takes precautions. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

A word of warning about linseed oil - I just moved back into my house after 79 days in a hotel and $50,000 worth of repairs to my house from a fire caused by linseed oil on a rag.  Linseed oil is spontanioulsly combustible when it is on fabric that is folded over itself.  You must leave the canvas stretched until it is completely dry.  It does not matter if it is raw or boiled - they are both combustible.  Make sure you have a place to dry your cloth outside and that you clean all your tools carefully - you have to use detergent to get the oil out of brushes and cloth and dry them flat on a non-flamable surface (like concrete).  I have used linseed oil for years on my teak furniture but all it took was one time for me to get distracted and it was all over. 

LEATHER:

Works great for leather too. I am currently going through the second ot third month experimenting with how the mix i made compares to the leather conditioner and protectant I swear by. So far I have discovered that this works excellent as a way to make "patent" leather (which is what they call the shined, polished, hardened leather that commercially is now made out of petrochemicals). The leather is stronger, stiffer, resistant to scratches, and has a nice sheen, but also might be contributing to cracking on the toe ceases and is not nourishing the leather like regular leather dressing/conditioner/lotion/cream.

So to sum up, it will harden the leather which may or may not be what you are looking for, but if it is not something that is constantly creasing like the toe area of shoes, it will be great (though I recommend the leather be lotioned before-hand and always encourage maintainence of leather over time).

WOOD:

In addition to uses for cloth, these ingredients work great for coating wood (beautiful finish and protectant), metal. This stuff is more of a wood finish that happens to work on cloth.

-Carlos from Washington

Only thick applications of the solution will create a laminated effect. I have applied this to some cotton canvas and it just soaks into the fibers, but with heavier coats it will indeed "laminate."

The spontaneous combustion that you have heard warnings about are when the linseed oil is drying. Linseed oil gets warm as it dries IF THERE IS NOT PROPER VENTILATION. So if you throw it in a container it will slowly start to heat up which quickens the drying which raises the heat, and according to warnings it can spontaneously combust. Is this a danger? Not much, but just dont leave an item in an air tight container. I coat stuff, leave it in a room with a heater, have put it in the oven at 170F, put a heat gun or a blow dryer on it, heat the mix up in a double boiler, and none of these situations have made me worry about this.

However, I have felt this after applying it to one shoe that was insulated and had goretex lining. The item was not able to breathe much (and I was wearing around the shoe) so it was not able to ventilate. My foot started to feel warm and you could feel a difference in exterior temperatures between the shoe not coated and the shoe that was.

COTTON:

Canvas is usually cotton. Cotton will soak up the material and it will eventually harden and become like rawhide. If you try to make a stretchy cotton weave into rawhide, I think it would break the fibers of the cloth. A friend thinks it would work though so i will try it sometime.

Thanks for the super prompt reply!

Cee-I don't know about that. If you have small children that will be around it and touching it, I probably wouldn't use it.

I forgot to add that I think the fabric is cotton, or cotton mix.