Originally Posted by pondering_it_all
Gotta be careful with linseed oil. Spooky how it can just spontaneously combust and start fires long after you leave and go home. But I'm sure you know not to leave rags soaked in it in the trash.
True, dat. I’ve never seen it happen but heard lots of stories. It’s possible with almost any oil but I think linseed tended to be one that people would use in a way that resulted in heavily soaked rags. It also takes a very long time to cure unless dosed with Japan drier. We’re not using rags and we are using Japan drier. The natural polymerization process, a form of oxidation, is pretty exothermic and when it occurs in a pile of rags the heat can build up to the combustion temperature. If the rags aren’t piled it won’t spontaneously combust.

Linseed comes from the flax plant. It’s not as good as tung oil, which we used on the floor, but it’s cheaper (especially since I already had ten gallons from 15 years ago forgotten in the crawl space - I was surprised it was still good). I hear good things about hemp oil but haven’t used any yet.

You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.
R. Buckminster Fuller