Exactly, as all those of us old gits who only own vintage milsurp long arms have known about for years (as well as those of us from The British Empire that have played cricket in our youth (BLO is traditional treatment for cricket bats as well)
Last month I treated the oak floor boards of a Nash Quad, it was in the heat of the day, when done I balled the rags up and threw them in a basket with polish etc and put the basket in the dumpbed of the truck, just out of sight for people taking pictures of it. I went up to the registration desk for the show and signed up for the parade, took maybe 1/2 hr, when I returned to the truck I saw smoke and looked into the bed to see the rags smoldering away, no flames but if there was a little wind it would've flared up of that I'm certain. 1/2hr - 45 minutes was all it took.
The stuff you buy that says 'boiled' on the can is NOT boiled. It just has a dryer added, usually one know as 'Japan dryer'. That stuff speed the dry, which really oxidation, thus the heat.
Spontaneous combustion of hay bales is a different deal than rags soaked in linseed oil, but it can be a dangerous thing - a couple weeks ago, Arnie Beswick (famous Pontiac drag racer) had his barn burn down as a result of damp round bales that were sitting close to the structure. It was a total loss, besides the barn itself he lost a number of cars, parts and memorabilia.
I had 2 friends that had unfinished new homes burn down. They were staining the trim themselves to save money. Left the rags in the houses, Later that night the fire marshal called to tell them the the sad news. The insurance companies were none too happy as well.
Fire scares the hell out of me. Rags with solvent, thinner or any other potentially flammable chemical go outside to air out and get pitched on garbage day.
So does this happen to your underwear the day after "chili night" at the bar? Seriously though, I've drilled it into both the wife and kids that doesn't matter what's on the rag, it gets tossed outside as soon as it's done with.
Dave, when we were in boot camp summer of '66, we lived in quonset huts. M-14s and M-60s were in short supply due to things ramping up in Nam, so we trained with M-1s and BARs until we went to the range to qualify with our M-14s. I recall breaking down our M-1s and linseeding the stocks once whilst at MCRD San Diego. We hung them from their slings on the outside of our quonset huts to dry overnight. However at 0-dark thirty that morning, our DI flung our door open and heaved the heavy metal 55 gallon sh*tcan beside it the length of the squad bay, yelling "People! There's somebody in your area!" At which point all 4 quonset huts emptied within 5 seconds time as we rushed out in our skivvies and bare feet, retrieved our rifle stocks and went one on one with one of our rival training platoons. They were being marched through our area as a provocation by their DIs to our DIs in full field gear, column of 2's with rifles at port arms and bayonets fixed, but sheathed. There being around 98 young future Marines making up each training platoon, you can imagine what went down when we met, each side determined to kill the other. At any rate, the melee lasted a scant 3 or 4 minutes and we managed to drive them off using our rifle stocks as clubs and with the exception of one fellow who received a broken leg, we taped up our busted heads and hit our racks again, ready for another fun day on the O-course when the sun rose. Thanks for the memories, Harry
While even name brand canned Chili isn't very good, I will say I've learned to avoid the "house brand" grocery store stuff, I'll just leave it at that.
As for BLO, I use it still. (carefully) I had it on a written list on a clipboard in my office. Younger brother (SO 'hip'...) saw the BLO on the list, said "Mike, finally you have something on the list that matters!" Chili? Like Boiled linseed oil, you have to 'respect' it. I use Carroll Shelby's little mixed bag of ingredients, peppers, red chili beans...and oregano, some basil, red chili powder. Then...season to taste! Some time/work here, but it's like...building a flathead. The Right way! R.I.P., Don Francisco.
The whole linseed oil thing seems very high risk, low reward. After hearing and seeing the miracles linseed did to old car paint, I decided to try it on my Rambler. It looked ok for a day or two then faded and became tacky in some places. Perhaps I did it wrong or my paint is to far gone. As for the rags, the risk of fire is too high to ever keep linseeded rags, just burn them when you're done. First pic is without linseed, second is with.
Years ago I needed some straw/hay to hold some grass seed. A nearby neighbor worked at Churchill Downs (the Horse Race Track). He said he could get me all that I needed and it would also contain horse manure that would work as fertilizer as it broke down. They cleaned out the horse barns and had plenty of it. I had a single axle dump truck and they loaded it to the hilt. Brought it home and parked it in my attached garage to keep moisture from getting in it. Next day my wife called me at work and said there was something wrong...... Rushed home and found it was about to spontaneous combust, so I quickly got it out of the garage and dumped it. You would not have believed all the hypodermic needles in that pile.........not just a few, probably 20/30 of them. Now I have two self imposed rules. 1. I never store any kind of hay/straw inside anything. 2. I never buy lindseed oil . I don't worry about all the other chemicals and rags.....and that works for me.
When Linseed Oil is exposed to air it attracts the oxygen molecules and can self combust as low as 120-130 degrees F. I keep a metal one gallon paint can near where I'm working and place the used rag in the can and then fill it with water and shake it up to insure the rag is saturated. It's not only linseed oil, as there are other oils that have the same feature. Always read the labels on the containers.
Hay and linseed oil aren't the only way to start a fire. Years ago my SIL and her husband were doing some renovations on their house and had the water cut off, so my wife and I would bring them water. We had a glass one gallon bottle of water sitting in the sun above the couch. I saw smoke coming from the couch. The curved sides of the bottle of water acted like a magnifying glass when the sun reached the right angle and the armrest of the couch was at the right distance away.
Changing the subject a little. Friend had a HD with convex mirrors that was burning the motor cycle seat when it was out in the sun. He said he told the manufacturer and they took them off the market.
I had that happen from a yard figurine with a glass ball on it, torched a garden and sm brush , it went out by itself.
I read somewhere broken glass, litter from things like jars or bottles, have caused major forest fires as well.
A few years ago a few blocks away in my neighborhood, a guy was working in his attached garage on his vintage Jaguar XKE and was using some solvent and rags cleaning up the engine and chassis. When he quit for the night he left the rags and solvent in a plastic garbage can. About 3 AM, his daughter who was sleeping near a window that faced the garage and was woke up by explosions and the roaring fire. She got her parents up and out of the house just in time but the house and everything in it was a total loss. It took them over two years to rebuild and move back in. Years ago I worked in a manufacturing business and we had a bunch of oily solvent soaked rags we would throw in a steel bucket outside. They would catch fire in short order, so I learned that lesson back then. I also remember back when I was a teenager and worked in gas stations pumping gas, every gas station had one of these. They were even tested and approved by Underwriters Laboratory.
This is no joke. I have worked for parks for 32 years and we use boiled linseed oil for all our outdoor structures. I know of 2 vans and 3 trucks burning up because of rags left out. I have always rinsed my rags in soapy water and let them dry in the sun before throwing out and have never had an issue myself.
Got a 5 gallon steel trash can with lid and bail handle that locks the lid on. Any rag or paper towel regardless of what's on it goes in the can and the bail is set over the lid. Started doing this after a friend lost his house from lindseed oil soaked rags just like above. Oh and oxy-acetylene torches live in the shed away from the garage. Always been careful with them because like most of us I used to blow up trash bags filled with it for the 4th... A lot of the things we use around the hobby can be extremely dangerous. Fine dust aerosolized can get your attention really fast. Think grain elevators going up as an example.
Yup, that sh*t damn near killed my buddies family. They put a few rags with some linseed oil under the kitchen sink to dry. Smoke detectors saved their lives.
I gues times and places are different, but we here in Oklahoma in the Fifties and sixties learned about this in school! Since then I have never piled rags….I just scattered them all over the place! Bones
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