Help with Oil Cloth

[Harmon Neef]

I've been working on making my own oil cloth using historical recipes for a number of projects likes haversacks and Confederate kepis and been having trouble getting a surface coat that won't rub black onto everything. Any suggestions? I know this was a period problem to have and so maybe there isn't even an answer. Is there a specific ingredient to control this or does it just need more dry time even though it feels dry to the touch? My current thought is I need a varnish of some kind since Rebs had it in their recipe and an undetermined number of Union haversacks used it as a topcoat. As a side note, before anybody says the ingredients are poisonous in historical recipes and to just use latex, I do know this and have done a number of things to try and mitigate this, and that is sort of my personal goal, to do an authentic yet not toxic oil cloth.

 

[major bill]

I have seen that at times varnish was used but I do not know why it was used.

 

[Bill_S]

Are you mixing mineral spirits and boiled linseed oil? 50/50 ratio?
If so, what form of dye or pigment are you adding to achieve the black color?

Not sure if I can help, I have never made oil cloth, but I have some knowledge of pigment and dyes. Cheers

 

[Harmon Neef]

Are you mixing mineral spirits and boiled linseed oil? 50/50 ratio?
If so, what form of dye or pigment are you adding to achieve the black color?

Not sure if I can help, I have never made oil cloth, but I have some knowledge of pigment and dyes. Cheers

Right now I am going with just linseed oil and lamp black as pigment

 

[Bill_S]

OK, few suggestions to try:

1) Boiled Linseed Oil, I would use boiled linseed oil and not raw linseed oil. Boiled linseed oil has additives which will aid in the polymerization of the oil.

2) You need to thin the oil by adding mineral spirits. This will aid in drying, polymerization and reduce film thickness.

I would suggest trying step 1 and 2 with your lamp black and see if that solves the problem. If not then try:

3) Lamp Black is carbon black which is an organic pigment. Carbon black is usually considered to have good migration stability, but this depends upon the substrate. If after doing step 1 and 2 you still have pigment migration issues, then I would suggest you use an iron oxide black pigment, which is an inorganic pigment. The inorganic iron oxide black should be very stable in almost all substrates. Iron Oxide color strength is less then carbon black so you will need to increase the pigment dosage. Iron Oxide pigments are commonly sold as mortar or cement pigments at hardware stores.

Regarding being "historically accurate":
Iron Oxide Black has been in use for thousands of years, and was used alongside carbon black; selection usually depending on substrate, ease of use and availability.
Boiled Linseed Oil and mineral spirits were both commonly used well before the civil war period.

PS, be aware of the fire hazards with the boiled linseed oil, read up on it before doing the project.

The above recipe can still take a week or so to completely dry, so give it some time.

Hope this helps....Cheers

 

[RedRover]

From Mackenzie's reciept book, 1851 edition...

Mackenzie's Five Thousand Receipts for Domestic Arts, 1851...

And from Military Collector and Historian, Summer, 1994: