Canvas tarring...

[WoodenNutmeg]

What is the best way to spruce up your gear?

I've used linseed oil in the past for the old haversack, but I have recently decided to seek alternatives.

Most of the gents in my group swear by linseed, so, they are of little to no help.

What is a good (and probably healthier) substitute?

[Claude Sinclair]

What is the best way to spruce up your gear?

I've used linseed oil in the past for the old haversack, but I have recently decided to seek alternatives.

Most of the gents in my group swear by linseed, so, they are of little to no help.

What is a good (and probably healthier) substitute?

There's no subsitute for Linseed Oil. I have made hundereds of painted oil cloths including about the same amount in Painted Richmond Depot Haversacks.

To overhaul your haversack is going to cost you some $$$. Go to a hobby shop and purchase some lampblack pigment with a linseed oil base in the art department and mix a tube of lampblack with some more linseed oil, a little japan dryer and turpentine. Paint the haversack and let dry. Maybe put another coat on it and let dry again. Now put a thin coat of linseed oil on it and hang out to dry. You will probably end up paying more for the supplies than you did for the haversack unless you have a correctly made haversack. For the farby approach, just get a can of black paint and spray it. That sounds more that what you are looking for. Kind of like purchasing a plastic canteen with a nylon strap. Sorry that I can't be of more help but that is my opinion.

Best Regards,
Claude Sinclair

[WoodenNutmeg]

Nonsense, you are of great help!

"Go to a hobby shop and purchase some lampblack pigment with a linseed oil base in the art department and mix a tube of lampblack with some more linseed oil, a little japan dryer and turpentine."

I've done this before, in a similar fashion and method. It works great and it really isn't all that expensive. I guess my main concern was the Japan Dryer. I have not found an alternative to that.

Is this about as traditional a method as one can do on their own?

"Paint the haversack and let dry."

Now, as far as method is concerned, do you, personally, mix all of the aforementioned ingredients together before applying?

I have always used the Japan Dryer last, kind of as a coverage.

[Rob]

Daler-Rowney Purified Linseed Oil (found in Wal-Mart) has no health warnings.

[bill watson]

The problem with all these things is we are more or less in the position of amateur science class experimenters trying to duplicate in the kitchen sink something that was a bulk, commercial, manufacturing enterprise in the 1800s.

The japan dryer is widely available in art supply stores and even some hardware stores. I wasn't aware it was any more dangerous than any paint or varnish. It is essentially, for its use in this application, a drying agent, so the linseed oil doesn't take forever to cure. The turpentine is to thin the liquid a bit, so it penetrates more and isn't just lying on the surface.

It could be worse. The mix we used to use on the bilges of wooden boats back in the days before anybody knew anything was turpentine, creosote and kerosene. Mold was definitely not a problem....

[Claude Sinclair]

Dear ????? (no signature)

Go to:

http://www.geocities.com/union_guard/oilcloth_and_painted_accoutermen.htm

This should help and give you the steps if you are serious about redoing your haversack. I am re-doing one for a friend. I charge $10 since I purchase my supplies in bulk since it is part of my business but it is more satisfying doing it yourself.

Regards,

Claude Sinclair

[hanktrent]

The problem with all these things is we are more or less in the position of amateur science class experimenters trying to duplicate in the kitchen sink something that was a bulk, commercial, manufacturing enterprise in the 1800s.

For a government haversack contract, yes, but for period paint itself, I'd say not really. And it sounds like the recipe is identical to the everyday black oil paint you'd use on a Windsor chair or whatever in the period.

People really were buying turpentine, linseed oil, pigment powder, etc., and mixing it up by the pint or quart. I'm not sure when ready-mixed resealable paint in cans became available, but mixing your own small batch was a PEC way to get paint in the 1860s.


Daler-Rowney Purified Linseed Oil (found in Wal-Mart) has no health warnings


I'm betting that's pure linseed oil, not boiled? The advantage of the boiled kind, which is/was boiled with other ingredients, is that it facilitates drying. Haven't experimented to compare the two, but I'm guessing that plain linseed oil would require more thinning and/or drier to perform the same.

I have used boiled linseed oil with pigment and turpentine alone, without Japan drier (because I didn't have any and was too cheap to get some), and it did dry... eventually. Think it took about a week, for a thin coat on wood.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[TimKindred]

Comrades,

Oh man, you DO NOT wnat o use pure lindseed oil if you would like the project finished anytime this year :)

Even the Army specified boiled lindseed oil in the Ordnance Manual for it's paint recipies. And yes, the basic recipe is boiled lindseed oil, lampblack, turpentine and japan dryer. Much of the cloth (but, certainly, by no means all) would have been coated with a gesso or other material first in order to prevent or limit bleed-through of the finishing material.

The trick, however, is not in making the paint or applying it. It is in finding a place where the item can dry in peace. Otherwise. it will become a haversack-shaped fly catcher, dust magnet, etc.

Respects,