Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I got the fenderwells finished tonight. I used pocket hole screws to attach the frame of the fenderwell to the floor, then used counter sunk galv deck screws to put the "lid" on. All with plenty of glue. I'll next tar the inside of them and will be about ready to attach the floor to the frame. I've been waiting about 3 days on drying of the floor, I sanded and then used boiled linseed oil for a first coat. Oh I love the smell of boiled linseed oil! That stuff takes a long time to dry but it really gets into the fibers of the wood.

A helper sitting on the well.

Hey, I used to have a green hammer like that! I went through a bunch of them because they broke so easy. Funny thing though, I kept buying them.

The floor looks good too.
Bruce

Hey I need a hammer like that.
Good job Skipper.

Lookin' good!!
I could use a 'helper' like that right now, LOL!

What does the lindseed oil do?

Ira wrote:What does the lindseed oil do?

It's just a wood preservative. I used to refinish alot of gun stocks and most were origionally done with boiled linseed oil. The armories would actually put a lot of gun stocks in a giant vat of boiling linseed oil. It really gets into the wood fibers verry well. It's pretty much an "old timey" way to do them. Tung oil is another good one but I can't ever find anything other than a small little bottle. Birchwood Casey sells the tung oil, It's about the same but cures a bit darker and dries alot quicker. I get the boiled linseed oil in the quart size containers. Regular linseed oil would work but it prolly would take a year or more to dry!

You don't have any problems with the plywood delaminating? That's what I'm curious about.

Does the boiled linseed oil resist further finishing or can it be painted over?

Kynetx wrote:You don't have any problems with the plywood delaminating? That's what I'm curious about.

Does the boiled linseed oil resist further finishing or can it be painted over?

No problems with delaminating, there were some gun stocks during the WWII period that were laminated, pretty rare but they did have them.
Once dry it can be painted over no problem.

One caution about boiled linseed oil I forgot to mention. If you use rags to wipe up any oil that got where you didn't want it to go DO NOT wad the rags up. Spontanious combustion can occur. I had a friend that was doing a gun stock here in the shop at work. He wadded up his rag and threw it in the trash can. Around lunch time we looked at each other and said "do you smell something burning?" Sure nuff the trash can was smoking, lucky were were back in the shop having lunch! Other than that, it's a wonderfull product with a long history behind it.

boiled linseed oil was used in the old days to waterproof small boats like carolina skiffs and row boats.wood ones of course..saw a old timer doing a boat liek that in his back yard..said it works like a champ.

Bein' Merkans I guess you're excused for not knowing this, but the most important use of linseed oil is to preserve your cricket bat.

Andrew

BTW, I like your fender wells... they look really familar too...



Mike...

SkipperSue wrote: Tung oil is another good one but I can't ever find anything other than a small little bottle.

Woodcraft sells tung oil by the quart.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=768

They also sell what they call an outdoor oil, I'm not sure what it is though.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=7260

SkipperSue wrote:One caution about boiled linseed oil I forgot to mention. If you use rags to wipe up any oil that got where you didn't want it to go DO NOT wad the rags up. Spontanious combustion can occur. I had a friend that was doing a gun stock here in the shop at work. He wadded up his rag and threw it in the trash can. Around lunch time we looked at each other and said "do you smell something burning?" Sure nuff the trash can was smoking,

To elaborate: BLO rags should be laid flat outside and away from combustables until they dry. Once they are dry they can be safely thrown in the trash. I lay them out on top of my garbage cans.

Melvin wrote:

SkipperSue wrote:One caution about boiled linseed oil I forgot to mention. If you use rags to wipe up any oil that got where you didn't want it to go DO NOT wad the rags up. Spontanious combustion can occur. I had a friend that was doing a gun stock here in the shop at work. He wadded up his rag and threw it in the trash can. Around lunch time we looked at each other and said "do you smell something burning?" Sure nuff the trash can was smoking,

To elaborate: BLO rags should be laid flat outside and away from combustables until they dry. Once they are dry they can be safely thrown in the trash. I lay them out on top of my garbage cans.

You are right, I should have mentioned that also.