[Periodencampments] oilskin question - addendum

[Ted Reichardt]

Hi.  I made some oilcloth which worked pretty well.  Used cotton/linen
"fustion" fabric, around 10 oz. weight.  I painted on boiled linseed
oil.  after it dried (which takes a while... ), it was pretty much what I
thought oilcloth is supposed to be.  pretty waterproof.  And not oily to
the touch.

I think the limitation with flax cloth is gonna be how tight the weave
is.  it's not gonna be very waterproof if the weave is too loose, as most
linen these days is.

The cloth is significantly less flexible than before processing, basically
tougher in feel.  I'll probably make some more, to make bags & other things
from.

I'd been playing with it as an experiment on possible waterproofing for a
tent... basically, though, it'd be 1) a huge pain to paint & dry that much
fabric, 2) a lot heavier, 3) quite possibly a real fire hazard (though I
didn't test how flammable the oilcloth is).  For someone a bit more crazy
than me, however...

thomas penyngton/tedr


At 05:29 PM 11/13/2002 -0600, you wrote:

>second question ....
>
>anyone had any sucess using the liquid oilskin re-treatment and
>turning normal cotten cloth into a oilskin ????
>
>would this work as well on a flax/hemp based cloth ???
>
>what exactly is in the fabric treatment (parafin/wax based ????)
>
>'wolf