Linseed Oil Paint

[Chip shop]

I bought two cans of linseed oil paint (one black and one white) a few months back, but as most of my painted gear gets sprayed it gets used fairly infrequently. I lent the can of white to a mate who I'd made a sliding sash for, telling him it's the business and will probably lead to the invention of the longer lasting light bulb and, possibly, be the cure to untold life threatening diseases. He gave it me back whining that it took so long to dry that he had to wipe it all off and paint it with 'real' paint.

I assumed he was being a big girl, and thought no more of it until I came to use it on Saturday. I have a fairly big window frame for a grade 2 listed project sitting on the bench. It is all U/S reds, so I hit it with some knotting, then primed with linseed and went on with a really thin coat of white. I came back to it next day and it was as if I'd just painted it, with no sign of curing at all. It's the same deal tonight, it's not even tacked off. The black I bought at the same time has been used on a couple of jobs, and I've been really impressed, so I'm at a loss as to what is wrong with the white. Does anyone have any idea what I might be doing wrong? Or does the pigment in the paint really have that much of an effect on drying times?

Cheers,

Ed.

 

[ColeyS1]

Oh joy, I still haven't tried my newly aquire linseed paint, perhaps I should do it now and give it a few months to dry :lol: I think I read somewhere that white was the only iffy colour out of all of them. I thought it was to do with the colour changing though.
Hope you get to the bottom of it.
Coley

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[ED65]

I'm trying to remember if titanium white ******* the drying of oil, but regardless it is known to create a slow-drying oil paint unfortunately. Big big change from the old days when white was always a completely reliable dryer because of the lead pigment, which we're not allowed to have any longer :-(

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Try a drop of terebine driers? It's what is added to BLO apparently.

 

[Selwyn]

I have added kerosine in the past.

If you can't give it time to dry don't use it. It will dry and it is great though - I'd hardly use it indoors though as much

 

[Chip shop]

I have added kerosine in the past.

If you can't give it time to dry don't use it. It will dry and it is great though - I'd hardly use it indoors though as much

Don't get me wrong. I know it's good gear. The other colours I've used, while a little slow to dry, have been fine. I guess the drop in temperature hasn't helped much.

 

[ED65]

Just to note that kerosene or other diluents don't actually make oil paint dry faster. What they do is thin the paint so that a thinner and more uniform coating is applied and a thin coat of course dries faster than a thicker one.

 

[Jacob]

Needs to be brushed out very thin and then it dries reasonably quickly.
This also means it goes a long way and putting it on is fairly fast/unskilled.
If too thick it won't dry at all - it'll run and skin over etc.
It's very different from ordinary paints but once you get the hang of it it's the bees knees.

I came back to it next day and it was as if I'd just painted it, with no sign of curing at all. It's the same deal tonight, it's not even tacked off.

It's like that - then when your back is turned it goes off - unless it's too thick or the first coat wasn't dry, in which case you have problems.

 

[Chip shop]

Needs to be brushed out very thin and then it dries reasonably quickly.
This also means it goes a long way and putting it on is fairly fast/unskilled.
If too thick it won't dry at all - it'll run and skin over etc.
It's very different from ordinary paints but once you get the hang of it it's the bees knees.

I came back to it next day and it was as if I'd just painted it, with no sign of curing at all. It's the same deal tonight, it's not even tacked off.

It's like that - then when your back is turned it goes off - unless it's too thick or the first coat wasn't dry, in which case you have problems.

Yebut, I did brush it on thin. There was virtually no obliteration. I've used some of the other colours before (red, blue and black) and this definately seemed to behave differently. I left it out in the sun today and it's getting there slowly. Thankfully I'm not fitting until the weekend, so no panic.

 

[Jacob]

.....Thankfully I'm not fitting until the weekend, so no panic.

Personally I wouldn't paint at all until fitted, except for knotting and oil as primer.

 

[Roland]

Earlier this month I was trialling paints for a project. I wanted to use oil paint pigments. Using linseed as a solvent I needed to brush it so thinly that it required multiple coats before the cover was satisfactory. White spirit dried quickly, but gave a Matt finish, which would, have been acceptable for an initial coat. Ultimately I settled on Osmo Polyx as the best balance of coverage, drying time, and silk finish. Probably wouldn't be acceptable for listed property renovation though.

 

[Jacob]

Earlier this month I was trialling paints for a project. I wanted to use oil paint pigments. Using linseed as a solvent I needed to brush it so thinly that it required multiple coats before the cover was satisfactory. White spirit dried quickly, but gave a Matt finish, which would, have been acceptable for an initial coat. Ultimately I settled on Osmo Polyx as the best balance of coverage, drying time, and silk finish. Probably wouldn't be acceptable for listed property renovation though.

Er - linseed oil isn't a solvent.
What were you doing, thinning other paint with linseed oil? No wonder it needed multiple coats.
Linseed oil paint (Allback - I don't know about other brands) seems always to be very dense with one coat enough to cover most things. The white will need two.

 

[Chip shop]

The white will need two.

Why will the white require another coat?

 

[Jacob]

The white will need two.

Why will the white require another coat?

Dunno but it seems to be thinnest. I've used the red and the cornflour blue and they are both very dense and cover anything in one coat. I think perhaps titanium white is expensive. In fact they sell it separately as an additive - perhaps that's why.
re Rolands paint experiments above: linseed oil paints are what artists have used for millennia and depending on the pigment can be as dense as you like - no need for multiple layers for most pigments.

 

[ED65]

I think perhaps titanium white is expensive.

Dirt cheap.

Titanium white is the major industrial pigment, used in everything from toothpaste and pill coatings to plastics and paints of every kind imaginable, and a few besides.

And as with most things the more that is produced the lower the price goes so it's really very cheap as pigments go.

 

[Jacob]

I think perhaps titanium white is expensive.

Dirt cheap.

Titanium white is the major industrial pigment, used in everything from toothpaste and pill coatings to plastics and paints of every kind imaginable, and a few besides.

And as with most things the more that is produced the lower the price goes so it's really very cheap as pigments go.

Well I don't know why it is thin (ish) and why they sell extra for primer coats. Some googling required here!
I only use the stuff and don't necessarily know much about it.

 

[RogerS]

Useful site and point of view

http://www.linseedpaintcompany.co.uk

Good product.

He loathes titanium.

Why does Ross hate white?

Nothing in our paint is less environmentally friendly than Titanium Dioxide, or white. It is the only pigment that is monitored for environmental creditation. Bad for the planet, it is almost as if karma punishes me when I come to use it. TiO2 does not have good opacity. White and off-whites do not give solid colour coverage. Let me spell this out in black and white. Black is the most solid colour pigment with excellent opaque qualities. Two coats of black will produce a completely black coat; three coats of white, by contrast, will almost be a solid white. At this point, four times more white pigment will have been applied to the surface than black pigment and the black will look better. 400% more white is required, and it is the only pigment colour that is environmentally unfriendly. And even once you have painted your windows white, the linseed oil will yellow over the next year or two sufficiently to turn the white into cream! Karma indeed.

 

[Jacob]

What he says about black is also true of the Allback red (iron oxide) and cornflour blue: they are both very dense and cover well in one coat.
But my white definitely hasn't turned cream in the last few years. I think he's wrong about that.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You probably wouldn't notice until you repaint something next to it.

 

[RogerS]

....I think he's wrong about that.

You are wrong. Ross is right.


Plenty of examples on Google.

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