Heads up (again) on b linseed oil rags

[Roger Fisher]

Surely all of us are aware of this; but in case one or two have not.  A lot of over the winter building projects are in the finishing stage now and some of us like to use the ol tyme boiled linseed oil.   Beware laying said rag on top of itself in a ball since she will heat up and ignite on its own account. 
Best way is to lay them out flat in the yard then bury the buggers....

case in point dwelling fire in neighboring town caused by 'oily rags' in a can against the outside of the dwelling igniting and heavily damaged the dwelling!

[Dale Halterman]

I toss them in the fireplace and burn them as soon as I'm done. Rags are cheaper than houses.

Dale H

[George F.]

I remember this from my High School industrial Arts teacher. He always had us un ball oily rags Linseed oil rags, and drape them unfolded  over the edge of the garbage can, then when the rag has dried and no longer hazardous, put in the fire proof disposal can.   ...Geo.

[Stophel]

I've always heard this, and always thought that it was utterly impossible, but, I throw them in a bucket of water anyway.

[JCKelly]

Back in the early '50's Indiana State Teachers College, Indiana, PA had antiquated buildings, or at least one such. Nevertheless the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was not sympathetic to a building program.
In those Ancient Times it was the custom for custodians to swab the wooden floors of school buildings with linseed oil over the summer.
Daggone it, just as "luck" would have it, one year they stored all those old rags in the closet.
Got nice new building next year, at least one. 
Learned this from my father. Dad was superintendent of schools in nearby Clymer. He always knew where the, uh, whatever, were buried. 

[George F.]

At a cabinet shop I worked at my junior year in H.S. We were oiling up some walnut panels. I decided to see what would happen, when a rag with linseed oil was left clumped up would do. Well, it didn't burst into flames, but it was very warm. I don't know how long it would take, but it was enough to remember not to leave them clumped up.  ...Geo.

[Brian]

I actually saw it happen once.  I used to do a lot of custom woodworking, furniture, cabinets, that sort of thing.  Used a lot of Watco Oil and various types of oil finishes.  I had always heard about the spontaneous combustion thing, so I was pretty careful about not keeping rags or paper towels I had used in the shop.  I usually put them in the burning barrel and burned them along with wood scrap at the end of every day.  One time I didn’t have time to dispose of them as I usually did, so I just put them in a metal container and set it out on the gravel driveway at the rear of the shop.  I didn’t really expect anything to happen, but thought I’d keep it away from everything “just in case”.  I kind of forgot about it until about a day and a half later when it caught fire!  I walked out the back door and there it was burning!  Talk about make you think!  Make NO mistake about it, oily rags WILL catch fire!  And the more of them you have bundled together the faster it will happen.  Absolutely guaranteed to burn your shop down if you leave them laying around. 

[TPH]

It does happen. On "The Authentic Campaigner", a Civil War reenacting site, a member posted about a fire that "dangerous" boiled linseed oil caused when he used it to "defarb" (make authentic by refinishing) his reproduction Enfield rifle musket. He, of course, still accepts no responsibility for his actions and can't understand why the courts found against him when his actions caused over $700,000 dollars damage to the apartment complex. He was a student here at JMU at the time.... Sad thing was, it wasn't even his apartment, he was a guest at the time.

[billd]

How long ago was the JMU fire?  My daughter is living in one of those apartment complexes now.

Bill

[TPH]

About 4 or 5 years ago.

[dogcreek]

Good advice. Some friends who work in a small gun factory went to town for lunch, leaving some oily rags on the wooden benchtop. They came back thirty minutes later to find the rags smoldering. If they'd arrived later, there could've been a major fire.

[Ben I. Voss]

So the obvious question- what exactly makes them heat like that? Anybody have a good explanation?

[oakridge]

This is why you don't wad or pile the rags up:

A substance with a relatively low ignition temperature begins to release heat, which may occur in several ways, such as oxidation or fermentation.
The heat is unable to escape, and the temperature of the material rises.
The temperature of the material rises above its ignition point.
Combustion begins, if sufficient oxygen is present.

That is why many a barn has burned down from storing hay that's not properly cured. With green hay it's fermentation that causes the temperature to rise.

[robert gene]

I treat 0000 steel wool the same as rags. The wool will burst into flames with the slightest spark. And it doesn't need any oil. Be careful with it.

[Z. Buck]

we used to do a "ways to light a  fire" classes with the boy scouts of course we did flint and steel and a glass and bow drill and ice if it was that time of year and so on a so forth , one of the most fun ones was the batteries and steel wool, using 0000 you can use a AAA battery and cause a $#*! of a mess, but a nine volt will light a  whole pad of good course stuff then you really have fun, in a church basement on old vinyl covered tables...did you know that burning steel with light vinyl on fire anyways as far as the heat source from the rags the boiled oil actually creates heat as it cures, most things do as they polymerize, just think of quick set epoxy, that stuff with melt your beeswax dam you have set up to keep it from going where you dont want it . i think it heats up so fast on rags because of all of the surface area starting to polymerize at the same time