Author Topic: Water proofing Hemp Cloth (Read 13644 times)

Virginiarifleman · « **on:** May 03, 2015, 03:11:28 PM »

Hello All, was wondering if anyone on the forum has a Mixture or knows of the things needed to make a waterproofing for fabric and maybe even leather ? i know Linseed oil can be used but don't know if its mixed with any other ingredience. Thanks..........

WKevinD · « **Reply #1 on:** May 03, 2015, 05:27:50 PM »

I've done linseed oil but a haversack done 15yrs ago still smells of linseed and gets tacky in the sunshine.
Not HC but I put cloth to be waterproofed in a 5 gallon bucket fill with Tompsons Water Seal let it soak in overnight then wring out and hang on a line to dry.
The other is beeswax and a a heatgun but that also stays tacky in the sunshine.
I know there must be a good linseed formula but I obviously don't know it.

Virginiarifleman · « **Reply #2 on:** May 03, 2015, 05:40:46 PM »

Thanks Burnt, i figured the linseed oil might carry an oder, and getting tackey in the heat is not good either. Thank You.

Bill Paton · « **Reply #3 on:** May 03, 2015, 06:15:19 PM »

Burnt, Did you use boiled linseed oil? Raw linseed won’t cure well. Bill Paton

Hungry Horse · « **Reply #4 on:** May 03, 2015, 08:42:58 PM »

You guys need to realize that linseed oil is the grand champion when it comes to spontaneous combustion. A rag, haversack, or primitive raincoat, coated with linseed oil that isn't totally dry, will burn your shop down if it is not properly taken care of.

Hungry Horse

LRB · « **Reply #5 on:** May 03, 2015, 10:16:26 PM »

Look up Nikwax. Worked great the one time I used it.

T*O*F · « **Reply #6 on:** May 03, 2015, 10:43:07 PM »

What is the object that you will be making "water resistant?" It could have a bearing on the substance used.

Bill Paton · « **Reply #7 on:** May 04, 2015, 12:43:20 AM »

Hungry Horse. Amen to that point! Years ago I nearly burned out my apartment the night after linseed oiling furniture and putting the used rage in a paper bag next the waste basket. In the middle of the night, an upstairs neighbor's alert nose saved the building and me!

Virginiarifleman · « **Reply #8 on:** May 04, 2015, 05:00:41 AM »

T.O.W. i am building a knapsack and the main material is 100% Hemp Cloth.

Nordnecker · « **Reply #9 on:** May 04, 2015, 02:14:32 PM »

Quote from: Hungry Horse on May 03, 2015, 08:42:58 PM

You guys need to realize that linseed oil is the grand champion when it comes to spontaneous combustion. A rag, haversack, or primitive raincoat, coated with linseed oil that isn't totally dry, will burn your shop down if it is not properly taken care of.

Hungry Horse

Sure enough. This needs to be emphasized. I try to be very careful with oil soaked rags, but I hadn't thought of a cloth object like a bag or coat being just as prone to spontaneous combustion. I know of several examples of this happening to people I know. One guy bought a box of those nice shop rags to rub (can't think of the name) oil onto a floor. He sent the rags out to a commercial laundry service to be cleaned. They came back the next week neatly folded and he placed them in a cabinet. A few days later they caught on fire.

Curt Lyles · « **Reply #10 on:** May 04, 2015, 02:38:25 PM »

Beeswax and a heat gun.or melt your wax on a wood stove.double boiler is reccomended by those that know. Curt

T*O*F · « **Reply #11 on:** May 04, 2015, 04:14:01 PM »

Quote

i am building a knapsack

Following the Naval tradition of tarring objects to waterproof them, the process was well known for eons. Those who reenact Naval personas do it all the time, and knapsacks were tarred thru the Civil War. There is no reason to believe that the process was not duplicated by a civilian with ex-naval connections.

It can be done by dissolving asphaltum in turpentine and painting it on. The alternative, used by many and replicating similar results, is to paint it with black latex paint.

Dave Marsh · « **Reply #12 on:** May 05, 2015, 03:54:08 AM »

I am with Curt on beeswax and a heat gun.

Dave

Virginiarifleman · « **Reply #13 on:** May 05, 2015, 03:59:37 AM »

Curt & Strongbear, Thank you...........i have plenty of beeswax so i think i will go that route. Thanks Everyone.

Karl Kunkel · « **Reply #14 on:** May 05, 2015, 04:45:15 AM »

Yes, care with disposal of oil rags cannot be over emphasized. Thirty plus years as a volunteer firefighter/chief officer, I've seen several home fires resulting from individuals refinishing furniture who left their rags on the work bench or in the garage.

We had one "Mc Mansion" that was days away from completion. The subcontractor finishing the wood banisters and railings of the grand foyer left his rags and supplies lying in the living room. The rags burnt through the hardwood floor, sub-floor, several plywood I-beam joists, and heavily damaged the engineered laminated wood beam below. There was smoke and heat damage through out.

wet willy · « **Reply #15 on:** May 05, 2015, 05:33:20 AM »

To the horror of the HC police, one dose of 3M Scotch Guard does a fine job on hemp/linen haversacks, etc. No smell, non-flammable, no residue, no distinct appearance ... other than when it get wet, water beads form. I'm not aware of any rondy police checking for the presence of this stuff.

If you want historically-correct water-resistant coating, see all the concoctions on this thread, along with their problems in warm weather and flamability.

KentSmith · « **Reply #16 on:** May 05, 2015, 06:06:00 PM »

tin clothing - mixture of beeswax and boiled linseed oil will do with proper respect for the issues noted above. I have used beeswax on pouches - you can overdo it and make them too stiff and hard to get into. I have melted wax in a dbl boiler and painted it on with good result. I also tin clothed pouches but it took days to dry in the shade just like oilcloth does.

Scota4570 · « **Reply #17 on:** May 05, 2015, 07:30:40 PM »

I once made a mixture of bee's wax and naptha. I applied it to a heavy hunting parka shell. I can not say it made much difference in the rain. In the cold the wax got hard and make white flakes. For rain gear there is no substitute for real waterproof rain coats and pants

Clark Badgett · « **Reply #18 on:** May 06, 2015, 01:47:43 AM »

Many. many years ago I mixed black gloss latex paint with an equal portion of boiled linseed oil and it worked very good. It dried, and was very pliable, I mixed it with a cake batter mixer, and it did take about 30 minutes of mixing to get it fully mixed. It took a couple of weeks of good summer sun to get it to completely dry, but it did work.

TOF, Civil War era gear was painted with black linseed oil paint, at least on the Army side of things anyway.

T*O*F · « **Reply #19 on:** May 06, 2015, 02:05:09 AM »

Quote

TOF, Civil War era gear was painted with black linseed oil paint,

Other than milk paint, wasn't all paint linseed oil based back then?

Mad Monk · « **Reply #20 on:** May 06, 2015, 03:50:47 AM »

Quote from: Virginiarifleman on May 03, 2015, 03:11:28 PM

Hello All, was wondering if anyone on the forum has a Mixture or knows of the things needed to make a waterproofing for fabric and maybe even leather ? i know Linseed oil can be used but don't know if its mixed with any other ingredience. Thanks..........

You don't want to go down that road.

Oil cloth was produced in English factories beginning in the mid-170s. Used as floor covering and sometimes roofing.

Traders traveling from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh had been provided with oil cloths to protect the packs on the animals from rain.

French traders in the Great Lakes Trade carried small chests covered with oil cloth pigmented with "Spanish Brown" iron oxide pigment. This Spanish Brown was actually a red iron oxide pigment mined in Spain.

The cloth, usually hemp or flax was first "sized" with gelatin extracted from animal hides. The cloth suspended in large frames. As the gelatin was applied to the cloth they would work it with pumis blocks to remove the little "fur" on the cloth. Once dry it could then be coated with a boiled linseed oil. The linseed oil would be cooked with lead and for a length of time that would make it very viscous. A mineral pigment would be added and well mixed. This thick, viscous mixture would be trowled onto the cloth.

These factories were always on the top floor of a building with windows facing the sun. The cloths drying in the sun close to the windows. Except in the worst of weather the windows would be open to varying degrees to allow for air circulation.

These oiled floor cloths usually had colored designs printed on them. Most were block printed.
These floor cloths evo9lved in what we know as linoleum during and after the U.S. Civil War. Oil cloth was produced in great amounts here in the U.S. until after WWII. Vinyl flooring replaced it.

Before I forget. Comments about the flammability of oil cloth.
I loved when the Rev War crowd hit me with that. Guys sleeping on straw in a cloth tent with candles in the tents.
When women used cloth diapers, after WWII, you would see Playtex Baby Pants over the diapers. Made from PVC compound film. To keep the wet in the diaper. One of my jobs was to run the govt. mandated flammability test on them. On a 30 degree incline a sheet of baby pant PVC compound burned so fast you needed trip wires and stop watches to time it. While they insisted it was flame retarded.

Cellulose fiber will burn. No matter what is on it. Just a question of what it takes to get it going and then how fast it will go.

Mad Monk

Clark Badgett · « **Reply #21 on:** May 06, 2015, 03:51:23 AM »

Quote from: T*O*F on May 06, 2015, 02:05:09 AM

Quote
TOF, Civil War era gear was painted with black linseed oil paint,
Other than milk paint, wasn't all paint linseed oil based back then?

As far as I know, yes. Don't quote me, it has been 15 years since I have kept up with that subject.

Mad Monk, I have seen newspaper advertisements for Linoleum cloth in one of the Louisville Ky newspapers back in the 1850s. Probably late 1850s. It's been a while.

Mad Monk · « **Reply #22 on:** May 06, 2015, 07:03:25 PM »

Quote from: T*O*F on May 06, 2015, 02:05:09 AM

Quote
TOF, Civil War era gear was painted with black linseed oil paint,
Other than milk paint, wasn't all paint linseed oil based back then?

That would depend on what is being painted. If you were coating cloth where it is not rigid you are correct on the linseed oil paint point.
Milk paints were widely used in interior wall paints. Also used around here by the early Germans on chests.

Generally. If you did not want oil floor cloth you would use shellac on wood flooring.

With raincoats you would see oil cloth or a rubber coating known as Gutta-percha. This is a latex from specific trees that can be transformed into a rubber coating. Modern tire rubber evolved out of that. Gutta-percha raincoats would cost a good bit more than an oil cloth. The Gutta-percha rubber slickers were more durable and less flammable than a oilcloth one.

We don't get into the "modern" paint until into the 1920s and 1930s.
We see the introduction of the alkyd oils. These are man-made versions of linseed oil where the properties of the oil can be controlled during their manufacture. With linseed oil there could be a considerable difference in the oil depending on where the flax had been raised and what the weather was like during the growing season.
At this time we see man-made phenolic resins, such as Bakelite, replacing natural resins in varnishes. Linoleum manufacturing consumed very large amounts of imported natural resins.

Mad Monk

Chris Treichel · « **Reply #23 on:** May 06, 2015, 10:39:46 PM »

If you want to get an even coat with with "paint with beeswax" method... after painting, place the item in a tied shut pillowcase and chuck it in the dryer on high when the misses is not arround.
This will also work with parafin wax

This does not work with linseed oil.

Clark Badgett · « **Reply #24 on:** May 07, 2015, 03:46:39 AM »

Mad Monk, could you go a little into the differences between gutta percha and rubberized cloth. I've always heard that GP was closer to an early plastic while gum, or rubber was more utilized for cloth. A friend of mine collects old gutta percha items. I have a few old buttons as well.

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Author Topic: Water proofing Hemp Cloth (Read 13644 times)

wet willy