NYCkayaker NYCKayaker Digest, Vol 32, Issue 7

[Rick Muller]

Absolutely! When I was a contractor, a customer of mine set fire to her art studio with a pile of rags left lying around. You can also just spread them out to dry outdoors for a few days before disposing of them.

-----Original Message-----
>From: "Geoff K." <geoffk99 at gmail.com>
>
>Please, please be very careful with disposal of linseed oil rags! Danish 
>oil is essentially polymerized linseed oil. Improper disposal of linseed 
>oil soaked rags can cause spontaneous combustion. The oxidation process 
>for linseed oil is exothermic, meaning it gives off heat. Collections of 
>used rags have been known to ignite because of the combination of excess 
>heat and fumes. Be very careful to follow disposal instructions. There 
>are many manufacturer's warnings along the lines of soaking used rags in 
>water in a covered metal container or washing thoroughly before disposal.
>
>The caution at the bottom of this page <http://tinyurl.com/45clp> from 
>AllPro boiled linseed oil provides a good set of guidelines for 
>disposing of used materials soaked with linseed oil.
>
>Danish oil gives a great matte finish, and keeps the feel of the wood. 
>It takes some time to fully oxidize and stop giving off that distinctive 
>linseed oil smell, but it's worth it. Just be careful with the leftover 
>finishing materials.
>