Boiled Linseed oil for rust protection.. Has anyone tried it..

[Vince70]

I bought myself a bottle of boiled Linseed oil the other day to give the plastics some blackness again as my interior door panels were starting to look a bit grey and have now come up looking as good as new again since using the stuff but I also hear that linseed oil can also be used for rust treatment in the same way as wax oil..

 

From what I can make out if you put 4 parts Linseed oil to 1 part white sprit you have a very good light oil that will dry hard and is non sticky once dry and will work as a rust protector and is ideal for box sections and sills etc..

 

I'm going to give this a go myself and put some in a bathroom spray bottle and give the underside of the car a spray with the stuff also the good thing is if you get covered in the stuff it should come off ok..

 

So I was just wondering if anyone has given it a go...

[dave21478]

I would be interested to know this.

 

In fact, I have some in the garage....might just mix some up and try it on some sheet steel and see what happens.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Make sure you dispose of any cloths carefully- linseed oil has been known to spontaneously combust on rags. As it dries it is oxidising. Linseed oil boiled or not tends to dry rather slowly, you could try 'Danish oil' which is partly linseed oil, or tung oil. They will undoubtedly stop air getting to the steel and will work to some extent.

I think gunsmiths use some kind of oil to stop corrosion too.

[twitcherman]

I was once at a woodworking show, a guy was demonstrating the importance of appropriately disposing of rags used to apply oil-based finishes in woodturning. To demonstrate the hazard, he tied a knot in a cloth impregnated with partly-dried Danish oil, and pulled the knot tight, quickly. It started to burn, which made his point succinctly.

[Stanky]

Hmmm, interesting, I would like to know how you get on with this - as you say, mix it up, put it in a windowlene bottle and spray away merrily.

 

Certainly a shitload less messy than using waxoyl!