Dan,

Over the years, list members have developed a variety of elixers to clean,
preserve and polish wood and metal instruments of Galoot mayhem.  Typically,
there is a wax component, an oil component and some solvent. One third of each
component is the norm.

Wax can be beeswax or a combination of hard and soft waxes.  The oil is
typically boiled linseed oil (BLO), although tung oil and other oils will work
as well.  Solvents can be mineral spirits, turpentine or paint thinner.

Depending on who you talk to, these mixtures can clean, preserve and polish all
manner of tools, furniture  and toys. It can also probably cure the rheumatism
in the knees of Mrs. O'Leary' s cow. Although, I would wait for  a couple of eye
witnesses to that one...

Towards the bottom of each list message there is a link to the OldTools archive.
A bit of searching there will produce all sorts of recipes of this type.

Tim

Enjoying our first snow of the season in NJ today.


Dan Beck  wrote:

I do not keep any rags which have oil, solvent or grease on them; they all go in
the fireplace.  The risk / reward curve argues strongly against jeopardizing
your home and / or shop to save a few bucks on rags. You only have to be wrong
once to be eternally on the negative side of the ledger.

Tim

Watching the snow melt in NJ today.

RH  wrote:

> I do not keep any rags which have oil, solvent or grease on them; they all go
in the fireplace.  The risk / reward curve argues strongly against jeopardizing
your home and / or shop to save a few bucks on rags. You only have to be wrong
once to be eternally on the negative side of the ledger.
>Tim

Maybe it's just a NJ thing, but I'm with Tim on this.
Any/all rags carrying questionable materials are burned immediately after I've
used them.  I have a dedicated
1-gal paint can (metal, of course) in which they are deposited and ignited.  If
there's gonna be any burning going
on around my house, I'd much rather I be in charge of it.  I had a childhood
friend's house burn down due to his
father's inattention to a BLO-soaked rag, and I want none of that.
Thanks and happy TurkeyDay (a little early, I know) to all!
Steve, in the fog in Howell, NJ