[i]Originally posted by nam26b [/i]
[B]Let me know what you think,

Nathan [/B]

Nathan, boiled linseed oil is boiled linseed oil, bottom line. cold pressed or boiled linseed is always thinner than stand oil. :oL

For more years than I care to admit I worked in various manufacturing industries in Management and Engineering, working in electronics, plastics, metals, just about everything. I was often surprised to see ‘name-brand’ products being set up and run on the same machinery, using the same processes, with the same materials (or only slightly different formulas) as the ‘cheap/house’ brand of products. The funniest thing I learned is that the two brands of Sears hand tools – in which the Craftsman brand is way more expensive – are the same tool, only the cheaper one is chrome plated because market research shows that chrome tools are perceived as cheaper. The cheap wrench actually costs more to produce than the expensive one.

While I never worked in solvents, I’d be willing to bet the same thing happens there to an extent, as well. Outside of the big companies with there own oil processing labs, I’d be willing to bet there are only so many turps/oil/medium manufacturers in the US or EU and many of the materials we buy roll out of the same back door. Of course, the quality of the raw materials may vary and I couldn’t say by how much. But if the cheap linseed oil is ‘washed’ with the freezing method I read about I’d say it’s probably as good as anything else.

To be honest, all this talk about a painting yellowing or cracking in 500 years is kinda funny. I’ve seen alot of talent on this forum (and everyone’s been unbelievably helpful) but outside of a few pros … do we really think that’s an issue? Isn’t a bit of overkill for most of us to worry about where our paintings will be in 500 years? ALL mine have wound up in the trash so far

Respectfully,

Rev. Minh Thong

[i]Originally posted by vallarta [/i]
[B]Talking about archiveness is silly since so much of the stuff shown here should not survive 500 hrs let alone 500 years. (Including mine)!

vallarta [/B]

I dont’ know about that and maybe you should speak soley instead of lumping yourself with others. I think most of us, including yourself venture creatively by devotion, disclipline, learning and exploring more from one’s medium so we can create good art! Isn’t that what it is all about? Archiveness is a area of pride with artists and should be included in ones endeavors. :oL

want the cheepest you can find? go to walmart, to the wall paint section, and you will find those tins with linseed oil and terpentine.. i got mine for 2 bucks a can and they are HUGE… i use a lot of oil, specialy if i want a glossy coat on something…. it still would have lasted a long time…

And i have used both the art stuff from the art section and the cheep stuff from the harware section, they end up the same. one might be just slightly yellower then the other, but does that really matter?

“I’d hate to ignite whatever landfill they end up in just because I didn’t want to shell out a few extra bucks! “

ROFLMAO!

The (Bad) Monk

the difference in grades of linseed oil rely on the processing of the flax seeds and “other” (weed) seeds. depending on quality, good quality linseed oil has more of a pure content of the flax seed. poor quality linseed oil has other seeds added…something similiar to food “additives” which will change the color slightly causing a “yellower” grade. given that the quanitites of the “other” seeds can’t be too high to be LINSEED OIL, i would just assume that the quality that you can get for 3 bucks would work. do those other seeds matter? if you’re a purest, sure.

i would also assume that this is also a hot pressed seed, which means that at the end of the process they use solvents to extract what is left. therefore the grade of oil is lower.

the best is cold pressed pure flax seed oil. if you can find that for 3 bucks…GREAT!

so for your 3 bucks you probably got a mixture of flax and weed seeds that was heat extracted. does it matter, probably not for mediums, however, i wouldn’t use this to make your own paints.

IMHO.