[Cob] oiling cob

[Yun Que]

   cat here

   In my cabinet shop oiling and waxing wood was the premium way to get a
   glow and the deeper the penetration of oil the more luster...It must
   dry however and that can take allot of time...The old way was to oil
   once a day for a week, once a week for a year, once a year forever.

    it will also make the wood nearly water proof.  Allot of the folks in
   the hills oil their gun butts the same way.  With clay the dry time is
   going to be very different...land movers in WV will tell me that once
   clay has been disturbed it takes 7 years to settle down into a solid
   mass that can be considered stable.  Put enough oil in it and you get
   plastesine (play clay) which never gets hard.  The last consideration
   is the heat from that radiant floor.  The heat could I suppose dry out
   the oil faster but it could also fester.  I have oiling allot of
   cabinets I would say I would not like that warm stuff leeching up
   under my bare feet.

   Baked or glazed tile with lime mortar and some nice hemp or wool rugs
   sounds much more cozy and planet considerate...their is
   bamboo flooring out their.  It has the advantage of being very
   renewable, (big grass) harder than maple, water resistant in its
   natural state, the draw back is that most of the stuff available is
   laminated with glues and resins (haven't researched their
   ecological impact or content) and most are urethaned. Urethane is in
   my opinion not a very good floor finish for a multitude of reasons.

   Somewhere on this list in the past someone noted that a radiant floor
   had caused their feet to dry and crack from walking continually on the
   warm surface...It was never said if this was due to the temp of the
   floor, the sensitivity of their skin, or the floor finish.

   More questions than answers here sorry!
   for the good of all C.
       ______________________________________________________________

     From: "paul" <dotpaul at paulleblanc.net>
     To: <coblist at deatech.com>
     Subject: Re: [Cob] oiling cob
     Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 23:32:25 -0500
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     >
     >----- Original Message ----- From: <hms.mommy at juno.com>
     >To: <coblist at deatech.com>
     >Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 7:55 PM
     >Subject: [Cob] oiling cob
     >
     >
     >>Do any of you cobbers know how to work with oil and cob? I have a
     >>little
     >>model I made to experiement on, and have been brushing it with
     >>plain old
     >>vegetable oil (just because it's available) and it seems like no
     >>matter
     >>how much I put on, more will go on. Is there ever a point at
     which
     >>it
     >>will stop soaking in? Then I tried pouring melted wax on it, but
     >>the wax
     >>didn't soak in at all, and when it cooled, it came right off.
     What
     >>am I
     >>missing?
     >
     >I'll tell ya my fears about oils, Carrie: they go rancid. I know
     >that flax oil is extremely volatile and will go rancid after even
     a
     >few minutes of exposure to air or sunlight. Linseed is made from
     >flax, but it's been boiled (I believe). Unless I'm missing
     >something the oil would definitely be rancid. I think linseed is
     >probably rancid (strong odor), and possibly perfumed and
     deoderized
     >to trick the olfactory senses. Canola is deoderized. That's
     >because it's rancid in the bottle.
     >
     >Olive oil and Macadamia and coconut are very stable in comparison,
     >but even they will go rancid if you spread them on a flat surface
     >and expose them to air over time.
     >
     >I have to tell you that the use of turpentine with linseed seems
     >highly toxic to me, and if it's not I'd like to hear why. I know
     >one family that was worried they'd have to move out of such a cob
     >structure after doing their floors (pretty, but deadly) that way.
     I
     >barely could stand visiting that house for more than two minutes.
     >It was a toxic nighmare.
     >
     >I think flax/linseed is OK if you want to put up with having
     rancid
     >oils on your floor, and I don't really know what bad effects there
     >are from schlopping around in a house full of rancid oils. Maybe
     >none, but maybe some. The turpentine thing just seems like an a
     >suicide wish. I suppose it's supposed to evaporate but I can tell
     >you that it doesn't always evaporate and smells like holy hell.
     >Maybe not heating the floors helps too, but why taunt the gods of
     >common sense? I'd like to know. Somebody here probably understands
     >this a lot better than me.
     >
     >
     >
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References

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