# Tung Oil - Mineral Spirits - Fire Safety



## Frankfort (Mar 27, 2021)

Well I'm told this topic is beat to death…....... so….... well, here ya go:

Fixing up an old doll house made from some cheap wood, maybe balsa wood? Not sure.

We laid some of those wood doll house floors, the thin ones you cut with scissors.

I mixed a small amount of pure tung with mineral spirits and used it on the floors.

So I've been real careful about the rags, but I'm starting to question how careful you need to be.

The fear is I've lathered some kindling in gasoline (exaggeration). I guess the question is how does the ignition work on rags, and is it an unreasonable worry to think that tung & spirits could seep down into crevices and NOT dry/cure, causing a hazard?

In other words, just how careful do you have to be?

Thanks


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

Well its laws of thermodynamics. A hardening oil produces heat as it dries. When its soaked into a rag or paper towel and that rag is crumpled into a ball, the heat in the center is hotter than at the outer layer, because the crumpled ball may have 20-30 layers deep. Think of coal becoming a diamond, only on a smaller scale. I just lay my rags spread out on top of my trash cans outside etc until they dry overnight.


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## DevinT (Mar 25, 2021)

I don't even lay them outside, I just lay them around my shop in various places. As long as you lay them flat and wait until they are "crunchy" to throw them away, you'll be fine. If after laying out for a night they are not stiff, let them sit another day. 3 days is pretty foolproof. I've never had a rag that didn't turn stiff/crunchy in 72 hours. Once they have reached that fully-dried state, you can safely toss them without worry.


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## pleuraljohn (Mar 12, 2021)

Thanks for this. I always thought you had to use one of those red safety cans for oily rags. John


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## pottz (Sep 15, 2015)

you need to be "very " careful with any kind of oily rags and ill give examples that really happened to a couple of my customers.one threw oily rags in one of those plastic trash containers most cities now use,caught fire in the middle of the night,was a puddle of meltled plastic along with the vinyl fence it was next too,lucky.next customer the painters left oily rags in a remodel,caught fire that night and burned and cauesed extensive damage to the addition too the home.make sure you soak the rags then lay them out to properly dry out.or learn the "expensive" way!!!!


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## Frankfort (Mar 27, 2021)

I've been putting them in jars and filling them with water & sealing them shut. That's gotta be ok, wouldn't you think?


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## pottz (Sep 15, 2015)

> I ve been putting them in jars and filling them with water & sealing them shut. That s gotta be ok, wouldn t you think?
> 
> - Frankfort


yeah that will work,but i just take my oily rags soak em wet then lay em out in the sun till dry and toss.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

"I've been putting them in jars and filling them with water & sealing them shut. That's gotta be ok, wouldn't you think?"

+1.


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## pottz (Sep 15, 2015)

> "I've been putting them in jars and filling them with water & sealing them shut. That's gotta be ok, wouldn't you think?"
> 
> +1.
> 
> - waho6o9


yes,but more than you need.it's just a matter of making sure there dry.


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## ibewjon (Oct 2, 2010)

The red oily rag cans are good for an oil that doesn't dry in a few days, like cutting oil.


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## controlfreak (Jun 29, 2019)

I have a large flat rock outside my shop. I lay BLO rags on it flat for a day or two and toss into the city trash can. The rock is well sealed now. I plan on making it into a bench one day, it's that big.


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## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

I never leave any oily or finishing rags in my shop…..NEVER. They go outside and spread out.


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## Bstrom (Aug 30, 2020)

> I don t even lay them outside, I just lay them around my shop in various places. As long as you lay them flat and wait until they are "crunchy" to throw them away, you ll be fine. If after laying out for a night they are not stiff, let them sit another day. 3 days is pretty foolproof. I ve never had a rag that didn t turn stiff/crunchy in 72 hours. Once they have reached that fully-dried state, you can safely toss them without worry.
> 
> - DevinT


Ditto - my 'wet' finish and MSpirits cleaning rags are lopped over the DeWalt RAS arm to dry out. Then tossed…


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## LittleBlackDuck (Feb 26, 2016)

Sorry to change the subject guys…


> Well its laws of thermodynamics. A hardening oil produces heat as it dries. When its soaked into a rag… Think of coal becoming a diamond, *only on a smaller scale*....
> - SMP


*SMP*, you telling me I can make diamonds out of an oily rag? I'm giving up woodworking and oiling all my clothes… *I have big clothes*... *Golden Jubilee* move over!

So… nobody should ever *wrap up your oily rags*... I'll come and collect them!



> ... i just take my oily rags soak em wet then lay em out in the* sun till dry* and toss.
> - pottz


Be in trouble in *Antartica* during winter.


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

LOL, Duck on a Rags to Riches pursuit.

I've only seen it once. We were finishing putting Walnut oil on some trim in a house, and were carefully removing the saturated rags outside. I didn't want to kill any of the clients grass, so we laid them on their driveway, which was Asphalt. I went out to place a few more rags down, and the ones already out there were on fire. Thinking about it, there was fuel, plenty of air, the driveway was hot as it was sunny, so a good heat source….

Ever since it's been a 5 gallon jug with a lid, with about 2 gallons of water in it. After dunking a while they seem pretty docile.


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## newwoodbutcher (Aug 6, 2010)

this Is the scene I woke up to after I've been oiling my deck The day before. When I got home that evening I smelled smoke. I thought it was odd. But it was dark I looked around I couldn't see anything so I went to bed. It wasn't burning when I woke up but I called the fire department anyway because it look like a meteor had crashed through my deck and Feierman said that if the deck hadn't been made of Ipe the whole house would have burnd down the the ipe burns slowly. Feierman said it was an oil rag fire.I clearly missed a bullet. I have been hyper about my oily rags ever since


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## Frankfort (Mar 27, 2021)

> this Is the scene I woke up to after I've been oiling my deck The day before. When I got home that evening I smelled smoke. I thought it was odd. But it was dark I looked around I couldn't see anything so I went to bed. It wasn't burning when I woke up but I called the fire department anyway because it look like a meteor had crashed through my deck and Feierman said that if the deck hadn't been made of Ipe the whole house would have burnd down the the ipe burns slowly. Feierman said it was an oil rag fire.I clearly missed a bullet. I have been hyper about my oily rags ever since
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Holy moly, at first I thought those were burned rags until I zoomed in. That's crazy, man.

Also thank you and thanks to everyone on here for the responses.


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