Washing Linseed Oil Continues

Daily oil work continues. This photo was taken prior to yesterday's work.

3rd wash settled, 2nd wash settled.

The first batch has moved from wash to rinse. Basically the same process but leaving out the sand and marble dust. The idea here is to wash the salt from the oil.

After first round washing the final oil skim that contains break and water goes into my reclamation jar. This stuff can be used in the next first round wash for no waste.

The jar on the right is less than an hour after shaking. The oil and break is still separating and the break is still hours from settling to the bottom.

2nd rinse, reclamation, 3rd wash settling.

Tad warns that the mason jars are heat sensitive. I held that in mind last night while putting up my first rinse. The water was a bit hotter than usual but I didn't detect any problems. Alas, today there was a small puddle around the jar. I will need to be more careful. I was certainly lucky this jar didn't break while shaking. I usually shake with the jar toweled up but it still could have been messy if not dangerous.

Cracked mason jar.

Oil work will continue here, even if this post topic fades. I think I've covered most of the processing steps.  I have concern over finding break in the 2nd rinse oil. I just shook it up again and hope for better results. If not, I'll ask Tad what he thinks.

Once the oil is fully washed we'll be looking at methods to remove residual water. And after that, we'll begin building oils with various rheological behaviors. More to come!