Driving out the water

Here is my first batch with salt rinsing complete, ready for an application of heat to drive out the water.

As the oil warmed, some separation seemed to be taking place.

Now the water is beginning to boil out from the oil.

There were a couple of disturbing pops when larger pockets of steam released. The oil was beginning to noticeably clear and I became more aggressive with the heat. Bad move. All of a sudden, the volcano exploded. Hot oil everywhere. Lucky for me most of it went straight up. Burned my hand a bit and a few spots on my head but I was very lucky.

What a freaking mess! Oil everywhere! From the floor to the ceiling. My clothes are in the wash. The kitchen is cleaned up. Only about 4 ounces of oil remains. And, my pride is reasonably intact.

It's right there in Tad's email to me from a couple of days ago:

"When you're heating it at the end to remove the water, go easy on the heat. If it starts to spit or erupt from trapped water escaping, lower the heat."

Duh. There it is. I am reminded of sound advice from my programming days: RTFM.

I have a double batch moving into the rinse cycle. Soon I'll be back to the stove, this time with new found respect. But for tonight, let me celebrate my luck and education with a bit of scotch, and some aloe.

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!

Washing Linseed Oil Continued

This second wash settled out nearly as nicely as the first. Notice the bit of break hanging down below the oil.

Second wash settled.

Now that I'm getting the swing of things, I figured why not start up a double batch. It's really just as easy to handle a few batches at once.

Two new batches and third wash, just after shaking.

Tomorrow my first oil will be ready for water and sand only washes to flush out the salt.

Washing Linseed Oil

For some time I have been following the work Tad Spurgeon. His work is so deep, so comprehensive, that I ask that if you're at all interested as an oil painter, to do check out his site. I can't begin to describe his extensive research. There is also lots of wonderful and interestingly narrated paintings.

Over the past few months I've been assembling the ingredients and containers to try my hand at washing linseed oil. Swimming pool filter sand is hard to come by when the snow flies! Not shown is the linseed oil but you can check it out here. For information on Tad's thoughts on oil and its washing, see this.

Marble dust, half gallon mason canning jar, pool filter sand, salt.

I mixed these ingredients:

• 2 cups linseed oil
• 4 cups hot water
• 3/4 cup salt
• 1 tablespoon marble dust (150-300µ)

and shook them up. This is what it looks like right after shaking. Within a minute the sand begins falling. Next the oil begins to rise, the salt water to clear.

Right after being shaken.

Upon resting overnight, the separation is complete. After taking this photo, I removed the oil and restarted the process with the very same oil. After three washings with the above ingredients, there will be water and sand only washings to flush out the salt.

Overnight rest.

I am so excited to finally be at this point! Watch over the next few days as this cloudy orange oil becomes transparent, brighter and yellower. Well, that's the plan any way. :-)