Linseed oil on trailer decks

[JDgreen227]

This past summer my wife was finishing the woodwork for my daughters new home in a (mostly) vacant building I own. She dried the stain soaked rags in the sun (linseed oil base) and then tossed them into a plastic barrel filled with micl garbage.....and left the building.

A day later I opened the door and could not see two feet into the dense smoke filled warehouse. :confused2: The barrel had burned to the floor along with the contents.

Soot covered EVERYTHING. Thankfully, nothing burned but the barrel and contents.....but it was still a mega cleanup. A boat and my tractor were coated with soot. The woodwork had a coat of stain and varnish....and we were able to wash it and use it without a problem. (phew)

Later a test with more rags showed the rags to heat up in an hour that you could not hold them. Be careful with linseed oil!!

Not sure about using linseed oil on treated wood but when I used it on pine stair treads it never seemed to dry and was always tacky...for the treated wood on my aluminum utility trailer I removed all the boards from the frame last fall and gave them 2 coats of Thompsons Water Seal I don't think anything protects wood better. Oh boy about the linseed oil catching fire glad it wasn't worse than that heckuva way to learn.

 

[Egon]

Thin it down with some diesel/kerosene and spray the underside of the trailer floor and also the inside of all the frame and fenders.

 

[ToadHill]

If you want to use Linseed oil make sure you use Boiled Linseed Oil. If you use regular linseed oil it will take forever to dry and will get sticky to the tough for several weeks before it completely soaks in.

When I've coated the old trailer I have I had good results using used motor oil. I like the color it gives to the wood and it soaks in overnight with no sticky residue.

 

[deerehunter/operator]

I have also had good luck with used oil/hydraulic fluid.

 

[jimmysisson]

Sorry beg to differ on the Thomsons, never had that last longer than a few months and if you depend on it you may overlook rot. Never had anything rot that was coated in motor oil on a hot day. I like the color too as the other poster said.
Jim