My first reaction after seeing this was to send it to my father.. After the thought I remember, my dad is gone. Passed away last month. That all familiar gut punch that hits so hard. My dad was a huge fan, and I have so many good memories of us watching your vidoes. Thank you for that.
Hey - some time ago, you said in a video that 'if you can just be the guy that fixes the thing' then progression in engineering would be achievavable. So I quit being a stonemason, got an entry level job in a subcontract engineering firm, grafted my ass off, fixed a load of stuff, and am doing far better than I ever thought possible after one year. So thanks for that. Spotted a part that was (after the dial protractor came out) just ten minutes out of square last week, so I guess the old stonebashing wasn't completeley wasted. Love your work, Man.
Linseed oil is what Stradivarius used on violins. He complained in a letter to a patron that it took so long for the varnish to dry. Cooking the oil varnish in an iron pot would impart a metal 'dryer' to the varnish, but it still took a long time to completely polymerize. Enter spirt varnish that dries in a few hours and Strad's "lost secret" fell by the wayside. It so happens that linseed oil varnish 'browns' as it ages, which is why a 150 year old Strad 'looks' golden brown. He didn't use leather dye to achieve that 'look'. He used time. Love AvE!
There is at least one linseed oil paint manufacturer around today who claims that their paint is the only paint in the world that does not peel--all synthetic oil based and water based stains and paints peel. I can verify that solid color stains peel, as in 2020 alone we spent over 800 hours in the summer grinding off sheets of solid color oils off decks and siding. Apparently, for some reason, they believe that the linseed melts into the wood because the summer infrared or UV heat, like a semi solid peanut butter fatty acid. Else, it turns to dust that washes off with the rain,. Else it is such a thin and brittle film that the scale problem is not noticed, as high pressure water easily sheers off all of the film. Apparently, the linseed oil film is covered in back mold every 12 months, like most of the old fashioned oils--even when you add packets of mildewcide. Also, it is necessary to add a coat of linseed oil every 7 years to keep it looking credible. Every 28 years, they recommend a serious repaint. (Off topic:This schedule is not much different than any good paint job that uses a high speed 24 grit sander, post rotation water blasting. Except those should be lightly rotated and blasted and touched up every 7 years, since easy and quick to touch up spots happen like snow covered window seals, dormer sides, floors, first 5 of siding in contact with the ground, roof leaks, Plumbing, leaks and condensation Hotspot like un insulated shower rooms. Touchup and wash, every should not be more expensive than a 7 year vinyl siding wash, until the 21st year, where the touchup might be better done via an airless and a fine finish tip, on super peeler houses. .) I am so unimpressed with today's solid stains, that I roll my eyes when un experienced painters believe that they don't peel just like any other paint..... Back in 1990, the solid stain and the 8 year siding paint had the exact same lot numbers and could be substituted in the middle of a side for each other without any difference in aging. Glidden added paraffin wax to their cheapest paint and called it oil acrylic. Whatever the chemistry is on today's solid color stains are, I can vouch they peel and need the same prep as any other paint. They are supposed to be applied thinly, however the thin film is so transparent and looks so bad, that a minimum of 3 coats is usually applied, each coat as thickly as possible because there is just less solids in each can. Letting the solids settle for 12+months, some of the stains have an inch of solids per can, at most. Yet, the paint company want $30 per can. My recommendation is to stick to dark brown or navy blue (maybe dark charcoals) , which is the only pigments that are able to be applied thinly and still have opacity, since thin is the only safe bet. Also, avoid the urge to apply any more than one thin coat. If you can't resist the urge and are not prepared to redo the job every 6 years for siding, then paint, which is the best bet for the 28 year job. I just visited 2 houses I painted 12 years ago. The paint was in pristine shape, however a trim few boards needed a carpenter to reinforce the 120 year old fatigued nails. Only the north side of the cedar shake sided one had about 6 shakes with peeling paint, which is due to former neglect and the shakes loose their hard integrity, so any film of any penetration will not need to peel because the wood just delaminates and you can see wood on the backside of the paint chip, which is how modern paint and solid stains fail. The acquisition of linseed oil is a question, as well as how it fairs over time. I used to add it to outside oils in 1990. The side exposed to the sun, never peeled in 95 years, until they put water based paint on it 25 years after I painted it, because the film was faded and dead looking, typical home owners who think they know more than anyone else, so they second guess everything.
Also wood darkens with age due to UV exposure. Becomes almost black in extreme conditions. Even though it starts out with a straw or beige color, for douglas fir anyway.
@@Tom-hz9oc Actually, Linseed oil paint makers complain that Sythetic alkyds replaced linseed as the binder, which makes alkyd paints peel, unlike Linseed oil, which just disappears (either chaulks or melts into the wood over time), according to the maker of linseed oil paint. The oil house paints are like 300 USD a gallon and sold in litters. Of course in the US, it is really getting difficult to find oil paints, inside or outside, for houses. Nasty oil primers (very nerve toxic) are available still, as they have not waterborne match, as is lappy flashy oil metal paints (too short to properly paint a door without lap marks, even goosing the oil based paint). Floor polyurethanes are still available, I guess, because the waterbornes do not have the adhesion or build that the oil poly's have. Quarts used to be available but that dried up in the past year or so. It is no big loss, as SW alkyd urethane rivals any oil, and oils never held up in sunlight outside and mildewed fast. However, long oil primer outside was a useful additive to waterbased primers at 20 percent to get infrared peel resistance and oil like adhesion, and thickening build of the oil. If not in direct sunlight and not on a leak puddle area, old 1920s lead oils are nearly impossible to strip with Infrared, or chemicals. Only flame level temps get them off, or titanium blades spinning at 10 k rpm and a good water vac and hepa. I am not a fan of heat stripping old lead as the lead in the powder causes a rash on my face, while I can contain the dust from grinding it off.
@@Tom-hz9oc Artists use linseed oil to paint. Strad used what was commonly used by artists from the local apothecary. If you follow the interesting history of art the trades 'cross-pollinated' materials. A lot of luthiers today use spirit-type varnishes because it dries quickly.
Lots of strange chemistry going on there... an organic acid that looks like an alcohol, 5-valence carbons, ... but the basic idea is sound. It probably started off when people used metal pots to heat the oil; the pots would have been tin, copper, or maybe pewter, any of which would be a rich source of metal ions suitable for hardening the oil. Not so sure why they would have been heating the oil though, as french fries had not been invented yet.
Your little joke at the end made me think. In a museum in Georgia (the country) or Baku, years ago, a saw a peace of leather that was found attached to a wooden molding for the fabrication of armor. I can't remember from what period. I would not be surprised if they have been able to soften the leather to mold with heated linseed oil, and than discovered it gave a nice extra hard finish? all speculation, by the way.
You think ancient people just sat there doing northing? If they had a cooking pot on the fire and some linseed oil do you not think they would try heating it to see what happens? They had the same brain potential as us and the curiosity to experiment.
Linoleum. The first synthetic floor covering was made from sheets of polymerised linseed oil (usually in the form of a 'composite' with one smooth polymerised oil-only side, sometimes with ground cork as a filler - bulking agent). Amazing stuff.
Nice explanation, but C atoms all have exactly 4 connections if electrons are not delocalized. If one C atom has a double bond, it will have only 2 other connections, so excess H atoms must be cleared from this drawing at many places.
Yep, polymerization just happens, don't need hydrogens to pop on or off. The carbon double bonds split and bond with another oil molecule, which bonds with another, et cetera, until you have one giant molecule.
Oh AVE you amazing silly goose. Great video, and as always I love your lessons. For future reference when you decide to go all Vincent Van Gogh and draw a polymer or two, remember carbon can only make 4 single bonds (for our purposes of course). If you’re making a double bond that means there can only be 2 more lines comin off of ‘er. Devil’s in the details y’a know. Cheers!
AvE has magic bonds. Remember there are new things in science that we a discovering everyday. Sometimes we are just limited by our imagination; woke science.
yep. I know someone with an old car that used linseed oil to preserve the patina. he had a can in the trunk with a few rags to wipe it with and it caught fire one day out of no where. luckily its all steel and didn't burn too hot. car was safe but showed some marks from the heat.
Old school machine shops and woodworking shops all had metal self closing "oily rag" cans to prevent burning the place down. Linseed oil being the most prolific firestarter. Btw I season my cast iron pans with grapeseed oil. Works great.
My coworkers wife burned down their house after watching some home show and wiping down their wood cabinets with linseed oil and throwing the rags in the laundry room trash.
Long long ago when I was a teen, I asked the Chef at the restaurant I was working at Busing tables why he was cooking Linseed oil in a new pan. He said "to season it, make it so stuff doesn't stick." Me being quizzical asked "How does that work?" he said, "I don't know, it just does." I haven't thought about that question in decades and today I finally got my answer.
I absolutely love how you can describe something so complex, and still use terms like "hangbadang". Your mastery of the English language is unsurpassed in our lifetime.
As a piece of advice--the various drying additives can also compromise the long-term durability of the resulting finish. For best results, use pure linseed oil and patience.
As a still kicking 80 year old I finally understand how Linseed oil works and why tung oil is different. Used both for years but never knew I was working with plastic any more that ancient woodworkers did. Ave strikes again and smartens up the Internet.
Unboiled linseed oil does in fact polymerize when exposed to air, it just does it much slower (and it's higher viscosity, boiled has some volatiles added to get it easier to brush); the boiled stuff is just more convenient, and there's a nice continuous path of development from "this oil works well as a finish" to "if we do this to it it works _really_ well and quicker for a finish".
@@Jimjolnir I use regular edible flaxseed oil (same stuff, flax and linen are the same plant) when I am doing stuff for food contract, to avoid the solvents. Probably not a big deal but it's here anyways as omega-3 food, so might as well.
@@Jimjolnir anything that needs to be food safe, like seasoning pans or finishing wooden utensils and chopping boards. the raw linseed also penetrates deeper into wood making a more specular finish and makes a more waxy texture as opposed to the rubbery one of boiled, which many people find preferable for things like axe handles.
@@Jimjolnir Raw is preferred for oil painting... just works better, and smells nicer IMO. Maybe it has less of a colour to it. Longer curing time is not a problem, sometimes it's an advantage.
@@Jimjolnir Raw linseed oil can be food safe (if you buy food grade) so it's an option on wood surfaces for food contact since it doesn't contain the toxic drying agents BLO does. Takes ages to cure though and there's a number of better options. Probably a couple other uses, but that's my personal experience.
I came here to learn about linseed oil(I knew a lot already but this was still very educational) but then actually learned why I'm having such a tough time seasoning one of my pans. I'd been told that since olive oil has such a low smoke point, it'd polymerize a lot easier but now I'm thinking that AvE is right and I gotta go reseason it.
Never heard of anyone using olive oil internationally, most people say flax seed is the best. If you cook meat the fat from cooking will do most of your seasoning over time though.
Don’t use plant oils on iron. Except for cooking. Use animal fat , i.e., bacon, sausage, hamburger. All self season if you start with a cool pan , and slowly cook the first few times. Scour and wipe with water and no soap . Use a paper towel to dry, and reapply grease saved from cooking
Yeah, he's a little off on the chemistry. Where it creates double bonds with a neighboring carbon, there would be no bond to a hydrogen atom. This is what makes it unsaturated; the oil is not _saturated_ with hydrogen atoms. There's little "gaps" along the chain where there's no hydrogen bonded to a carbon. This is why the unsaturated oils go rancid faster; the points where the hydrogen atoms are missing are more easily attacked by oxygen.
@@JohnDoe-zl6qw That would be the end state, however quantum theory suggests that there could be superposition between the electron shared with the hydrogen and carbon and also it could be participating in the double bond - for a time. You could think of it a bit like an atomic equilibrium reaction. But I'm only as sure as a cat in a box about this.
Never knew olive oil wasn’t a good choice for seasoning pans. Not only have you taught me the finer points of drilling holes, but also how to get the most out of my cookware
I only cook with coconut or other natural heat stable fats like lard. But for seasoning my cast iron, I keep a bottle of canola. Pour in, wipe out with papertowel till it looks like its all gone but still shiny, heat, cool, repeat. Thin layers all polymerized
@@methylmania Canola oil is toxic? 😯 Our dietician just ordered us to use canola instead of olive oil due to its beneficial effects. Will have to have a second look
@@tomaszdabrowski8591 Canola oil is not toxic. The seasoning on the pan might be, though, as seasoning a pan typically requires bringing the oil above it's smoke point, which generates some toxic compounds.
Two interesting bits. When you oil wooden floors for example and rub the oil nice and shiny the oil soaked rags can even catch on fire when left bunched up. The polymerization releases heat and when it has nowhere to go it can start a fire. I have also used sunflower seed oil to make PCB masks printed on regular paper more transparent to use under UV exposures. The prints will also dry and will not be oily once dry. These days PCB prototypes are cheap but I might still have some old prints laying around somewhere.
I can attest to the EXOthermic reaction of Linseed oil. I was using it to refinish some kitchen cabinets applying it w/paper towels. Bad idea. Do you know what's a worse idea? Not properly disposing of those oil soaked rags. $200k later I was done 'remodeling' my house.
It's true. On Monday a guy at work applied linseed oil to the wooden axe handles. In a mix up, another guy gathered up this towel and tossed it in a small trashcan with the other towels to be washed. The same afternoon we could smell something burning. Finally, one of the guys pulled the smoldering, smoking towel out of the can. We dodged a bullet. Fun fact: I'm a fireman, this happened at a fire station. Wouldn't that have been embarrassing. 😄
Four minutes and fifty seconds is what it took to make some sense out of a topic that three years of chemistry confused me about. Thanks for breaking it down in classic AvE style!
Back when I was younger I redid some gun stocks with it. They turned out beautiful. The finish was hard when dried, and durable,if you scratched it was easy to blend!
Rub the linseed oil (boiled) into the stock or tool handle hard enough so the friction makes it almost too hot to handle (no pun intended). Repeat as desired.
Love my cast iron pans (Griswold, Wagner, and BSR all from the 1890-1930's). Been using flaxseed oil and oven curing for seasoning and works great. Now I know why. Thanks!
I too have many cast iron pans from around 1900. However, I had trouble with flax oil becoming too hard and then flaking. Canola oil has made the best surface for me. But I've switched to using a product made by Blackstone the griddle maker. It's a proprietary blend of palm shortening/oil, beeswax, canola oil and soy oil.
Absolutely awesome explanation. I especially liked your mentions of Olive and Flax Seed oil and why Flax Seed oil is used to season cast iron pans. (It’s my oil of choice for seasoning pans)
If you paint wood with a good amount of boiled linseed oil first. After it drys then you can varnish it. This stop the varnish from cracking. Because the layer of linseed oil moves with the varnish. Because dead tree carcasses move with weather conditions.
I add 1/3 boiled linseed oil, 1/3 polyurethane, and 1/3 turpentine to make a great wipe on wood finish. Wipe on wait 1/2 and hour then wipe off the sticky excess, let dry. The finish looks thin like an oil but is much dryer harder than oil, more like polyurethane.
Linseed oil polymerization is exothermic, it releases heat. So don’t leave a bunch of oily rags in a pile after oiling your axe or something. It can actually spontaneously catch fire.
I used to use a 50/50 mixture of linseed oil and turpentine to make the plastic cladding on my old Jeep Grand Cherokee look new again. After trying a dozen or so different products that claimed to do the same, I finally stumbled on the linseed mixture. It also outlasted any of the commercial products, requiring a year+ before reapplying. The commercial stuff washed away in a couple weeks.
@@pdxbk They're getting better, but look at all the black plastic parts on cars from 2005 or so. The Chevy Avalanche is the best example I can think of, right ahead of Honda CRVs. All the black plastic trim pieces turn light gray and swirly over time. There are scores of products (and CZcams how-to's) that claim to "revitalize" them. None work that well, just like headlight polish. I'll have to keep thnksno's method in mind.
@@pdxbk Mine was a Laredo, the plastic cladding along the lower quarter of the doors and the bumpers. It was faded and had white swirls and streaks. Putting something on it like plastic trim conditioner made it look okay for about 2 weeks. 50/50 linseed oil and turpentine it looked good for well over a year. The turpentine thins the linseed oil and makes it easier to apply and not so sticky. Be careful with used rags, they can spontaneously combust apparently.
The classic finish for gunstocks. Makes an impervious, waterproof layer on wood, and is easily repaired when scratched. Properly applied, it creates its own grain filler too: it is wet-sanded into the wood, commonly known as 'hand rubbing'. Now go rub one out!
I still use it on knife and tool handles for raw timbers and sort of a gap-filler for the stabilised wood, usually dilute it down to about 70-30 oil-mineral spirit just so it gets a bit more penetration before it polymerises and if needed, 2-3 coats with a rub back in between. There's basically nothing else out there really made by humans that sort of comes close, it won't give you blisters, hard wearing, binds the wood fibres together, don't have to apply it very often and its got a decent working speed so you get a lot more done.
It also works great as a finish on metal objects, like iron tools. Coat them, and then throw them in the oven at 400* for an hour. It hardens right on and preserves them, while also taking on a nice colour.
OK, I'm a science geek. So that's why I like this sort of stuff. Glad there is someone out there who can explain and share their knowledge with us. Great delivery too.
As a chemist, I suffered watching this. All those pentavalent carbons, the carboxilic acid that has no carbonyl, and is in fact, an alcohol in a pentavalent carbon. It just chooches
@@karuza82 its wrong. Carbons can only have 4 bonds (or less, for carbanions and carbocations, but those are unstable/intermediates) And a carboxilic acid, is a terminal carbon, with a double bond with the oxygen (a carbonyl) and a single bond to an OH
good lesson, but some of his chemistry is a bit... wrong, if i'm not mistaken. Carbon can only have 4 bonds, as it has 4 valence electrons, in the video, he's plastering more bonds on and even double bonds...
I’d first learned about BLO as an internal preservative for tubular steel frames. Later, it’s the old trick for building bicycle wheels, used as a spoke-nipple lube that dries to a locking compound.
Super interesting. My only introduction to Lin seed oil is with gun stocks, where you apply it, and allow the polymerization to occur to protect the wood. Never really understood how it worked, or why, or that it's been used forever. Thanks
Lots of woodworkers use it for anything that's not high wear. It's cheap as dirt and easy to apply, and it looks nice. Technically you're supposed to reapply it from time to time.
I am always amazed either by AVE’s use of his special vocabulary or vast knowledge, sit sit down and have a beer or two would be sooo much fun and extremely educational all at the same time. Thanks again for the awesome videos, please keep making them!!
Just like Canada uses a mix of Imperial and SI units, Canadian organic chemistry uses a mix of 4 and 5 valance carbons. Gives you a lot of flexibility, but not so much predictability.
My grandpa used olive oil on his bayonet from WWI...told me to keep some on it to keep it from rusting and said to make sure it was extra virgin olive oil (though I doubt she was after Popeye got to drinking like a sailor). Thanks AvE, good info as usual!
1:57 some minor mistake: when you have a double bond, the molecule has two less hydrogen. That's why you can hydrogenize it to make it into a single bond. Carbon usually forms 4 bonds afaik. Please correct me if I'm the one mistaking.
No, you're correct. Carbon, under normal circumstances, forms exactly four bonds. One double bond between carbons means that those two carbons each have one fewer hydrogen. This allows the chain to twist and bend, letting it be liquid at higher temps. Pushing hydrogen into those chains straightens them out, making them solid at lower temperatures, making them easier to store and ship.
This is awesome. For some crazy reason, YT stopped recommending your videos to me. I don’t understand 75% of what you’re talking about since I’m a wood worker, but you’re so damn funny I don’t care. And now I’m kind of excited about the backlog of videos I get to watch. Thanks, Dude!
I’ve been using flaxseed oil to season cast iron for years, works great. Only downside is that it smells fishy and needs to be refrigerated. Thanks for the great explanation as always.
try olive oil. it has like 15% lanolin content and is food safe. should polymerize the same. mmakes a horrible gun lube lol, ask me how i know. nitrocellulose from smokeless powder causes it to polymerize quicker and gooped up my glock 40. i think its the nitrate content acting as an oxidizer or something from unburnt powder
Does it need to be refrigerated? Nobody ever told me, and it seems to do just fine in room temp. I actually like the smell, but I prefer canola oil for seasoning my pots and pans.
Do you mean refrigerate the pan or refrigerate the bottle? Yes, the bottle of flaxseed oil needs to be refrigerated to prevent it from turning rancid (the fishy smell.) That smell is the oil turning rancid. When one of those double bonds breaks and doesn't find a neighbor to cross-link with to form a polymer, then part of the fatty acid breaks off and floats away as a free radical. That is rancidity. Refrigerating and keeping oxygen away by sealing the bottle slows down the chemistry. If you are getting the smell on your pan then the best ways to prevent it is to make sure the oil is wiped on as thin as possible and to moderately heat the pan each time you apply fresh oil.
@@HoosierRallyMaster thanks for the reply and info. I mean the fishy smell happens when I season the pan with it. The oil is new and smells fine in the bottle. I wipe a very thin layer on the pan and heat it up to polymerize. Maybe I’m heating it to high. Got a new stargazer cast iron pan coming this week, I’ll try a thinner coat and lower temperature. 👍
@@vevenaneathna I usually use olive oil in the cast iron pan to cook with, but flaxseed oil to season with because of the higher smoke point and many have said flaxseed is best for seasoning. I’ll try seasoning with olive oil at a lower temperature and see how it goes. I appreciate the response and advice 👍
Flax/linseed is actually terrible for seasoning your pans. It polymerises very well, but it creates a very flaky layer, which is prone to lifting off. It will LOOK like a damned nice pan, but it won't be as durable! Almost anyone who asks why their seasoned pans aren't staying non-stick, turn out to be using linseed oil!
I always appreciate the accuracy of your content in addition to the entertainment value. You're the first in a very long time I've heard say it correctly; it is indeed "champing at the bit".
:) Ave, good explanation overall but you made a mess out of the number of bonds available for each carbon atom (and of the carboxyl group)... no problem, I've seen "chemists" mis-counting the number of hydrogen atoms in a formula
As a chemist I really really hope, that your explanations about mechanics are better than your chemistry. :D Otherwise, I have to relearn all from scratch. No hard feelings, just don´t show it to chikadee this way.
I absolutely love linseed oil finish on my greenland style paddles for kayaking, far superior to epoxies and varnishes when it comes to how it feels and grips. Only downside is it takes forever to fully dry - which is easily solved by making two paddles:)
I just heat up the non-boiled oil for the 2nd and 3d (and maintenance coats) so it might lack the catalysts AvE talked about. Even after heated it stays tacky for about a week before I can start using the paddle. First coat does take much longer, but even a week is forever when the weather is just right for getting out on the water:))
Flaxseed oil is no bueno for seasoning cast iron. It looks great and was all the rage among cast iron collectors for awhile. But after awhile it flakes off. The go to oils have circled back to lard or crisco shortening (and it's stuff you cook with anyway).
been watchin your channel now, for about 4 years, and i'm continuously impressed by how you spur on a need for learning. the knowledge you keep up top is so thorough, so complete, it seems elusive not unlike the kind that old broad blavatsky would yammer on about. I'm 30 now, know i must've been watchin you through my mid twenties - and boy what an illuminating period that turned out to be, like someone walked in and turned the lights on , sure as hell wasn't me - anyway started as a dumbass with a film degree ended up as a different dumbass with a film degree, some experience in plumbing, a bum ankle and god knows what else. I say all this to say thanks, thanks makin me itch for more knowledge, and thanks for makin the itch feel as good as the scratch. I'm on disability now, and i'm not sure if i'll be able to go back to the thing i love, but i do know that no matter what comes - i'll approach it itchy as hell.
Back in the 100s or so, some dude discovered plastic. He showed it to a Roman ruler. The ruler asked the guy if anyone else knew the recipes; nobody else knew. So the ruler had him killed. Can't have clear and transparent containers when you're the head of the family of ceramics and glass makers!
JFYI - Linseed oil is what is used in the Blue Angles (and probably others) airplanes to produce the smoke trails. They have a special tank with a small tube that sprays the oil directly into the exhaust stream on one of the engines.
Most excellent vid Bro! I use linseed oil on guitar fretboards to close up open grain woods, and it smooths out the feel on the ole fingers. Long time subscriber, absolutely love your channel!! And yes I am one of those magical Pixies, haha!! 🧚🏻♂
My first reaction after seeing this was to send it to my father.. After the thought I remember, my dad is gone. Passed away last month. That all familiar gut punch that hits so hard. My dad was a huge fan, and I have so many good memories of us watching your vidoes. Thank you for that.
Sorry man. Cheers Dad!
Cheers to pops!
Sorry boss. My condolences.
Had that same feeling for dad and my brother. It’s tough bud
cherish the memories :)
Hey - some time ago, you said in a video that 'if you can just be the guy that fixes the thing' then progression in engineering would be achievavable. So I quit being a stonemason, got an entry level job in a subcontract engineering firm, grafted my ass off, fixed a load of stuff, and am doing far better than I ever thought possible after one year. So thanks for that. Spotted a part that was (after the dial protractor came out) just ten minutes out of square last week, so I guess the old stonebashing wasn't completeley wasted. Love your work, Man.
Congrats!
Linseed oil is what Stradivarius used on violins. He complained in a letter to a patron that it took so long for the varnish to dry. Cooking the oil varnish in an iron pot would impart a metal 'dryer' to the varnish, but it still took a long time to completely polymerize. Enter spirt varnish that dries in a few hours and Strad's "lost secret" fell by the wayside. It so happens that linseed oil varnish 'browns' as it ages, which is why a 150 year old Strad 'looks' golden brown. He didn't use leather dye to achieve that 'look'. He used time. Love AvE!
There is at least one linseed oil paint manufacturer around today who claims that their paint is the only paint in the world that does not peel--all synthetic oil based and water based stains and paints peel. I can verify that solid color stains peel, as in 2020 alone we spent over 800 hours in the summer grinding off sheets of solid color oils off decks and siding.
Apparently, for some reason, they believe that the linseed melts into the wood because the summer infrared or UV heat, like a semi solid peanut butter fatty acid. Else, it turns to dust that washes off with the rain,. Else it is such a thin and brittle film that the scale problem is not noticed, as high pressure water easily sheers off all of the film.
Apparently, the linseed oil film is covered in back mold every 12 months, like most of the old fashioned oils--even when you add packets of mildewcide. Also, it is necessary to add a coat of linseed oil every 7 years to keep it looking credible. Every 28 years, they recommend a serious repaint. (Off topic:This schedule is not much different than any good paint job that uses a high speed 24 grit sander, post rotation water blasting. Except those should be lightly rotated and blasted and touched up every 7 years, since easy and quick to touch up spots happen like snow covered window seals, dormer sides, floors, first 5 of siding in contact with the ground, roof leaks, Plumbing, leaks and condensation Hotspot like un insulated shower rooms. Touchup and wash, every should not be more expensive than a 7 year vinyl siding wash, until the 21st year, where the touchup might be better done via an airless and a fine finish tip, on super peeler houses. .)
I am so unimpressed with today's solid stains, that I roll my eyes when un experienced painters believe that they don't peel just like any other paint..... Back in 1990, the solid stain and the 8 year siding paint had the exact same lot numbers and could be substituted in the middle of a side for each other without any difference in aging. Glidden added paraffin wax to their cheapest paint and called it oil acrylic. Whatever the chemistry is on today's solid color stains are, I can vouch they peel and need the same prep as any other paint.
They are supposed to be applied thinly, however the thin film is so transparent and looks so bad, that a minimum of 3 coats is usually applied, each coat as thickly as possible because there is just less solids in each can. Letting the solids settle for 12+months, some of the stains have an inch of solids per can, at most. Yet, the paint company want $30 per can. My recommendation is to stick to dark brown or navy blue (maybe dark charcoals) , which is the only pigments that are able to be applied thinly and still have opacity, since thin is the only safe bet. Also, avoid the urge to apply any more than one thin coat. If you can't resist the urge and are not prepared to redo the job every 6 years for siding, then paint, which is the best bet for the 28 year job.
I just visited 2 houses I painted 12 years ago. The paint was in pristine shape, however a trim few boards needed a carpenter to reinforce the 120 year old fatigued nails. Only the north side of the cedar shake sided one had about 6 shakes with peeling paint, which is due to former neglect and the shakes loose their hard integrity, so any film of any penetration will not need to peel because the wood just delaminates and you can see wood on the backside of the paint chip, which is how modern paint and solid stains fail.
The acquisition of linseed oil is a question, as well as how it fairs over time. I used to add it to outside oils in 1990. The side exposed to the sun, never peeled in 95 years, until they put water based paint on it 25 years after I painted it, because the film was faded and dead looking, typical home owners who think they know more than anyone else, so they second guess everything.
Also wood darkens with age due to UV exposure. Becomes almost black in extreme conditions. Even though it starts out with a straw or beige color, for douglas fir anyway.
My Windsor & Newton oil paints contain linseed oil.
@@Tom-hz9oc Actually, Linseed oil paint makers complain that Sythetic alkyds replaced linseed as the binder, which makes alkyd paints peel, unlike Linseed oil, which just disappears (either chaulks or melts into the wood over time), according to the maker of linseed oil paint. The oil house paints are like 300 USD a gallon and sold in litters. Of course in the US, it is really getting difficult to find oil paints, inside or outside, for houses. Nasty oil primers (very nerve toxic) are available still, as they have not waterborne match, as is lappy flashy oil metal paints (too short to properly paint a door without lap marks, even goosing the oil based paint). Floor polyurethanes are still available, I guess, because the waterbornes do not have the adhesion or build that the oil poly's have. Quarts used to be available but that dried up in the past year or so. It is no big loss, as SW alkyd urethane rivals any oil, and oils never held up in sunlight outside and mildewed fast. However, long oil primer outside was a useful additive to waterbased primers at 20 percent to get infrared peel resistance and oil like adhesion, and thickening build of the oil. If not in direct sunlight and not on a leak puddle area, old 1920s lead oils are nearly impossible to strip with Infrared, or chemicals. Only flame level temps get them off, or titanium blades spinning at 10 k rpm and a good water vac and hepa. I am not a fan of heat stripping old lead as the lead in the powder causes a rash on my face, while I can contain the dust from grinding it off.
@@Tom-hz9oc Artists use linseed oil to paint. Strad used what was commonly used by artists from the local apothecary. If you follow the interesting history of art the trades 'cross-pollinated' materials. A lot of luthiers today use spirit-type varnishes because it dries quickly.
Lots of strange chemistry going on there... an organic acid that looks like an alcohol, 5-valence carbons, ... but the basic idea is sound. It probably started off when people used metal pots to heat the oil; the pots would have been tin, copper, or maybe pewter, any of which would be a rich source of metal ions suitable for hardening the oil. Not so sure why they would have been heating the oil though, as french fries had not been invented yet.
Your little joke at the end made me think. In a museum in Georgia (the country) or Baku, years ago, a saw a peace of leather that was found attached to a wooden molding for the fabrication of armor. I can't remember from what period. I would not be surprised if they have been able to soften the leather to mold with heated linseed oil, and than discovered it gave a nice extra hard finish? all speculation, by the way.
@@offgridcabinbelgium Leather is softened by piss though haha
@@aloiseaux767 true, agree ; to make nice soft stuf. But what if you wanted make it hard?
You think ancient people just sat there doing northing? If they had a cooking pot on the fire and some linseed oil do you not think they would try heating it to see what happens? They had the same brain potential as us and the curiosity to experiment.
@@offgridcabinbelgium dry out the piss :-)
Linoleum. The first synthetic floor covering was made from sheets of polymerised linseed oil (usually in the form of a 'composite' with one smooth polymerised oil-only side, sometimes with ground cork as a filler - bulking agent). Amazing stuff.
I was wondering that after hearing him say linolic acid (sp)...
Boy I have removed a lot of that over the years.....
Don't forget the asbestos haha
Also a good song
My grandmother always called Linoleum 'oil cloth'
Nice explanation, but C atoms all have exactly 4 connections if electrons are not delocalized. If one C atom has a double bond, it will have only 2 other connections, so excess H atoms must be cleared from this drawing at many places.
Yep, polymerization just happens, don't need hydrogens to pop on or off. The carbon double bonds split and bond with another oil molecule, which bonds with another, et cetera, until you have one giant molecule.
Thank god some one said it. Seeing five bonds on carbon is illegal
@@josephjones1519 Carbonium ion.
But I know what you mean xD .
Nerd
@@Marcoose81 yeah, he mixed polimerization through addition with polimerization through condensation haha, still 90% acurate though I guess
So Popeye didn't tung Olive Oil because she was a free radical?! I'm lost...
Son, I think you are in the right place
Quality work. The day is yours.
Well done, that man!
Well, it makes sense if she was a free radical, she probably didn't wash it much.
@@snakerstran9101 Maybe a little rancid?
Oh AVE you amazing silly goose. Great video, and as always I love your lessons. For future reference when you decide to go all Vincent Van Gogh and draw a polymer or two, remember carbon can only make 4 single bonds (for our purposes of course). If you’re making a double bond that means there can only be 2 more lines comin off of ‘er. Devil’s in the details y’a know. Cheers!
AvE has magic bonds. Remember there are new things in science that we a discovering everyday. Sometimes we are just limited by our imagination; woke science.
Came to the comments looking for this. I caught the same thing.
@@spudpud-T67 lol
i was trying to find this comment lol
He's in Canada. Chemistry is different there. 😂
Bonus fun fact, its an exothermic reaction. Paper/rags soaked with linseseed oil can self ignite as the oil polymerises. Use caution!
I found out the exciting way!
Yeah, when the news reports on a fire caused by "oily rags" that's what happened.
yep. I know someone with an old car that used linseed oil to preserve the patina. he had a can in the trunk with a few rags to wipe it with and it caught fire one day out of no where. luckily its all steel and didn't burn too hot. car was safe but showed some marks from the heat.
Old school machine shops and woodworking shops all had metal self closing "oily rag" cans to prevent burning the place down. Linseed oil being the most prolific firestarter. Btw I season my cast iron pans with grapeseed oil. Works great.
My coworkers wife burned down their house after watching some home show and wiping down their wood cabinets with linseed oil and throwing the rags in the laundry room trash.
Long long ago when I was a teen, I asked the Chef at the restaurant I was working at Busing tables why he was cooking Linseed oil in a new pan. He said "to season it, make it so stuff doesn't stick." Me being quizzical asked "How does that work?" he said, "I don't know, it just does." I haven't thought about that question in decades and today I finally got my answer.
I absolutely love how you can describe something so complex, and still use terms like "hangbadang". Your mastery of the English language is unsurpassed in our lifetime.
As a piece of advice--the various drying additives can also compromise the long-term durability of the resulting finish. For best results, use pure linseed oil and patience.
As a still kicking 80 year old I finally understand how Linseed oil works and why tung oil is different. Used both for years but never knew I was working with plastic any more that ancient woodworkers did. Ave strikes again and smartens up the Internet.
Cheers to the grey beards!
Unboiled linseed oil does in fact polymerize when exposed to air, it just does it much slower (and it's higher viscosity, boiled has some volatiles added to get it easier to brush); the boiled stuff is just more convenient, and there's a nice continuous path of development from "this oil works well as a finish" to "if we do this to it it works _really_ well and quicker for a finish".
So, boiled, every time, or are there situation where regular is preferred?
@@Jimjolnir I use regular edible flaxseed oil (same stuff, flax and linen are the same plant) when I am doing stuff for food contract, to avoid the solvents. Probably not a big deal but it's here anyways as omega-3 food, so might as well.
@@Jimjolnir anything that needs to be food safe, like seasoning pans or finishing wooden utensils and chopping boards. the raw linseed also penetrates deeper into wood making a more specular finish and makes a more waxy texture as opposed to the rubbery one of boiled, which many people find preferable for things like axe handles.
@@Jimjolnir Raw is preferred for oil painting... just works better, and smells nicer IMO. Maybe it has less of a colour to it. Longer curing time is not a problem, sometimes it's an advantage.
@@Jimjolnir Raw linseed oil can be food safe (if you buy food grade) so it's an option on wood surfaces for food contact since it doesn't contain the toxic drying agents BLO does. Takes ages to cure though and there's a number of better options.
Probably a couple other uses, but that's my personal experience.
I came here to learn about linseed oil(I knew a lot already but this was still very educational) but then actually learned why I'm having such a tough time seasoning one of my pans. I'd been told that since olive oil has such a low smoke point, it'd polymerize a lot easier but now I'm thinking that AvE is right and I gotta go reseason it.
Canola gives a gorgeous shine, and avocado oil gives it an interesting pattern that’s very durable, but can sometimes get “sticky”
I found that interesting too...but then, I season mine with grapeseed oil.
Never heard of anyone using olive oil internationally, most people say flax seed is the best. If you cook meat the fat from cooking will do most of your seasoning over time though.
Don’t use plant oils on iron. Except for cooking. Use animal fat , i.e., bacon, sausage, hamburger. All self season if you start with a cool pan , and slowly cook the first few times. Scour and wipe with water and no soap . Use a paper towel to dry, and reapply grease saved from cooking
I use Crisco for seasoning pans, although my old plain steel pizza pans look black just from spray-oil like Pam. 🧐
Didn't realize carbon could have a double bond and 3 single bonds at the same time.
Carbon is REALLY INTO bondage. Don't know about discipline, though.
@@kbjerke Haha, I'll definitely remember that now.
Yeah, he's a little off on the chemistry. Where it creates double bonds with a neighboring carbon, there would be no bond to a hydrogen atom. This is what makes it unsaturated; the oil is not _saturated_ with hydrogen atoms. There's little "gaps" along the chain where there's no hydrogen bonded to a carbon. This is why the unsaturated oils go rancid faster; the points where the hydrogen atoms are missing are more easily attacked by oxygen.
@@JohnDoe-zl6qw That would be the end state, however quantum theory suggests that there could be superposition between the electron shared with the hydrogen and carbon and also it could be participating in the double bond - for a time. You could think of it a bit like an atomic equilibrium reaction. But I'm only as sure as a cat in a box about this.
@@mikelastname I'll see your alive-dead zombie cat and raise you a Heisenberg. In other words, I'm not certain about that.
Never knew olive oil wasn’t a good choice for seasoning pans. Not only have you taught me the finer points of drilling holes, but also how to get the most out of my cookware
I only cook with coconut or other natural heat stable fats like lard. But for seasoning my cast iron, I keep a bottle of canola. Pour in, wipe out with papertowel till it looks like its all gone but still shiny, heat, cool, repeat. Thin layers all polymerized
The company I bought my made in USA cast iron from suggested grape seed oil as best.
@@jonduncan05 Same here. Canola oil will polymerize. It is toxic when ingested in moderate amounts but it will seal a pan.
@@methylmania Canola oil is toxic? 😯
Our dietician just ordered us to use canola instead of olive oil due to its beneficial effects. Will have to have a second look
@@tomaszdabrowski8591 Canola oil is not toxic. The seasoning on the pan might be, though, as seasoning a pan typically requires bringing the oil above it's smoke point, which generates some toxic compounds.
Two interesting bits. When you oil wooden floors for example and rub the oil nice and shiny the oil soaked rags can even catch on fire when left bunched up. The polymerization releases heat and when it has nowhere to go it can start a fire. I have also used sunflower seed oil to make PCB masks printed on regular paper more transparent to use under UV exposures. The prints will also dry and will not be oily once dry. These days PCB prototypes are cheap but I might still have some old prints laying around somewhere.
I can attest to the EXOthermic reaction of Linseed oil. I was using it to refinish some kitchen cabinets applying it w/paper towels. Bad idea. Do you know what's a worse idea? Not properly disposing of those oil soaked rags. $200k later I was done 'remodeling' my house.
It's true.
On Monday a guy at work applied linseed oil to the wooden axe handles. In a mix up, another guy gathered up this towel and tossed it in a small trashcan with the other towels to be washed. The same afternoon we could smell something burning. Finally, one of the guys pulled the smoldering, smoking towel out of the can. We dodged a bullet. Fun fact: I'm a fireman, this happened at a fire station. Wouldn't that have been embarrassing. 😄
Is this the boiled linseed with synthetic drying agents added or 100% raw linseed?
Four minutes and fifty seconds is what it took to make some sense out of a topic that three years of chemistry confused me about. Thanks for breaking it down in classic AvE style!
Thanks for bring back memories of my undergraduate organic chemistry lectures….forgotten how much I used to enjoy them!
You got a lot of valence 5 carbons in that molecule, I am sure that's ground for a Nobel prize.
this
Back when I was younger I redid some gun stocks with it. They turned out beautiful. The finish was hard when dried, and durable,if you scratched it was easy to blend!
It's excellent of wooden floors as well.
Rub the linseed oil (boiled) into the stock or tool handle hard enough so the friction makes it almost too hot to handle (no pun intended). Repeat as desired.
Did the same with my old SKS stock, once I got the 30 lbs of Cosmoline out of it. Still in beautiful condition
@@ajfurnari2448 no kidding! 🤣🤣🤣
@@ajfurnari2448 I hope to never have to take a job as a Cosmoline packer.
Love my cast iron pans (Griswold, Wagner, and BSR all from the 1890-1930's). Been using flaxseed oil and oven curing for seasoning and works great. Now I know why. Thanks!
I too have many cast iron pans from around 1900. However, I had trouble with flax oil becoming too hard and then flaking. Canola oil has made the best surface for me. But I've switched to using a product made by Blackstone the griddle maker. It's a proprietary blend of palm shortening/oil, beeswax, canola oil and soy oil.
Absolutely awesome explanation. I especially liked your mentions of Olive and Flax Seed oil and why Flax Seed oil is used to season cast iron pans. (It’s my oil of choice for seasoning pans)
Chemistry is magic....well maybe I'm thinking of alchemy. All those letters may as well spell, "abracadabra."
They spell chemialchemystry
My chemistry teacher would have killed me for those 5 bonded carbons
There is so much info in this video man. I wish you have done it like ten years ago. It was a good reminder though. Thanks
I haven't been keeping up with your videos the last couple years. This one reminds me of your older stuff. Keep up the good work.
If you paint wood with a good amount of boiled linseed oil first. After it drys then you can varnish it.
This stop the varnish from cracking. Because the layer of linseed oil moves with the varnish. Because dead tree carcasses move with weather conditions.
Indeed. Self-organized celluse foams can be a wonderful servant, but in the wrong conditions, a cruel mistress.
I add 1/3 boiled linseed oil, 1/3 polyurethane, and 1/3 turpentine to make a great wipe on wood finish. Wipe on wait 1/2 and hour then wipe off the sticky excess, let dry. The finish looks thin like an oil but is much dryer harder than oil, more like polyurethane.
I've been using flaxseed oil for years to season my cast iron. It's simply the best.
Thank you for all you do, your channel is so illuminating and inspiring.
Thank you Professor Polymer. I'll never use this info again, but it's good to know I once learned it.
Linseed oil polymerization is exothermic, it releases heat.
So don’t leave a bunch of oily rags in a pile after oiling your axe or something. It can actually spontaneously catch fire.
It's not just polymerization. It's oxidation in general, so non self polymerizing oils can self ignite as well
I used to use a 50/50 mixture of linseed oil and turpentine to make the plastic cladding on my old Jeep Grand Cherokee look new again. After trying a dozen or so different products that claimed to do the same, I finally stumbled on the linseed mixture. It also outlasted any of the commercial products, requiring a year+ before reapplying. The commercial stuff washed away in a couple weeks.
Tell me more...on the trim? On the paint? What's habbening here?!!
@@pdxbk They're getting better, but look at all the black plastic parts on cars from 2005 or so. The Chevy Avalanche is the best example I can think of, right ahead of Honda CRVs. All the black plastic trim pieces turn light gray and swirly over time. There are scores of products (and CZcams how-to's) that claim to "revitalize" them. None work that well, just like headlight polish. I'll have to keep thnksno's method in mind.
@@pdxbk Mine was a Laredo, the plastic cladding along the lower quarter of the doors and the bumpers. It was faded and had white swirls and streaks. Putting something on it like plastic trim conditioner made it look okay for about 2 weeks. 50/50 linseed oil and turpentine it looked good for well over a year. The turpentine thins the linseed oil and makes it easier to apply and not so sticky. Be careful with used rags, they can spontaneously combust apparently.
@@pdxbk on the plastic fenders because it makes it look new again.
Lads in work use engine oil smeared on then buffed out with a paper towel. Comes up like new
Best oil for seasoning cast iron and now I understand why. Thank you!
Thank you for spending the time to share this wisdom!
As someone who worked in Plastic Molding this video was fascinating.
Wish my college professors could have explained chemistry this simply and half as interesting.
Or any of my teachers after 6th grade really
Yeah just don’t remember half of what he was saying because he mixed up a lot xD
Chem 101 Prof almost never told me to keep my dick in a vise.
Well yeah, but I'll bet that your college professors didn't show a Carbon with five bonds either!
@@ftn5546 haha that’s true :)
wasn't expecting you to be the one providing some last minute help for my chem study
Keep these up! Love this stuff and how you explain it.
Those 5 valance carbons look a bit JFM !
Yeah ... I just mentally deleted one of the Hydrogens for each of those magic 4+ bonds; it all works from there.
@@JoeTrojan88 neat
So does physics.
@@JoeTrojan88 Nope, because it's still not an acid then. With just a -OH group it would be an alcohol. R-COOH would be an organic acid.
The classic finish for gunstocks. Makes an impervious, waterproof layer on wood, and is easily repaired when scratched. Properly applied, it creates its own grain filler too: it is wet-sanded into the wood, commonly known as 'hand rubbing'. Now go rub one out!
It's definitely good as a gun stock finish - but I find that tung oil "finishes" just a tad better, with a little less effort.
Of course, YMMV.
I still use it on knife and tool handles for raw timbers and sort of a gap-filler for the stabilised wood, usually dilute it down to about 70-30 oil-mineral spirit just so it gets a bit more penetration before it polymerises and if needed, 2-3 coats with a rub back in between. There's basically nothing else out there really made by humans that sort of comes close, it won't give you blisters, hard wearing, binds the wood fibres together, don't have to apply it very often and its got a decent working speed so you get a lot more done.
@@krissteel4074 No doubt, it's one of the best finishes/preservatives out there. Can't beat Mother Nature!
It also works great as a finish on metal objects, like iron tools. Coat them, and then throw them in the oven at 400* for an hour. It hardens right on and preserves them, while also taking on a nice colour.
OK, I'm a science geek. So that's why I like this sort of stuff. Glad there is someone out there who can explain and share their knowledge with us. Great delivery too.
I love your explanations of everything.
Please continue explaining life to me.
As a chemist, I suffered watching this.
All those pentavalent carbons, the carboxilic acid that has no carbonyl, and is in fact, an alcohol in a pentavalent carbon.
It just chooches
ficolas .....is that good or bad?
@@karuza82 its wrong.
Carbons can only have 4 bonds (or less, for carbanions and carbocations, but those are unstable/intermediates)
And a carboxilic acid, is a terminal carbon, with a double bond with the oxygen (a carbonyl) and a single bond to an OH
one thing I learned was counting to 4... Uncle bumblefuck sort of fabricobbled the extra valencies.
@@ficolas2 carbon with two bonds could be quite stable (and lethal with oxygen)
@@stanimir4197 carbon monoxide actually has three bonds
Organic acids: R-COOH
And also, fats and oils are not acids, they are esters: R-COOR
Great video. I had no idea. Brings back memories of the floor covering on my grandma’s dining room floor. Thanks!
And that stuff smells fantastic. I love it. Also makes a nice finish on rusty surfaces.
That's the kind of informative content I subscribed for.
Thanks for the lesson.
Couldn't agree more. This is the good stuff right here.
good lesson, but some of his chemistry is a bit... wrong, if i'm not mistaken. Carbon can only have 4 bonds, as it has 4 valence electrons, in the video, he's plastering more bonds on and even double bonds...
Carbon with double and 3 single bonds...that equal to 5 bonds which is impossible. You have to take off one of the hydrogen
I've wondered this for so long - thanks AvE you sorted my curiosity.
Thanks for reminding me why I love this channel.
I’d first learned about BLO as an internal preservative for tubular steel frames. Later, it’s the old trick for building bicycle wheels, used as a spoke-nipple lube that dries to a locking compound.
We used BL0 at Caterpillar to preserve the parts in storage
Super interesting. My only introduction to Lin seed oil is with gun stocks, where you apply it, and allow the polymerization to occur to protect the wood. Never really understood how it worked, or why, or that it's been used forever. Thanks
Lots of woodworkers use it for anything that's not high wear. It's cheap as dirt and easy to apply, and it looks nice.
Technically you're supposed to reapply it from time to time.
Smells good too. Dogs also love the smell of it, for some reason.
I am always amazed either by AVE’s use of his special vocabulary or vast knowledge, sit sit down and have a beer or two would be sooo much fun and extremely educational all at the same time. Thanks again for the awesome videos, please keep making them!!
Glad to hear you talking chemistry again!
Just like Canada uses a mix of Imperial and SI units, Canadian organic chemistry uses a mix of 4 and 5 valance carbons.
Gives you a lot of flexibility, but not so much predictability.
Glad someone else noticed it too
My grandpa used olive oil on his bayonet from WWI...told me to keep some on it to keep it from rusting and said to make sure it was extra virgin olive oil (though I doubt she was after Popeye got to drinking like a sailor). Thanks AvE, good info as usual!
Keep Olive on your bayonet, roger that.
that's so cool, thanks for the history and chemistry lesson man!
I aint been learned enough for this ish..... interesting none the less. Good tip for those cast arn pans.
You gotta kill two hydrogens (one on each side of the bond) every time you do a double bond like that.
Currently dealing with some polymerized hydrocarbons in my lawn mowers carburetor. Solvents to the rescue !
An Applied Chemistry lesson that was understandable and interesting.
Just the right combination of technology and magic.
Another winner Mate.
Thanks.
Love these videos, I learn so many unexpected things from you!
1:57 some minor mistake: when you have a double bond, the molecule has two less hydrogen. That's why you can hydrogenize it to make it into a single bond. Carbon usually forms 4 bonds afaik.
Please correct me if I'm the one mistaking.
No, you're correct. Carbon, under normal circumstances, forms exactly four bonds. One double bond between carbons means that those two carbons each have one fewer hydrogen. This allows the chain to twist and bend, letting it be liquid at higher temps. Pushing hydrogen into those chains straightens them out, making them solid at lower temperatures, making them easier to store and ship.
As a flax producer for many generations we'd use this stuff on just about everything. Just beware of leaving the rags around near volatile things!
That was some, uh, *interesting* chemistry you did there 🤣 Entertaining and educational as always
This is awesome. For some crazy reason, YT stopped recommending your videos to me. I don’t understand 75% of what you’re talking about since I’m a wood worker, but you’re so damn funny I don’t care. And now I’m kind of excited about the backlog of videos I get to watch. Thanks, Dude!
I’ve been using flaxseed oil to season cast iron for years, works great. Only downside is that it smells fishy and needs to be refrigerated. Thanks for the great explanation as always.
try olive oil. it has like 15% lanolin content and is food safe. should polymerize the same. mmakes a horrible gun lube lol, ask me how i know. nitrocellulose from smokeless powder causes it to polymerize quicker and gooped up my glock 40. i think its the nitrate content acting as an oxidizer or something from unburnt powder
Does it need to be refrigerated? Nobody ever told me, and it seems to do just fine in room temp.
I actually like the smell, but I prefer canola oil for seasoning my pots and pans.
Do you mean refrigerate the pan or refrigerate the bottle? Yes, the bottle of flaxseed oil needs to be refrigerated to prevent it from turning rancid (the fishy smell.) That smell is the oil turning rancid. When one of those double bonds breaks and doesn't find a neighbor to cross-link with to form a polymer, then part of the fatty acid breaks off and floats away as a free radical. That is rancidity. Refrigerating and keeping oxygen away by sealing the bottle slows down the chemistry.
If you are getting the smell on your pan then the best ways to prevent it is to make sure the oil is wiped on as thin as possible and to moderately heat the pan each time you apply fresh oil.
@@HoosierRallyMaster thanks for the reply and info. I mean the fishy smell happens when I season the pan with it. The oil is new and smells fine in the bottle. I wipe a very thin layer on the pan and heat it up to polymerize. Maybe I’m heating it to high. Got a new stargazer cast iron pan coming this week, I’ll try a thinner coat and lower temperature. 👍
@@vevenaneathna I usually use olive oil in the cast iron pan to cook with, but flaxseed oil to season with because of the higher smoke point and many have said flaxseed is best for seasoning. I’ll try seasoning with olive oil at a lower temperature and see how it goes. I appreciate the response and advice 👍
isnt carbon tetravalent? how is it connected to 5 other molecules?
That's right and it's also not even an acid group, that would be R-COOH...
Man, I've been waiting for this breakdown
Thanks! I didn't know I needed to know this, but it's some really useful information.
Thank you for correctly saying, “champing at the bit!” Proving, once again, that you are not only a gentleman, but a scholar.
Flax/linseed is actually terrible for seasoning your pans. It polymerises very well, but it creates a very flaky layer, which is prone to lifting off. It will LOOK like a damned nice pan, but it won't be as durable! Almost anyone who asks why their seasoned pans aren't staying non-stick, turn out to be using linseed oil!
so probably sunflower oil will be quite good no?
What do you use instead?
This comment would have been so much better if it included which oil to use instead?
@@idiotgo canola. Melted shortening. Any basic vegetable blend that's not corn.
Seems like peanut oil is one of the better oils for seasoning a pan?
The knowledge you have is amazing. The way you explain things is more impressive. When I tell my co worker’s about your channel, I say coach A.V.E
Mate you never cease to amaze me, your knowledge of the videos you show are awesome, I like watching your content, keep up the good work mate 🤙🏼🇦🇺
I like my double double bond animal style
My organic chem professor used to call penta valent carbons “Texas Carbons”! Love the videos!!
I always appreciate the accuracy of your content in addition to the entertainment value. You're the first in a very long time I've heard say it correctly; it is indeed "champing at the bit".
The chemistry is far from accurate
Still the only channel I give a like to before watching. Spanks for watching....
Peace n love from Cumbria UK 🇬🇧 ❤️
:) Ave, good explanation overall but you made a mess out of the number of bonds available for each carbon atom (and of the carboxyl group)... no problem, I've seen "chemists" mis-counting the number of hydrogen atoms in a formula
As a chemist I really really hope, that your explanations about mechanics are better than your chemistry. :D Otherwise, I have to relearn all from scratch. No hard feelings, just don´t show it to chikadee this way.
Man I wish I went to school. Love your vids. Been a fan for yrs!
@AvE
You unironically have the best channel on YT. Please keep making videos man, I enjoy every one.
I absolutely love linseed oil finish on my greenland style paddles for kayaking, far superior to epoxies and varnishes when it comes to how it feels and grips. Only downside is it takes forever to fully dry - which is easily solved by making two paddles:)
One for this kayak, another for the next one ?
boiled linseed oil will dry in a matter of hours, max a couple of days. non boiled will dry in eeergh.... years.
I just heat up the non-boiled oil for the 2nd and 3d (and maintenance coats) so it might lack the catalysts AvE talked about. Even after heated it stays tacky for about a week before I can start using the paddle. First coat does take much longer, but even a week is forever when the weather is just right for getting out on the water:))
Flaxseed oil is no bueno for seasoning cast iron. It looks great and was all the rage among cast iron collectors for awhile. But after awhile it flakes off. The go to oils have circled back to lard or crisco shortening (and it's stuff you cook with anyway).
I've been having good results with grape seed oil
Lard is smelly. What about beef tallow? The white blocks you can but barely smell in comparison
Hay this actually both answered a question I was asking myself and made sense... Thanks
been watchin your channel now, for about 4 years, and i'm continuously impressed by how you spur on a need for learning. the knowledge you keep up top is so thorough, so complete, it seems elusive not unlike the kind that old broad blavatsky would yammer on about. I'm 30 now, know i must've been watchin you through my mid twenties - and boy what an illuminating period that turned out to be, like someone walked in and turned the lights on , sure as hell wasn't me - anyway started as a dumbass with a film degree ended up as a different dumbass with a film degree, some experience in plumbing, a bum ankle and god knows what else. I say all this to say thanks, thanks makin me itch for more knowledge, and thanks for makin the itch feel as good as the scratch. I'm on disability now, and i'm not sure if i'll be able to go back to the thing i love, but i do know that no matter what comes - i'll approach it itchy as hell.
Javakheti Range
Thank you Google Translate
@@bloodybucket213 True story lol
Back in the 100s or so, some dude discovered plastic. He showed it to a Roman ruler. The ruler asked the guy if anyone else knew the recipes; nobody else knew.
So the ruler had him killed.
Can't have clear and transparent containers when you're the head of the family of ceramics and glass makers!
That was so cool and so informative!
Everything I ever wanted to know that I didn’t know I wanted to know 💡
Pan seasoning makes so much more sense now! From the next time I cook I know which oil I can use;)
BAAAM! you just unexpectedly solved a problem i've had! Thank you sir.
Brings me back with good old memories of Chemistry class
Love the smell of refined linseed oil. Used it when I used to paint to thin my oils.
Love it bud. Keep Chookin'
Thanks for explaining the science of why I coat my antique hand tools in Tung oil.
JFYI - Linseed oil is what is used in the Blue Angles (and probably others) airplanes to produce the smoke trails. They have a special tank with a small tube that sprays the oil directly into the exhaust stream on one of the engines.
I’ve always wanted to ask, what is your background? You have an enormous library of knowledge.
Most excellent vid Bro! I use linseed oil on guitar fretboards to close up open grain woods, and it smooths out the feel on the ole fingers. Long time subscriber, absolutely love your channel!! And yes I am one of those magical Pixies, haha!! 🧚🏻♂