The Thailand expat forum for Travel, Lifestyle and Fun.

Dan

Has anyone seen either linseed oil or tung oil for sale in Thailand? None of the hardware shops I've been to have even heard of it and although I've found some dealers in Bangkok, their minimum order is 1 ton and there doesn't seem to be anything between that and minute bottles of linseed oil in art supply shops.

Thetyim

I would like some myself but have never seen it for sale in LOS

Rural Surin

What about HomePro? They might sell it in the minimum quanities that you're looking for. Instead of the usual suspects, one might ask around wood construction circles, as they might know where it can be found....lumber yards? I believe these finishing oils are not used that much here but still there is a market for such things. If you are aquainted and friendly with wood construction folks or woodwrights, it would be beneficial to inquire through them.

__________________
WESTERN CIVILISATION....???

daveboy

Tung Oil Tree (µé¹¹éÓÁѹµØ§)
This might help

Dan

Cheers for that. Sadly, their minimum order is a little high for me.

Thanks also for the other suggestions.

I've been looking at teak oil, which may or may not have tung or linseed oil in it, depending on who makes it. All the information I've been able to find seems to indicate that the teak oils made/available in Thailand are pretty much anything but drying oils (assorted pesticides, fungicides, drying agents and christ knows what else).

Happyman

I used to get linseed oil in Taiwan ( for mixing with Goat feed to condition their coats nice and shiny for showing)in 1 litre cans from the local coffin maker !!
He used it to "french polish" and lacquer(sp) up-market posh coffins !!

May be worth a try !

Happyman

^
Not my goats but my G/F's grandmother had a few dozen !!
Had to keep in with them as the old dear used to feed us after a pissup on the farm
Mind you I used to pay for the pissup as well !

daveboy

What are you going to do with it dan ?

Dan

I'm going to have a go at making an earth floor. You use drying oils to seal the soil. An alternative, if I can't get hold of a good drying oil, is ox blood, which is probably a lot easier to get, but information on what how to use it to seal the floor is a lot more scarce.

globin

Seems like a waste of a good oil. Use bitumen, it is available in bags mixed with small stone for a (dirt) floor (or road). Tung oil is more appropriately used for finishing and preserving a wood floor.

Happyman

ox blood smells nasty as it dries!

The old Rawlplug factory ( when they made them out of fibre and dried Ox(cow) blood near Edgware in North London) could be smelt for miles around and had to close down because of it !

Marmite the Dog

Have you tried a cricket bat shop?

lob

not sure what teak oil is made from, if its raw linseed you need to boil it to make it dry. as you said you want to seal a earth floor,(beggers belief) you could try shallack, now the thai use the word shallack for varnish, not the same thing. why not skim the floor with concrete and seal that.

Iwok

Wow, another Dan in Khorat working on earth building. What a surprise! Would you happen to be Big Dan? I have also got info on sealing earth with linseed oil (also with a mix of linseed and beeswax) but can't find any for the life of me as I don't know what it's called in Thai. I have a suspicion it's found diluted in what's called "nam mun son", usually called "turpentine" by Thais, though. Did you ever find what you were looking for? Would love to hear about the results of your building!

Smithson

I don't think Dan is in Khorat, it's just what his avatar shows.

In the end I think he was able to get the linseed oil from an art supplies. I'm interested in Tung oil, apparently it's great for treating timber and is quite expensive in other countries. It would be good to find a supplier in Thailand.

Have you got anywhere with your earth building? I'm looking for info for an earth floor.

Dan

No, not in Khorat. There's an art supplies shop in Chiang Mai which sells linseed oil (which, unimaginatively, is nam man linseed in Thai, not nam man son, which is just turps). I've actually just finished laying the last layer of earth for my floor so I'm waiting for it to dry off before I seal it. Should be a couple of weeks for it and the inevitable repairs to the cracks to dry.

These are some sites that I had bookmarked under earthen floors. They may be useful or they may be rubbish (I tend to go through phases of randomly bookmarking anything which I think might be useful some time in the future. Hope no porn's sneaked in there.)

Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups
Earthen Floor article
Feet on the Ground: Earthen Floors
http://www.housealive.org/newsletter...en-floors.html
How To Pour A Rammed Earth Floor/Adobe Floor
Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups
Making an EARTHEN FLOOR- Joshua Alden/Fergus Reilly
Yahoo! Groups
Tamped Earth Floors
The art of natural building: design ... - Google Books
Straw Bale & Natural Building Workshops
WebLife: Cob Builders Handbook: Cob floor surface
Natural Building 101: How To Make an Earthen or Adobe Floor : Green Building Elements

Iwok

Word on some Thai sites is that linseed and tung oils don't do that wel in Thailand's soupy humidity and can go moldy. Not sure about over mud so will have to check, but people are saying wood doesn't do too well.

Still looking for the linseed oil for experiments but have had 3 other methods suggested for sealing mud-brick:
1. paraffin wax 1:4 vegetable oil, then painted on hot

2. latex / white glue mixed in with the normal earth 'paint' solution (which is about 1 part tapioca flour to 12 parts water, boiled, then mixed in any ratios with sand and coloured clay) -> sorry, no idea ho much glue to add, but will experiment this week

3. raw latex (straight from the tree) with ammonium chloride (to keep from clumping) mixed with water to thin and sand for texture and coverage


Yer friends at PunPun in Chiang Mai are the leaders in mud building in Thailand

punpunthiland.org

And this is a great resource in the USA
naturalbuildingnetwork.org

(sorry, links aren't live)

I have heard a few bad stories about earthen floors here in Thailand as there is so much moisture in the rainy season that seepage is a major issue. If you use a good solid vapour barrier I would think it's doable, though, or even poured adobe over a concrete base.

Might experiment with floors and foundations later, but for now still working with concrete.

Smithson

I'd be interested to hear more about this, was interested in using the stuff to seal timber.

blackgang

Why would anyone need a special bat for crickets, a broom works great for me, or if you are quick enough you can stomp on em.

Dan

My floor's drying fine, though obviously the air is pretty humid at the moment so it's taking time. I also put it on about 4 inches of gravel so it's not wicking up any moisture from underneath. Once it's dry, I'll see how the linseed oil works out but there have been no problems with moisture so far.