Spontaneous Combustion - A must see video

[Lee Schierer]

So even though some things could have been done more safely, my take away from the video is statistically there is a 1 in six chance of combustion with improperly disposed rags soaked with linseed oil. Obviously handling the rags properly would be the safest approach for disposing of them.

[eugene thomas]

burn barrels sure work good for rags.

[Jim Becker]

So even though some things could have been done more safely, my take away from the video is statistically there is a 1 in six chance of combustion with improperly disposed rags soaked with linseed oil. Obviously handling the rags properly would be the safest approach for disposing of them.

I suspect it has the potential to be higher since the experiment was shut down after x hours rather than letting it continue all night.

[Doug Garson]

burn barrels sure work good for rags.

Depends a lot on where you live, no room for a burn barrel for most of us in the city. Some country locations in high fire risk areas it would be a no no also.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I understand the importance of avoiding spontaneous combustion, though I didn't watch the video. I'm a little puzzled by the whole concept of finishing that people seem to assume. Even when I had a whole staircase to finish I only used about 1/4 of the end of a retired sock to apply the oil, and then hung it on a rock in the yard. The next day when it was time for the second coat I used about another 1/4 of the sock starting from the other end. It seems odd to me that people (outside of a factory type situation) would have multiple rags soaked in oil at any given time. It seems like a waste of oil, which is not cheap anymore if it ever was. Mostly I do my finishing with about a 2-3" square of Scott Shop Towel, for reasonably sized things.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Awesome thanks. What is oil floating in water called?

In the average food production facility, the lab techies would probably call it a 'heterogeneous mixture'.
The folks on the plant floor would just use 'mixture' (or "clean up on aisle 3"?). Take your pick.

... still found myself surprised things went they way they did.

I suspect everyone, including Mr. B.Moth, would be much less surprised if he had embedded a thermocouple in each test rig at the approximate center of the oily rags. I'll forgive a woodworker - even on 'Tube - for not having 18 T/Cs, a multi-channel monitor, and of course a chart recorder on each channel. However, the test as run perfectly illustrates the thermodynamics involved: the outer layers of material stayed (relatively) cool to the non-contact sensor he used, while the insulated interior, where he couldn't measure, reached combustion temp. There was very limited heat transfer 'out' of the oily rag.

Polymerization is an exothermic reaction; BTUs are generated no matter how you dispose of them (even in a burn barrel); where do those BTUs go and how fast can they get there? If you keep them all in one place for too long, you might get the ?

[Edward Weber]

I understand the importance of avoiding spontaneous combustion, though I didn't watch the video. I'm a little puzzled by the whole concept of finishing that people seem to assume. Even when I had a whole staircase to finish I only used about 1/4 of the end of a retired sock to apply the oil, and then hung it on a rock in the yard. The next day when it was time for the second coat I used about another 1/4 of the sock starting from the other end. It seems odd to me that people (outside of a factory type situation) would have multiple rags soaked in oil at any given time. It seems like a waste of oil, which is not cheap anymore if it ever was. Mostly I do my finishing with about a 2-3" square of Scott Shop Towel, for reasonably sized things.

+1
The only time I have an entire shop rag, un-cut, is when finishing outside timbers and wood for landscaping. In which case I usually just leave the rag in the can of finish to use on the next project.
Small pieces are all that's required most of the time

A lot of these folks act like they're hanging the wash out on the line with the amount of rags used.

[Frank Pratt]

When I was a kid on the farm we had a manure pile that self combusted and nearly took out the barn. Pretty scary.

[Warren Lake]

asked two fireman friends, one said they were taught that Linseed oil was the worst.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Awesome thanks. What is oil floating in water called?

I've only ever hear it called a slick - an oil slick, but, I've only really hear it called that with regards to oil floating on an expanse or body of water, not oil in a pail.

[Bryan Hall]

An interesting video and I think the message is worthy. When reading through the comments though (on youtube), and chasing the rabbit hole to the AvE youtube channel, there are some counterpoints that are definitely on the attack against this test. Some of it is a bit silly, but some of it is thought provoking.

[brent stanley]

An interesting video and I think the message is worthy. When reading through the comments though (on youtube), and chasing the rabbit hole to the AvE youtube channel, there are some counterpoints that are definitely on the attack against this test. Some of it is a bit silly, but some of it is thought provoking.

In context though, AvE did a video a while ago where he suggested the oily rag thing was just an insurance scam because his lame test didn't burst into flames. This means he HAS TO crap on any video that shows something to the contrary, for the sake of his brand.

[Bryan Hall]

In context though, AvE did a video a while ago where he suggested the oily rag thing was just an insurance scam because his lame test didn't burst into flames. This means he HAS TO crap on any video that shows something to the contrary, for the sake of his brand.

Which is a fair point too. The war of youtube vids is a whole other thing to consider. The thing that did stand out to me though was the lack of smoke. Every other video of oily rag fires I've come across did, in fact, have a lot of smoke. Regardless, I think teaching the safety aspect of it is important and it may well have inspired me to run a few tests myself!

[brent stanley]

Which is a fair point too. The war of youtube vids is a whole other thing to consider. The thing that did stand out to me though was the lack of smoke. Every other video of oily rag fires I've come across did, in fact, have a lot of smoke. Regardless, I think teaching the safety aspect of it is important and it may well have inspired me to run a few tests myself!

Yes, there are undoubtedly many competing things going on that we can't know for sure and BMs decision to mostly stay out of the fray can be seen as a mature decision to mainly (not entirely) stay out of the SM warzone or because he has no reply....we will never know. One thing BM did say is he turned the heat exchanger on and perhaps has a fresh air supply to the shop that dealt with the smell/smoke...we will never know. AvE did seem to be trying too hard though....that lousy security cam footage of his buddy's fire apparently not showing smoke? I don't think you could claim much definitive from that footage....the flames massively overexposing that portion of the frame left everything else pretty invisible. My own experiment with this got the rags hot as heck with no smell to speak of and no smoke, but I had to abort my experiment before ignition. So I dunno ...

[Jim Becker]

There are a number of YouTube channels that literally thrive (including financially) on going after successful content creators. I have not watched the AvE video and frankly, do not intend to, so I don't know if anything is real or just attention seeking (or some combination of the two), but I have never gotten the impression that Jason was anything other than a real guy who is both entertaining and skilled. He's a good family man, too. Who knows. The bottom line really is, however, that spontaneous combustion is a real risk for anyone using oil based finishes and if his video wakes up even one person and that keeps a disaster from happening, it will be a very happy thing.