Did not cut the oil with turp. Did not apply it hot. Have however dipped my bee hive boxes in boiling paraffin (sounds almost like french fries when they go in)... the hives are still in good shape 4 years later.
Good point about oily rags. I hung around our house site late one evening just relaxing and witnessed a smoking linseed oil rag. It might have gone into flames had I not been there to carry it outside - it was black inside and hot enough to burn my hand. Rag fires are for real. Now we take every rag outside and lay it out flat on the dirt or a rock. When I was a kid I watched my neighbor's house burn - oily rag was thrown in the trash can. Recently, a local newly built log cabin caught on fire... they were in the "finishing stages." Hmmm, I suspect oily rags there as well. We take oily rags very seriously.
question still stands... anyone living in a house with raw or oiled timbers? what happens when you touch them with a greasy hand? can the timbers be cleaned? (mine could not, short of sanding)
-Thomas
