Towards the end of the 1980s, linseed oil paint was all but gone from the market. At this time, an escalating number of reports came in about fairly new façades rotting away within a few years, forcing the house owners to replace the entire paneling of their houses. That would never happen if they had used linseed oil paint, which is why people started questioning the use of modern plastic paints. There was an increase in demand for linseed oil paints again.
Up until the 1950s, linseed oil paint was the dominating type of paint in major parts of Europe. Linseed oil paint was often confused with regular oil paint and when we started producing linseed oil paint, many trade organizations accused us of making health hazardous products containing solvents. Oil paint had become the common term for alkyd oil paints containing large amounts of solvents, as opposed to traditional linseed oil paint based on natural oil without solvents or very low amounts thereof. Very few people had knowledge of linseed oil paint at this time. Alkyd binding agents are generally so thick and viscous that large amounts of solvents are needed in order to make them applicable. Boiled linseed oil has high fluidity and penetrates the substrate much more efficiently than other binders. Linseed oil has lower surface tension than water.
The past 20 years have been characterized by concerns for the environment. This has been to our advantage in many ways as linseed oil meets many of the criteria demanded of an environmentally friendly product. Flax can be grown and does not deplete our resources. Linseed oil is bio-degradable without any harmful waste. Linseed oil paint can almost always be applied without the addition of solvents. It is said that if the paint is water-soluble, it is harmless. The term water-soluble is misleading as the paint is not based on water; it is just soluble in water. The water-soluble paint is based on entirely different chemical substances and what needs to be assessed is the affect these substances have on people and the environment.
We believe that the pure linseed oil paint has very good prospects of competing with other types of paint in the future. Many people value the paint’s qualities, scent and ability to age gracefully. The paint is comprehensive, logical and reveals flaws in the substrate in ways that contributes to future preservation.
