Pilgrim Larry, I appreciate what you said and that is why I commented that I look at the price first and quality second. If I can't afford to buy it, then why bother looking at it in the first place? Now if I can find an inexspensive (notice I didn't say cheap)item and make it work for what I want with little to no added cost, hooray! Sorry to have dry-balled your muzzle loader, it was unintentional. And I may I say I like your solution. For the cost, when it does go bad, your not out a whole lot of $. Yes, I like it.

NP Kaptag. I took no offense. You do make a good point, though, that cost, value and quality are not always synonymous.

An old saying in the field I was in,
"Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick any two."

Sparks

I worked as a paint chemist for 35 years and would like to comment regarding the self-igniting of canvas soaked in linseed oil. Dried linseed oil on canvas or otherwise will not spontaneouly combust although it is definitely flammble. If it were capable of spontaneous combustion in the dried state every city in the U.S. over 70 years old would have probably burned to ground long ago because almost all the house paint of that era was based on linseed oil. Oil paintings would also be a hazard as they are done on canvas. The idea of spontaneous combustion of linseed oil comes from the fact it can give off heat in the drying process, especially if it is accelerated by driers or metal-containing pigments. Rags soaked with linseed oil/paint and then crumpled together or piled up so that they can not release the heat to the air can potentially self ignite. However, if those rags are spread out and allowed to release the heat to the air what you get are stiff rags. That is, why for safety sake, canvas, treated with linseed oil and iron oxide pigment to make oil cloth, should be well spread out and allowed to thoroghly dry in the open air before being folded up. Of course the canvas is flammable, treated or otherwise. I would guess that waxed canvas would be just as flammable. I hope that this helps some.

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Regarding canvas: I have had good results with canvas painter's drop cloths purchased at the local hardware stores. DAP makes a waterproofing compound that, while not PC, works quite well and makes a dandy fly or diamond. Mine hasn't leaked yet, after eight years of use in the Pacific NW.

Pilgrim Larry, I was over at WM yesterday and came across some painter's drop cloths...couldn't resist the temptation...took them home and washed them up, weave really tightened up. Now I'm ready for the waterproofing, does the DAP waterproofing compound make the canvas so stiff that it's bulky and hard to fold, or is it still quite flexible. This is my third lean-to, with the others I've used a mixture of linseed oil, turpentine, and iron oxide and they all work and well and look great, but I'm looking for light weight. The drop cloths are only 7oz which is great and are quite sturdy. I'm thinking of either mixing iron oxide or Spanish Brown latex paint in with the DAP, any chemist or experiences around the fire that might have a say on that part?