has anyone prepared a ground cloth lately?i just bought a canvas and was thinking of washing it first?

Yes, wash it in hot water and dry it on high, this will shrink the canvas a bit but it takes the slack and mini spaces in the weaving

What next? did you use linseed oil or what?

If you use linseed oil, be prepared to hang it in the sunshine everyday for a long time. It takes forever to dry. At least the oil cloth I bought already oiled. It does work, however, and very well.
volatpluvia

Benny, what worked for me was 2 parts linseed oil to 1 part turpintine. You can had color pigment to it if you want. So 3 quarts worked good for a I'd say 8x8 tarp. I used pillow ticking material. It strong enough but yet light. Sew a hem along the edge. I just mixed it up in a 5 gal bucket then put my material in it, rubber gloves a must. Just keep workking it in to make sure you covered it well. Ring it out and hang it to dry in a warm ventalated place out of the sun. It will take about 2 weeks to dry. The first one I did about 5 years ago and still going strong. I did wash it first and did not use pigment. You can see it in my images under trekking ideas.

You might try the stuff used to treat Filson clothes.

use a good exterior flat house paint..latex or acrylic works great and NOBODY will be able to tell!!

quote:

Originally posted by Longliner:
You might try the stuff used to treat Filson clothes.

Yeah, I've thought of that too. Ought to be great, especially if you heat it in somehow. But it'll be expensive!

Dick

I've never priced the stuff. I guess I figured you could go buy a jar for a few bucks. Oh well on to plan C.

http://www.geocities.com/union_guard/oilcloth_and_painted_accoutermen.htm

These are civil war era recipes, but still PC, and they work great, I have used them with sucess

If you use latex house paint, water it down
about 15% to penetrate the canvas. Works good.
I painted a 16-tipi and it still sheds water and
looks good after 7-years. Tentsmiths sells
a rev war era oil cloth raincoat. It's expensive
and needs frequent restoring of waterproofing.

i bought a canvas painters drop cloth and mixed some red ocre pigment in with some thompsons water sealer and coated the canvas real good. its the right color and about the easiest way to make oilcloth.

The originals were sized before painting, so the paint did not soak into the fibers and make the oilcloth brittle. The paint also didn't soak through as much, so t took less paint and less time to dry.

Painter's cloths are sized, but washing takes that out.

A good alternative is exterior latex barn paint that has oil in it. Don't pre-wash, and don't water down in this case. 2 coats should fill all the pores. WW McCloskey Fence and Barn paint is about $10/gal.