To Make Drying Oil

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!


On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.


Take any quantity of linseed oil and put it in a clean iron pot, and hang it over a slow fire, and when it attains to a good heat add litharge and white vitriol (sulphate of zinc) in very small quantities, until the whole is added, when it should be boiled slowly for two or three hours. Twelve parts of litharge to three of the sulphate of zinc, are employed, and two ounces of this mixture to one pint of oil, does very well. If these drying materials were added hastily to the oil, it would fume over on the fire. Care must be exercised to prevent such an accident. After the mixture is boiled for two or three hours, the oil is taken off, and suffered to cool, when a sediment falls to the bottom, and the clear is poured off as drying oil. The sediment when mixed with whiting or ground chalk, and dry sand, makes capital cement for in seams in the roofs of buildings, or any crack to render the same impervious to water. It becomes as hard as stone in the course of a tew weeks, and is especially adapted for the joints of stones in exposed situations. We have been enquired of by three or four correspondents lately fespecting the above drying oil ; we have only to add that if an ounce ot resin be added to every pint of oil when boiling, it will improve the quality of the oil in no small degree.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 8 Issue 27This article was published with the title “To Make Drying Oil” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 8 No. 27 (), p. 209
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican03191853-209

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American

Subscribe