Why should a professional painter choose linseed oil paint?
1. Ottosson linseed oil paint is solvent-free
Water-soluble plastic and alkyd oil paints are largely by-products from the petrochemical industry. Numerous processes produce oil to dissolve with water. The fact that a paint is soluble in water is not the same as being environmentally friendly and harmless. Truth be told, it is usually the opposite. To make paint water-soluble, it sometimes contains substances that can cause allergies and eczema, among other things. In other words, water-soluble plastic paints are often a work environment problem for professional painters.
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Ottosson linseed oil paint is a pure, natural product. It contains no artificial substances, just pigments and linseed oil. You can dilute our paint yourself with linseed oil or a little balsamic turpentine, which is made from plants rich in terpenes (turpentine), such as conifers and citrus peels. The oil we use in our paints is pressed from flax seeds that are grown in Sweden. To be sure that it is of the highest quality, we produce the oil under our own controls. In addition, our linseed oil paints contain the health-friendly pigment zinc oxide, which counteracts fungus and mold.
2. Linseed oil paint builds up and strengthens
It contains no artificial substances, just pigments and linseed oil. You can dilute our paint yourself with linseed oil or a little balsamic turpentine, which is made from pine resin. In addition to the environmental and work environment aspects, linseed oil paint has another unique positive property. It builds up and nurtures the underlying material. Linseed oil paint, which has a lower surface tension than water, penetrates most materials and combines with them. Linseed oil paint breathes and is moisture-permeable, but at the same time it is waterproof, just like a kind of Gore-Tex.
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Water-soluble acrylic paints do not penetrate; they form a dense film, a kind of plastic film, on top of the material.
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When it comes to wood, the membrane traps moisture, which creates conditions for rot and problems with flaking. On plaster, the moisture causes the material to weather. Moisture migrates and expands. If the moisture is trapped, it breaks down the weakest material: the paint layer or plaster.
3. Our linseed oil paint should not be confused with “oil paint”
What is generally referred to as oil paint usually consists of a modified oil. Sometimes these products have misleading sales names, marked with linseed oil, but contain only a very small amount of linseed oil. The color of such paint is often set with the help of a dye – a concentrate.
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We use natural color pigments. Each pigment has unique properties, and we can take advantage of this characteristic. It is the pigments that determine the properties of the paint and its most suitable applications. Pigments are very important components in our paint.
4. With our linseed oil paint, painters can achieve a higher gross margin.
Let’s be honest: is linseed oil paint more expensive than plastic paint? On a per-litre basis, Ottosson linseed oil paint costs more than water-soluble paint from one of the leading paint manufacturers. However, in most cases, the cost per square metre of coverage is much lower with linseed oil paint than when painting with acrylic paint.
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Here is an example. It takes 2.5 litres of acrylic paint to apply three coats on 10 window frames. Applying three coats on the same 10 window frames requires only 1 litre of linseed oil paint.
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But the biggest advantage is probably the easy maintenance of a linseed oil-painted surface. The maintenance cost is half the price of that for plastic paint. We know that it will make your customers happy and they will certainly hire you again.
5. Do not hesitate. Most things stay the same.
Much is new but most things are still the same when it comes to linseed oil paint. It all comes down to what you’re used to. The total time it takes from start to finish is basically the same. When it comes to the actual painting work, however, there are some crucial differences. When painting untreated wood, you do not need to treat the wood first with “various special products” such as primer oil and other primers.
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You need only one product: our linseed oil paint. Be stingy when applying the paint, and brush the paint thinly and evenly onto the surface. It’s normal to apply a total of three coats with our linseed oil paint. The biggest return on your investment is having a satisfied customer who contacts you again for repainting or new projects.
Both indoors and outdoors, the preparatory work on surfaces previously painted with linseed oil is minimal. The paint layers are thin and usually do not need to be scraped or burned off. Our linseed oil paint emits no carcinogenic vapors when heated or exposed to flame. Linseed oil paint on facades is “self-cleaning” and needs only a light scraping before repainting.
6. Linseed oil paint is a joy to work with!
Using linseed oil paint is a joy, there are no nasty paint fumes just the nice smell of linseed oil. This linseed oil allows the paint to flow far better than water-based acrylic paints and as it does dry as quickly you can work the paint to get it look exactly as you want, so the finish is far better.
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When painting with water-based acrylic paints in hot weather the paint dries on the brush and this rapid drying action can cause the paint to be streaky, this doesn't happen with linseed oil paint.
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If you pause from your painting you only need to put your brushes in linseed oil where there's no chance of the paint brush going hard. When you have finished painting you can wash away the linseed oil paint from your brushes and your hands with linseed oil soap, there's no plastic residue.
7. There's no waste with linseed oil paint.
As linseed oil paint does not contain any solvents, there is no evaporation of our paint. And because there is not plastic polymers in linseed oil paint (acrylic paint contains around 30% plastic polymers), a plastic film will never form on the surface of the paint after the paint can has been opened.