Things You'll Need:
- Two or three pieces of dry cotton rag, one foot squares
- Bottle of linseed oil
- Small metal can (an empty small coffee can)
- Bathtub, large sink, or any place void of flammable materials with easy access to water
- Rubber gloves
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Step 1
Soak the rags. Make sure when you start with your rags, they are not damp at all. Wearing rubber gloves, douse the rags thoroughly with the linseed oil until they are dripping.
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Step 2
Place the rags in the can. Make sure to stuff the rags into the can so there is as little room as possible. The more crowded the rags are, the quicker the fire will start.
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Step 3
Wait for the rags to heat up and combust. Place your can of oil soaked rags in a safe place, like a tub or large sink with no flammable items nearby. Make sure water is readily available. Linseed oil evaporates very, very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that the linseed oil's act of evaporation heats up whatever material it is evaporating from, like a cotton rag. If there isn't enough air around the rag to enable it to cool itself while the linseed oil evaporates, the heat from the evaporation will rise to the point of combustion. Give your can of linseed rags a good forty-five minutes to two hours. After this time, the rags will probably at least have started smoking, if not burning outright.
