Oil Cloth Color

[Uncle Pig]

I have been looking at civilian oil cloth that may have been used by the military and can not determine what color would be appropriate. The army used black but civilians used tarps of all different colors. Does anyone know what color would be appropriate for a civilian oil cloth tarp used out of doors?

[Capt51stALA]

Re: Oil Cloth Color

I made one a while back and I just left its natural white. (turned yellowish after the linseed oil).

Michael Mumaugh
51st Alabama Inf.
Independent Rifles

[Uncle Pig]

Re: Oil Cloth Color

As best as i can tell they added color like lampblack to them. We find it easy to just treat the cloth but the question I have is what was common for civilian use that troops may have gotten their hands on?

[ScottCross]

Re: Oil Cloth Color

Until about 20 or 30 years ago, you could still get oil cloth for household purposes. It was frequently used under dining room tables to protect expensive rugs and carpets from food stains. My grandmother used it for tablecloths. I recall seeing dark green and red especially.

This name of floor cloth is applied to a manufacture of cloth painted over with oil colours, so as to be impenetrable to wet. . . . There is a great variety of styles in the patterns of oil cloth. Some are made to imitate marble casements; some wainscot boards, and some carpets of various kinds. Those are best which have several colours, and the pattern rather small. When the pattern is large, defects are sooner perceived; but again, in those which have a large pattern to imitate marble, defects may be repaired by a house painter. . . . Floor cloth is better for being kept for some considerable time before it is used, the paint getting harder, and it, therefore, is charged for partly according to its age; new floor cloth being cheaper than that which has been kept a year or two. . . Floor cloth is very useful in some apartments, on account of its impenetrability to water, and its drying so soon after being wetted; but water should be sparingly used in cleaning it, and still more should soap, for this latter will cause the paint to come off by dissolving the oil with which it was made. If not too much dirtied, floor cloth may be kept clean by wiping it with a damp cloth, and afterward rubbing it well with a dry cloth, and then with a brush until it shines.

From, Thomas Webster, An Encyclopaedia Of Domestic Economy (New York, 1845), pp. 257-258


Here's an original article from 1872:

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZgMoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA587&lpg=PA587&dq=historic+%22oil+cloth%22&source=bl&ots=gBChHgzevQ&sig=Yqz8dgu2LqvpcwDeJyptjGVj_g4&hl=en&ei=m4PLSs6sAYnOM-aZtL4D&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=&f=false

[lukegilly13]

Re: Oil Cloth Color

I was recently in a period home in kentucky that still had the original oil cloth under the table. It had a dark green and white checkerboard pattern.

It's been awhile since I have been, but isn't there a floor cloth on the floor when you enter the Confederate Whitehouse?

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Oil Cloth Color

Oil cloths were very common in households in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were most heavily used in entrance halls/lobbies or in the dining room over the carpet and under the dining table and were sometimes in kitchens. Period books speak on the subject of designs:

An Encyclopaedia of Domestic Economy: http://tinyurl.com/yaymfs3

Chamber's Journal: http://tinyurl.com/ycoxzz7


Original and reproduction oil cloths:

The Wadsworth-Longfellow House: http://www.hwlongfellow.org/house_hall.shtml

White House of the Confederacy: http://www.moc.org

Melrose: http://tinyurl.com/ya6cvz2 and http://tinyurl.com/ydb236c

Additional reading: Search on Google Books in the time frame.

For Historic Buildings, Floor Coverings (Historic Interiors Series) by Helene Von Rosenstiel and Gail Caskey Winkler

At Home: The American Family 1750-1870 by Elisabeth Donaghy Garrett (out of print but can be gotten through online searching of half.com, Amazon.com, etc. EXCELLENT BOOK!!!)

[gschult3]

Re: Oil Cloth Color

Mark – The paint recipe below is post-CW though of the Victorian era. It is intended to be used on heavy fabric though doesn’t state exactly what type. Not too helpful regarding your question on oil cloth colors in general but perhaps still can be of use. This paint can go on material of any color though would make white material amber.

If you decide to try this recipe use powdered rosin available from sporting goods stores, check the bowling section. Also, I've only made this paint using boiled linseed oil and mixing it over low heat is the only way I can get it to work (be careful due to the flammability of the ingredients, i.e. might consider making outside on a BBQ grill, etc). A little turpentine assists in dissolving the ingredients as well. This paint takes a long time to dry after applied.

For what it’s worth I add carbon powder (lamp black) to the recipe below to make excellent, durable, shiny black paint when it is applied to tightly loomed canvas. Is excellent for ground cloths and if done right looks almost like shiny black plastic – the secret for the high gloss is in the rosin.

"Water Proof Solution, or Paint, for Awnings, etc - Put 1 oz. each of rosin and beeswax, to each pint of linseed oil needed. Apply one to three coats as you desire." (page 576 Dr. Chase’s Receipt Book, 3rd edition - F.B. Dickerson & Co, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1st ed 1866, 2nd ed 1873, 3rd ed 1888).