In its original recipe from 1779, brush oil is known as ‘painter’s varnish’. It is traditionally heated in open vats at high temperatures, but contains no drying agents. This product differs from our other traditionally boiled linseed oils in that it dries more slowly, and in particular the drying process in the surface layer is slow.

In the 18th century, the product was used to grate the color pastes. They could then be stored for a longer time without drying out. We call it brush oil, because it’s great for storing brushes during painting projects. Brush oil keeps brushes soft without the drawbacks of raw linseed oil, which can cause matting, blistering and running. At the end of the day, wipe the paint off the brush with a cloth and place it in the brush oil. The next day, or even after three months, the brush will be just as soft, no skin will have formed on the oil and you can simply wipe the oil off with a cloth and continue painting.

Brush oil can also be used as an additive to paint for decorative painting to increase the open time of the paint, or as an anti-shine agent. A thin layer is dripped over finished paints or color pastes to make them last longer.

Cold-pressed linseed oil is extracted from linseed by pressing when the linseed is cold. This ancient method produces the highest and purest quality of linseed oil.

Boiled and mixed with pigments, cold-pressed linseed oil is the best linseed oil paint. Boiling frees the linseed oil from contaminants that would otherwise cause the paint to be attacked by fungi and algae outdoors. The simplest commercial linseed oil is pressed at high temperature or extracted using chemicals. In this way, the seed produces larger quantities of linseed oil, but of lower quality. Such linseed oil became common from the 1950s, when industry took over the paint production that painters used to do on site.

Our linseed oil is of the best quality, produced in unbroken tradition in the same factory since 1839!