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Oil Clothes
Before the days of sewing machines, the fisherman’s clothes were made by outfitters. They bought the cloth, cut the pants, the jacket and the barvel (which was a large apron), and laid them out for the women to sew.
When the clothes were sewed, they were covered with two or three coats of linseed oil laid on with a paint brush. Rows of these stiff figures hung singly with the arms extended from fear of combustion in many a dim store loft.
It is known that linseed oil can combust or cause a fire if it is not left to “air out”. Many a new home has been burned down from linseed oil soaked rags that were crumpled up and tossed into a waste basket by some carpenter after treating a wood piece with it.
Of course nowadays a fisherman’s “oil gear” or “oil skins” are made from rubber or vinyl which is highly unlikely to combust.
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