paste wax, and resins, such as dammar, copal, and shellac, consist of long, spaghetti-like strands of hydrocarbon molecules, which interlace and compact but do not form covalent bonds in the manner of drying oils. Thus, waxes and resins are re-dissoluble whereas a cured oil varnish or paint is not. Safety Rags, cloth, and paper saturated with drying oils may combust spontaneously (ignite) due to heat released during the curing process. This hazard is greater when oil-soaked materials are folded, bunched, or piled together, which allows heat to accumulate and accelerate the reaction. Precautions include: wetting rags with water and spreading them away from direct sunlight; closing them off completely in water inside air-tight metal containers designed for such applications; or storing them immersed in solvents in suitable closed containers. Linseed oil-soaked rags were the cause of the large fire in the One Meridian Plaza 38-story office building resulting in severe structural damage, after which a decision was made to demolish the building. Although spontaneous combustion has been said to occur with rags soaked in paint thinners, this is not true unless a drying oil is used as a thinner. However, classical paint thinners do not include drying oils. The danger is due to rags soaked in oil-based paints, as it is due to the drying oils in the paints (or varnishes), not thinners per se unless they have been mixed with drying oils such as linseed. See also Blown oil Danish oil Fat over lean Linoleum Wood finishing Varnish Non-drying oil References Further reading "Autoxidation". McGraw Hill Encyclopedia. 8th ed. 1997. Friedman, Ann, et al. "Painting". www.worldbookonline.com. 2006. 46 Stetson St. #5 Brookline, MA. 10 May 2006 "History of Oil Paint". www.cyberlipid.org. 5 May 2006 (archived 16 September 2009). van den Berg, Jorit D.J. "Mobile and Stationary Phases in Traditional Aged Oil Paint". www.amolf.nl 2002. MOLART. 8 May 2006 Andés, Louis Edgar, Drying oils, boiled oil, and solid and liquid driers. London: Scott, Greenwood & Co., 1901. External links Tung and Linseed Oils by Steven D. Russel Visual arts materials Painting materials Wood finishing materials Oils