You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments
369 points

Farmers originally used to seal their barns with a combination of linseed oil (red-ish) and iron oxide (rust, red). Then when paint came around, apparently red paint was the cheapest. https://www.bobvila.com/articles/solved-why-are-barns-painted-red/

permalink
report
reply
92 points

Basically also why Swedish barns are red. I presume those two stories and red barn origins are related.

permalink
report
parent
reply
94 points

Not just barns, the stereotypical swedish red houses with white detailing exist pretty much because of a single copper mine in the town Falun, where they got so much leftover product to turn into paint that it basically supplied the entire country even to this day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falu_red

That town also spawned the equally stereotypical (though less internationally known) Falu sausage, which is probably one of the most popular meat products here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falukorv

And lastly to hammer home how insanely important this mine has been: It has been continously mined from like year 800 up until the 90’s, has been the source of a lot of improvements to global mining technology, and as of 2001 it is a UNESCO world heritage site.
It’s honestly kind of weird it’s not more well known, and i HIGHLY recommend visiting the museum and going on a tour through the actual mine itself.

You can get there by train comfortably by taking the Snälltåget night train from hamburg (or even berlin) to stockholm and then the SJ intercity to Falun.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

That’s really interesting, I’ll have to try to remember this if I ever find myself in Sweden again.

permalink
report
parent
reply
15 points

sure, lots and lots of Swedes came to the States in the 19th Century… they tended to settle the Northern States and build farms, like everyone else was doing…

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

More than just Swedish barns. Red houses with white corners are a key part of a Swedish countryside

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

And norwegian fishing huts

permalink
report
parent
reply
20 points

The source for that, the 1922 Sears Roebuck catalog, has all the colors at the same price.

permalink
report
parent
reply
18 points

Yeah red dye goes a long way and is easy to make

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Except car pigments? I hear that they are the most expensive.

permalink
report
parent
reply
42 points

That’s because da red wunz go fasta. Requires extra points to buy, more spensive.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

House paint can use slag from mines, making it a rest product and thus very cheap.

Cars use much fancier stuff.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

I find that a bit hard to believe, seeing as the paint of a car affects mpg through air resistance, luxury cars often add in glitter, and all of it has to be applied through air brushing

Maybe at one point, but I’d be beyond shocked if red was meaningfully more expensive. There are also the myths that red cars cost more to insure and get pulled over more, like with those myths there might be a tiny kernel of truth, but the statements probably aren’t true outside very specific historical conditions

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

That’s because of our evolutionary desire to look for ripe fruit. So, we want red thing.

Source: idk, heard it sopmewhere

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

Cool! I suspected there had to be a practical reason. Thanks for sharing the link!

permalink
report
parent
reply

Asklemmy

!asklemmy@lemmy.ml

Create post

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it’s welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Icon by @Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de

Community stats

  • 11K

    Monthly active users

  • 5.7K

    Posts

  • 312K

    Comments