What kind of oil do you use for your blades?
 

Hello all,

I just thought I would toss this out for interest:

What kind of oil/ rust preventative do you use to preserve your blades?

Here are the few different things I've heard of others using....

Clove Oil

Camellia oil

Ballistol

CRC 556

INOX

Tuf Cloth


Feel free to add any thoughts on pros and cons of any...

Thanks,

Nathaniel

human fat from my head-hunting victims... :D
I am absolutely no-doubt-about-it serious :rolleyes:
I use camelia oil, it's really easy to use, and not expensive.

Human fat! I love it. Cannot beat it. I rub my favourite Oceanic clubs across my bald head. Am I sick?

WD40

That's mainly for water displacement .
WD = water displacement 40 = formula # 40, or fortieth try before they got it right . ;) :D

It is made from modified fish oil .
Do you apply it frequently ?

As long as you "rub" and don't "club" , you should not become sick ;) :D

This weekend I saw someone rub his NOSE across an brass shield and than start to polish it for the warm glow. So you are not alone. :rolleyes:

In the past I have used sewing machine oil, as it has hardly any smell and i easily spread over the surface.
Nowadays I use oil that they sell in bicycle shops to oil your bike and it does pretty much the same, except it smells like oil. :shrug:

On keris blades that are stored I often apply some acid free vaseline, as oil tends to evaporate, causing you to find a rusty keris blade afte a year or so.

Absolutely. Well I tend to use a cheaper mineral oil equivilent from the 'pound shop'.
Clean them good then rub them hard with an aerosol penetrating oil.

It works really good, protects metal from rust and corrosion.

When a blade is clean, I normally use solid car wax.

Oils
 

I use WD wonderful for swords, knives and the Harley.
I also use baby oil with good results for the swords too.

Oiling is something that needs to be done often here in QLD as there is a high humidity level and that is bad news when items are left in scabbrds for a long time.

Frequency is another point of discussion that doesn't come up often, what would be considered the right time between oilings relevant to where you live and how you store your collections?

Gav

Scary.......I think from now on I first smell at a piece before buying, who knows with what bodypart they rubbed it...:D

I use ballistol, but it has a typical smell (which I find not disturbing btw).

I use CLP "Collectors". It is thicker and has more rust inhibitors than regular CLP. It is made for long term storage use of collector firearms, but works well on my blades as well. Regular CLP, or any other lube for that matter, will run out or dry out within 2 months...CLP Collectors stays put well beyond 3 months.

I know WD40 is popular, but that stuff is just to stinky for me and attracts way to much dust for my liking.

Renaissance Wax

And, BTW, I just read on the Internet that a gang was arrested in Peru: they killed people to render human fat and sold it to cosmetic companies at a rate of $15,000 per liter.

Next time you buy Chanel #5 to your wife......

Great post guys....good to hear what else people are using out there...

Here is the one web link on the Tuf Cloth...I got one as a freebie along with a modern Korean Jingnum http://www.sentrysolutions.com/ It's pretty slick if you have a smooth blade surface...but not so much if you have some corrosion.

No need to kill people to obtain human fat. Just hang around the back of a plastic surgeons medical clinic. They probably have bags of human fat just for the asking, it would save them hazzardous waste disposal fees. Think lipo.

Rendered animal fat or lard instead of lipo...still, would the fat go rancid over time? I've use WD or olive oil, just depending on my mood.

walgreen's mineral oil, once it's stripped off...
wood is Renaissance wax

mineral oil (baby oil), with a dollup of vaseline dissolved in it, dash of clove oil for aroma. mineral oil is food safe, most clps and wd40 are not and can be poisonous, and it does not dry like wd40 or olive oil. (i use olive oil on my wood grips, wood axe handles, wood spear shafts, etc. tho).

also like ballistol but it's difficult to get in the UK..

microcrystalline waxes like renaissance wax are also good.

Ballistol or Sheath whichever is handy

[QUOTE=Maurice]Scary.......I think from now on I first smell at a piece before buying, who knows with what bodypart they rubbed it...:D

Rather you than me, not nice. :D :D

For dry, damaged hide/leather or wood, like on hilts and scabbards, i find that linseed oil has an amazing way of re-lusturizing (is that even a word- :cool: ) the finish. Also works great on old gun stocks...
Anyone else try this product??

oil
 

I agree, renaissance wax is the most for metal and wood

Which Linseed do you use? The linseed topic is something I always wanted to bring up here on this forum.
I use "RAW Linseed Oil" on a few of my rifle stocks, and now have started using it on some of my wood handles and scabbards...RLO is NOT the same as "Boiled Linseed Oil". Many frown upon RLO because it takes forever to dry and it darkens wood too much where it effects their color preference, but IMO it looks the best and it is the oil that keeps wood from drying out and cracking. RLO was the original ingredient by most gun manufactures pre-WWII to put on their rifle stocks(priority being to keep them from cracking)...which is also why they have the nicer looking aged stocks that are darker and have greater amount of patina on them compared to post-WWII rifle stocks. BLO on the other hand is popular because it dries fast...but they do contain other chemicals and "dryers", as well as sealers...so BLOs from different manufactures can give different looks and textures. Because of all these chemicals in BLO, some companies that make wood playsets for children went back to natural RLO because some of them felt BLO contained too many chemicals for children to be playing with. Aside from drying faster, the other positive thing about BLO is that it hardens and seals the wood better which holds up better to rain and the elements...which personally I feel can defeat the purpose of getting that aged patina to grow(were not taking these aged artifacts out in the rain or leaving them outside anyways). Sealing wood is something you want to do for outside wood decks that would last about 5-15 maybe 20 years...Im not looking to do this for my wood rifle stocks or scabbards. BLO does better at locking out air and moisture(rain), which also means the wood can still dry out and crack...one big negative for me to not use BLO or any sealer, the wood will take twice as long to develop a patina OR will never develop a patina because oxidation can no longer occur. There is always a great debate around the C&R gun community about what to rub on wood stocks...BLO, RLO, and Tung Oil. Some gun owners have reported to seeing their stocks turn darker and start developing a patina by the 6month of adding RLO to their brand new rifle stocks. None of them stand up well to outdoor environments, but I don't drag my stocks threw storms or assault beaches either...so for me personally, I am aiming for that old aged look, RLO makes the wood look more aged(in my eyes).
Everyone has their own preference to using linseed oil, tung oil, sealers, etc... This is just my own preference/opinion which I know isn't for every body, and Im still learning to take better care of my pieces(thanks to everyone on this forum). :D

as oil, I used WD-40
and elbow grease :p

for cleaning, remove rust or spots
1) emery cloth
2) to smooth the emery marks, steel wool
3) application of metal polish "Briliant" as deep cleaner
4) application of wax polish "Renaissance" to allow manipulation without gloves, and prevent oxydation

I spread inside scabbards WD-40, that feed the wood, or prevent any metal oxydation

à +

Dom

I forgot about the raw linseed. I confess that I use the boiled linseed, but only on old, splintery stocks or damaged sheaths to seal their finish better. It works exceptionally well for this. Hmmm, will have to try the raw form sometime just to see the results.

For polished bladesI use Renaissance Wax or Antiquax.

For blades with a rough surface like keris and other similar S.E. Asian blades I use a drench of WD40, allowed to dry on the blade followed by a mix of medicinal parrafin, kenanga oil and sandalwood oil.

For long term storage of rough surface blades I sometimes use light machine oil.

Any blade that I intend to store for any length of time is oiled, placed in a plastic sleeve, and stored out of the scabbard. Scabbards are for carry, they are not suited to storage of blades of any type.


Raw linsed oil and patience can work wonders on old cracked wood.

Definately Raw Linseed Oil for wood, and although I have not tried it on leather, it should be OK there as well, as it is vegetable , and not chemical based.
As an aside, the old English gunmakers ALWAYS used linseed oil HAND RUBBED to polish up their gunstocks. What you see on those lovely old walnut gunstocks is entirely hand done!
Regards Stu

I knew I had read that somewhere (English gunsmiths using linseed). Thanks, Stu!
OK, so I used boiled, but should be using raw linseed. Now I just have to find some...

I don't know that it really matters if it is boiled or not. For Raw Linseed Oil
try a paint merchant (NON acrylic paint contains,or used to contain Linseed Oil) or good hardware shop.
Regards Stu

Arts and Crafts stores carry RLO in small 8oz bottles. Artist use RLO to mix with their paint.

One thing that is a negative for RLO, because it is vegetable, it can rot leather and it can mold. So you have to watch carefully for this.

Leather is best treated with preparations intended for leather, such as dubbin, or lanoline based leather nourishers and cleansers, or neatsfoot oil. Shoe polish is not a good preparation to use on old leather because of the drying agents in it which can worsen any cracking.

Wood treated with raw linseed oil is subject to formation of mold, but occasional rubbing with a couple of drops in the hand takes care of this. It is the unrefined solids in raw linseed oil that provide the patina.

A good fake hand rubbed finish can be achieved by using a gunstock finish like Birchwood Casey Tru Oil, lowering the shine with 0000 steel wool , and then hand rubbing with raw linseed oil. A genuine hand rubbed oil finish takes weeks of repeated rubbing to bring to a satisfactory finish, a faked up hand rubbed finish can be done over a weekend.

Neatsfoot oil is also the best preparation I know of for preserving tool handles.

I love linseed oil too. It's got one problem though, which is that linseed oil on cotton rags can sometimes spontaneously combust, so make sure you dispose of it carefully!. I usually soap up the rags and dispose of them sopping wet.

Best,

F

Thanks for that Fearn.

Just shows it doesn't matter how long you've used something you can always learn something new about it.

I've used linseed oil, both raw and boiled, all my life, as had my father before me, and his great uncle, from whom he learnt his trade, and I've never heard about this spontaneous combustion thing.

Do you know under what circumstances this will occur?

Ever seen it happen?

PS --- just googleised it. yep, its real alright. couldn't find anybody who had ever seen it happen, but according to the chemistry its possible, and manufacturers warn against it.

Again, thanks Fearn for bringing this to our attention.

Cotton rags and any kind of grease or oil may start to "selfheat".
Same proces as in coal or a haystack.

If you combine this with metal dust or turnings that are left after drilling in metal, you can get a tricky combination for a fire.

Cotton rags with lineseed can also be laid down flat for the lineseed to dry before disposal.

Risk is the sum of "chance" and "consequence".
The chance of these rags selfcombusting is probably not that high.
But the consequence if you have left them in the garbage can in the garage and return after a days work... :shrug:

Yep. The problem is that the heating and ignition seems to be pretty unpredictable, otherwise you could carry a wad of cotton and linseed oil camping to light a fire. That unpredictability is the annoying part, and I've certainly never seen it.

It's not hard to fix, so it's worth cleaning up properly. Otherwise, linseed's lovely stuff.

Best,

F

I use Renaissance Wax or alike for both metal and wooden parts.
I found drying vegetable oils (linseed, tung) do not protect them from moisture well enough. Drying oil also darken the wood part too much. :(

Non-drying oil like mineral or white oil may attract dust. Human or animal oil also attract pest (mice/insects) to take your scabbard as their snack.

On wood in perfect condition a good furniture wax of one kind or another is essential. Rennaissance or Antiqax are probably the best. However, on wood that has deteriorated, linseed oil is probably the best substance to assist in restoration.

I have treated wood carvings with raw linseed oil that had great gaping cracks in them and these carvings were brought back so that the cracks were completely closed. It took months in all cases to achieve this, and in the case of one large elephant from Bali, he stood in oil for a very long time. But the closure of gaps has stood the test of time.

One thing to really keep in mind about linseed, it is not that great if you are restoring "decorative" wood. For instance, bunti wood with the nice grain on a barong that really stands out. In the wood working world, linseed is not that great for getting the grain to pop, reflect, stand out, glow, or give that 3D effect(chatoyance). You will still see the different grain sections, but it will be dull and not stand or pop out. Many wood workers have their own techniques and can use different methods to get grain to pop..it is like an art form. It is difficult to do since nearly all wood(even if the same type) can behave differently to the same techniques. Most popping techniques involve shellac and sealers. And I have heard some wood workers using Chromium Trioxide, which is a highly cancerous chemical, just to make the grains stand out(not a good idea IMO if you are always handling the wood). Down side of all this, these popping grain finishes typically do not last long ...a good 10 years and the pop will be fading; and the shellac or sealer can make it look extremely cloudy.
So, I guess it all boils down to what you want or have, and what you want to do with it. Bunti wood is very attract wood and can be just as decorative as curly maple...which is why I believe the Moros used the wood. For historical pieces I have or will acquire, I would use linseed. If I was restoring a piece and more interested in making it look nice and stand out, then linseed may not be a good idea. :o

A barong I have that had the handle refinished where the grain pops. :)
http://fototime.com/A2A733B7AAD73F5/standard.jpg