Oil or wax on knife blades?

[SUP]

@bruce johnson and @dikman. Yes there are so many brands and compositions. LOL

I think it will be best if I use a paste wax for those I do not use all the time and mineral oi for when they are in continuous use. 

Only still to decide the paste wax to use - probably make it myself though - I enjoy that.

Thank you for all your guidance, all.

[dikman]

Making your own wax concoction is a whole new rabbit hole to go down!

[fredk]

Its easy-peasy; just add a wee bit of olive oil to beeswax. Just enough oil to make the wax soft enough to spread with a cloth. Like butter just out of the 'fridge

[SUP]

@dikman yes, so many ingredients to choose from! But luckily there are so many, what we at home call 'MBAs' online, people who like to share their knowledge. Search and I can get all the information I need. That is how I created my leather conditioner recipe.

 @fredk, with the beeswax, some carnauba wax maybe - supposed to prevent rust but not sure if this is true. And mineral oil in place of olive oil. I dislike olive oil.  And some orange oil and lanolin for fragrance should work - that combination gives a pleasant fragrance and it is good for the leather too. No vegetable oil, so no need for any preservative. Let's see. I will experiment. That is fun.

I kept a new Osbourne blade in a chrome-tanned sheath for one night and it got rust spots. Cleaned and oiled that blade.

Now, I can definitively say, once and for all," Chrome tanned leather is not good for making leather sheaths. It causes the knives to rust". 

[chuck123wapati]

Ballistol. 

https://ballistol-uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ballistol-story_engl.pdf

[chuck123wapati]

you can even use it on leather!

[SUP]

@chuck123wapati Very interesting. It seems to be a universal oil, useful for everything!  

[Littlef]

You see this endless debate in firearm groups as well.  As long as you are maintaining the metal surface, either oil or wax both work well.  Museums tend to use waxes.  They take more effort to apply,  but give a longer term protection.  They are also being used on items that don't get very much handling.  Oil is less durable since it can be wiped off easily... but its also real easy and quick to reapply.  It kinda depends.  There's no one best way, and there is no one  best product.  If I have something that's getting handled regularly, I just wipe it with oil.  If I have something that is being put away and I have no intention of using it again any time soon, I might break out the wax if I'm feeling ambitious.

 

[dikman]

As Fred said, olive oil and beeswax is a simple all natural wax. Mineral oil, even pharmaceutical-grade, is a petroleum product, which some people don't like using on leather. Ballistol is essentially mineral oil with a couple of other bits added in minor amounts, mainly for fragrance.  For using on steel obviously using a mineral oil wouldn't matter. Mixing paraffin wax with beeswax and oil (baby oil should be cheaper than Ballistol and essentially the same thing) to soften it would give a harder wearing wax.

Lots and lots of possibilities.

[chuck123wapati]

3 hours ago, SUP said:

@chuck123wapati Very interesting. It seems to be a universal oil, useful for everything!  

why use a dozen different products when this is time proven, over a 100 years,  petroleum or not it has been tested in battle on leather and metal and it works. and in the U.S. its much less expensive than bees wax olive oil New age BS sustainable climate change my ass products that  were replaced by it a hundred years ago. Sorry folks I don't believe in new age buzz words as a sales gimmick.