Oil or wax on knife blades?

[SUP]

I have been searching online and several sites say waxes are best for knife blades while other recommend oils.

I have been using food grade mineral oil on the blades on my knives. I am wondering whether  waxes are better and I need to shift to using that?

Could I get some advice on this please?

 

[fredk]

At the end of a season playing at knights we (my family) used beeswax. A wash down, and towel dry, then a thick coating of beeswax. I also used to use beeswax on my sports fencing swords. Another chap had scabbards made using sheepskin with the woolie to the inside. The woolie was loaded with natural lanolin which lubricated his blades and kept the damp off the iron or steel

Food grade oil is good on blades which will come into contact with food.

On other metal blade tools such as handsaws, chisels et cetera I always use a thin oil such as 3-in-1, or if I'm desperate, old used engine oil

[SUP]

@fredk I  just used the food grade mineral oil as I had it at home.

I will go look for the 3-in-one. A thinner oil is better. Thank you. I did not know that.

 

[Gezzer]

If what you have been doing has protected them thus far ...... I see no need to change .   " If it ain't broke , don't fix it "

[fredk]

4 hours ago, fredk said:

At the end of a season playing at knights we (my family) used beeswax. A wash down, and towel dry, then a thick coating of beeswax. . . .

errr, I meant to put 'on our swords and daggers as well as the armour' - not on US. That would have been a bit tooo kinky!  

[doubleh]

From long personal experience paste wax is superior to oil for rust protection. Oil works but doesn't last as long as wax does. Wax also neutralizes fingerprints which oil doesn't.

[SUP]

@doubleh would that be like the wax you get from Montana Knife Company?

[bruce johnson]

I am convinced there are about as many treatments as there are restorers and collectors. One of the favorite commercial ones is Renassaince Wax. I like that one pretty well. I haven’t used Josh’s mix from Montana Knife yet. Boeshield is good. Easy Glide for power tool beds is OK too. Lots of homemade formulas around. , beeswax/boiled linseed oil/mineral spirits, paraffin and different solvents, carnauba mixes, etc. there’s a bunch. 

[dikman]

If you're talking about using knives then a quick wipe with oil is as good as anything. As they're used any coating will soon wear off and oil is a quick way to re-coat them again. If you're talking about preserving blades then a wax coating would be better.

As Bruce said if you search for wax coatings you will find almost as many recipes as there are blades!

Johnson's Paste Wax (not available here in Australia) appears to be a popular choice for almost everything that needs waxing!

[doubleh]

11 hours ago, SUP said:

@doubleh would that be like the wax you get from Montana Knife Company?

I use ordinary Johnson's paste wax . It is no longer available but Min-Wax has about the same thing. One little tub will last for many years as long as you keep it sealed when not in use. If I use the knife regularly I use nothing, the benefit of residing in a low humidity area.

Edited June 24, 2023 by doubleh

[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. 

[SUP]

@Littlef, yes. debates everywhere. Isn't that nice? That is how one learns, after all.   As you say, I plan to use the  paste wax for longer storage and oil for knives constantly in use.

@dikmanyes, mineral oil is a petroleum product, but see, that is natural too, organic, isn't it? At least was, when learning organic chemistry! Strictly speaking, from plants and animals, only very long ago!  If it is okay for baby skin, as the only ingredient of Johnson's baby oil other than fragrance, it should be fine for leather!  I have no issues with it. Same with petroleum jelly - main ingredient of Aussie conditioner, I learnt!

Yes, I do plan to mix mineral oil and beeswax. no paraffin wax though - don't much like it except as a hardener. 

LOL.  That's okay @chuck123wapati. We all have our own way of thinking. The world would be a boring place if we all thought the same way . Stepford families!  On my part, I like to pick and choose what I keep of the old and adapt of the new.

I like to make things myself - from food items to things I use around the house. I make my own cleaning solution, leather conditioner and now, it appears, I will make my own blade protectant - not because I cannot get as good ones outside but because I like the sense of satisfaction from making my own. Like I said, to each his own. 

 

 

 

 

own

Edited June 27, 2023 by SUP

[fredk]

Before the petro-chemical industry weapons were stored in goose grease. Right up to WW2. In the late 1990s several barrels of iron arrow heads were found stored in a spare basement of the Tower of London. The barrels and their contents dated to the mid-1300s. Just over 600 years old. The arrow heads were packed in goose grease.

About 8 years ago a friend of mine, a curator/caretaker of some places here discovered several boxes of unused crated Brown Bess muskets in an old fort, date of the muskets is uncertain, but of between 1780 and 1820, all packed in goose grease. All very perfect. One was cleaned and test fired. No Problem

Apparently goose grease does not go bad, it will harden and not be edible though. It can be removed from weapons, such as muskets, simply by pouring boiling hot water over them

In the recent past when I / you bought high quality steel tools they came wrapped in greased paper. Many of the older tool companies still used goose greased paper, even if they didn't know it was goose grease. Some tool companies use oiled paper and in the main the oil used is a petro-chemical oil of the form like 3-in-1 oil

The US started to use petro-chem oils sooner and more of than Europe / UK did, mainly because the US has so many, and easily accessed, oil fields

[SUP]

@fredk I imagine goose grease  was around all the time as a cooking medium as well as for aches and pains and bruises. I wonder how similar tools would hold up over time when kept preserved in the  currently used waxes and oils. 

I like the idea of limited number of items, each with myriad uses. 

Wonderful, how enterprising humans are. There is another thread going on, about old time armorers and tool makers and how enterprising and inventive they were - necessity being the mother of invention.

Edited June 27, 2023 by SUP

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, fredk said:

Before the petro-chemical industry weapons were stored in goose grease. Right up to WW2. In the late 1990s several barrels of iron arrow heads were found stored in a spare basement of the Tower of London. The barrels and their contents dated to the mid-1300s. Just over 600 years old. The arrow heads were packed in goose grease.

About 8 years ago a friend of mine, a curator/caretaker of some places here discovered several boxes of unused crated Brown Bess muskets in an old fort, date of the muskets is uncertain, but of between 1780 and 1820, all packed in goose grease. All very perfect. One was cleaned and test fired. No Problem

Apparently goose grease does not go bad, it will harden and not be edible though. It can be removed from weapons, such as muskets, simply by pouring boiling hot water over them

In the recent past when I / you bought high quality steel tools they came wrapped in greased paper. Many of the older tool companies still used goose greased paper, even if they didn't know it was goose grease. Some tool companies use oiled paper and in the main the oil used is a petro-chemical oil of the form like 3-in-1 oil

The US started to use petro-chem oils sooner and more of than Europe / UK did, mainly because the US has so many, and easily accessed, oil fields

i have elk tallow i rendered over 20 years ago, its still good , not rancid at all i use it for my Black powder wads. 

[SUP]

@chuck123wapati. That's nice! It is so satisfying to use things that have been around for a long time, knowing it will not be wasted.