Anyone use coconut oil on their knives?

[Ace Rimmer]

jc57 @Peregrin Will Power Thanks much! I see that Renaissance Wax is pretty expensive but I'm sure a small tin would last almost forever. Got a notice this morning that my Case mini copperhead in "prime vintage stag" is already in the mail. I expect it to get carried and handled a lot!

 

[PirateSeulb]

I keep thinking about picking up some Ren Wax for my Stag handled knife but not yet pulled the trigger. I will admit when I oil my blade, with mineral oil, I will rub a little of whats soaked in the cloth onto the handle but I don't soak them or apply any straight to the handle.

I haven't use coconut oil as it has potential to go rancid while pure mineral oil doesn't. I don't think I would have any real risk but why bother if I have something else that doesn't.

 

[bigeard09]

How about using Baby Oil . I use it to coat and rub into my bone and stag handled knives and even on woods . It seems a very light clear oil which is obviously used on young babies , but it does seem to feed the natural materials of the handles and a light coating on the blades seem to do no harm .

 

[jc57]

jc57 @Peregrin Will Power Thanks much! I see that Renaissance Wax is pretty expensive but I'm sure a small tin would last almost forever. Got a notice this morning that my Case mini copperhead in "prime vintage stag" is already in the mail. I expect it to get carried and handled a lot!

I bought a 200ml can of it in 2012. I believe it was about $15-17 then. I looked on the same big retail site I got it from and it's still under $20.

I think I have about 80% of it left, and that's even accounting for little experiments like polishing my desk and a leather knife sheath. (It's really not ideal for either, by the way, compared to a regular paste wax.) For something like a pocket knife, a very little goes a long way. If you want to get crazy, they sell a 3-liter tub of it. http://picreator.co.uk/renaissance-wax/

 

[Ramrodmb]

Will Power - I have often wondered why mine and your experience vary so differently on the subject of verdigris. I almost never have any problems with brass and verdigris unless the brass is left touching leather for an extended time. I hear you mention having problems quite frequently.
I now know one thing we do differently. I have never used coconut oil on any knife!
Do you think its possible there is a connection between the coconut oil and the ongoing verdigris problems you have with some of your knives?

 

[brownshoe]

I wish I could easily get hold of it here, I've been asking in hardware stores for the past couple of years, and only yesterday was searching online again (available, but expensive). For the joints of my knives, I've been using these for a while now, the mineral oil is also very high grade and food safe. You don't get a lot of it, but it oils a lot of penknives

I use the Boker oil-pen as well. Great product. I got it at Bladeforums supporter Blade HQ

 

[Will Power]

Will Power - I have often wondered why mine and your experience vary so differently on the subject of verdigris. I almost never have any problems with brass and verdigris unless the brass is left touching leather for an extended time. I hear you mention having problems quite frequently.
I now know one thing we do differently. I have never used coconut oil on any knife!
Do you think its possible there is a connection between the coconut oil and the ongoing verdigris problems you have with some of your knives?

Certain factors such as humidity levels can impact on this. Here at the end of March it's still between -2 to -18 c during day and night, equals horribly dry external air and hot dry air indoors. Yesterday it was 11% humidity before I put on the humidifier, this takes its toll on natural handles, horn and stag notably. The other day I found a horn knife with a big crack around one of the pins near the bolster, never dropped or banged, the dry curled and split it.

Now the problems I've had with brass bleed verdigris on Stag and light colour bone were ALL as a result of using mineral oil (non food grade admittedly ) this too is a reaction against dry, and brass behaves oddly and badly here. Expansion/contraction of the scale material reacting against brass then the mineral oil appears to set off the greening process. No knives that have had Coconut on them have developed this trait. No steel liner knives have stained the scale material either. It could be that I produce some acid in my hands that causes brass to green stain but I'm not sure. I hear that Froglube is based on Coconut, it has its fans & detractors but it appears to keep oxidation, rust very well at bay.

 

[meako]

Just google Norton sharpening oil, the big river has a 4-1/2 oz can for a tenner, the 16 oz size is a tenner and a sawbuck...

Is that a Lobster,Yellowbelly or a GreyNurse?
The thing about baby oil is that babys when properly maintained get washed everyday.
Plus their skin is growing at a phenomenal rate unlike stag antler which is basically dead. There are natural furniture polishes made of beeswax and or Carnuba wax .I use one called Gilly Stephensons on bone and stag and wood. These materials ate never going to be brought back to life if they are damaged .Its about protecting and preserving.
Lets face it none of us get our knives out of their cots and kiss their little tumtums and say stuff like oochy goochy goo to them as we sprinkle johnsons baby powd.....errr graphite powder into their crevices..DO WE GUYS ?

 

[sitflyer]

Lets face it none of us get our knives out of their cots and kiss their little tumtums and say stuff like oochy goochy goo to them as we sprinkle johnsons baby powd.....errr graphite powder into their crevices..

I'm going to have to use the google machine to figure out the lobster yellow belly grey nurse stuff, as to the tumtums...sometimes I seriously wonder LOLOL!

 

[meako]

Lobster =20
Yellowbelly=50
Grey Nurse= 100
AUD.
grey nurse is species of shark.
They might have changed that one because when they first issued the grey nurse 10p dollar bills which were predominantly grey in colour some genius discovered that by photocopying them and colouring them in a bit with pencils they could be exchanged for stuff in shops. This worked for a while because not many people ever saw one.

 

[meako]

How about Turtle wax?
That'd be one in the eye for those inconsiderate whales.
Imagine the audacity of them becoming critically endangered and depriving us of all those useful products.
Actually there is a direct link to the decline in whale populations during the whaling heyday and the rise of the infant petro chemical / oil industry.

 

[B.F.U]

Olive oil will go rancid avoid it.

Frog lube is coconut oil, it's not great for pivots but will work. It's pretty good for rust prevention on blades. Heat it up and apply.

Why would you? Coconut oil solidifies at ~ 75 °F. Seems like a great way to gum up the pivots of your folding knives.

I've found that Frog Lube gums up pretty badly. I used it for a long time but if you don't open and close the knife frequently it ends up gumming up the pivot and, I think, going rancid. I wouldn't use coconut oil because it would go rancid.

 

[sitflyer]

How about Turtle wax?
That'd be one in the eye for those inconsiderate whales.
Imagine the audacity of them becoming critically endangered and depriving us of all those useful products.
Actually there is a direct link to the decline in whale populations during the whaling heyday and the rise of the infant petro chemical / oil industry.

OK Ok I give, my ribs are hurting! LOLOL!

 

[sitflyer]

OK, so I did a Google search for coconut oil lubricant didn't quite get the results I was looking for, if ya' get my drift...so I added coconut oil mechanical lubricant, and actually came upon some very interesting hits...it has been researched for various mechanical applications, I can see the benefit of it in low temp uses, better than nothing, safer than most if considering possible food contact. From what I gathered it is more closely related to grease compounds than true oils, as the propensity for it to be more of a solid at room temps due to soap like properties within its chemical makeup. In knife joints, if you get good penetration by heating it to get it to flow into the joint, it should do the deed. yup, I went down that rabbit hole LOL.

 

[Rhinoknives1]

I thought about asking this question in a new thread, but since several have already commented about mineral oil not being safe for stag, please let me ask here:

What is safe to use around stag? And should I be concerned about using mineral oil on pivots of a stag knife if I am careful to wipe it down and not allow any excess to get on the covers?

I only have one knife with stag covers right now, but I just ordered another and would like to acquire more, so I want to know the right way to treat it.

Wax! Some say Renn Wax , I’m happy with Mother’s auto wax or Rain Dance is another one Ive used on my truck & knives.——————————————— Auto waxes are usually mostly Carnauba Wax, when I started as a maker the old timers told me, Johnston’s Floor wax for Stag, Bone, Steel & Leather. I use waxes to put a nice shine on my knives as they are displayed at a knife & or Art show.....Waxes don’t collect lint & dirt the way oils do!

 

[stezann]

In my opinion, we should use waxes for sealing the natural handle materials, food grade mineral oil for the carbon steel kitchen blades storage and proper machine oil for lubricating the interacting surfaces of folding blade (pivot, tang/cam, spring).

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Wax!...

Thanks!

 

[Sir_slice]

I dont get all the fuss about cocanut oil going rancid. I used the solidified food grade stuff on a kabar knife sheath and leather stacked handle ober a year ago. i have never ever noticed a smell and i soaked the hell out of it lol. I even just went to check and smells great. Just nice leather.

 

[kamagong]

Solidified cooking oil? That might work on a fixed blade and its sheath like your Kabar, but do you really think it's a good idea on a slipjoint that has moving parts?

 

[boykinlp]

This is what I do too. Plain old mineral oil for blades and pivots, Renaissance Wax on stag, wood and bone. A little goes a long way.

I have used Renaissance Wax for years, but never on stag. How do you apply it? Using it on something smooth like ivory or some stag would not be a problem for me, but how do you do it on the gnarly stag with lots of deep crevices? I would think it would be nearly impossible to remove/buff it where it wouldn't leave a whitish residue behind. Please guide me on the proper way to use it on stag. Thanks.