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rust prevention test summer 2023 edition
- Thread starter kane22
- Start date
It's a beeswax/coconut oil mix I came up with. I melt everything down and when it cools it's like a candle but softer. It's more like a wax than the frog lube paste. Seeing how well the Burts bees did is what gave me the idea. Coconut oil has good properties too, but it didn't do well by itself. I tried a couple combinations till I got everything right. What I like about it is it works great on wood too. I've used it on all my axe handles since last year, and a shovel that's outside year round. Cutting boards also. It doesn't get sticky on slick.
Yep, it's pretty impressive and handy.
1 Frog lube
2 Burts bees lip balm
3 my homemade beeswax mix
4 mineral oil
5 bare steel
6 3-1oil
7 Break free
8 Casey sheath
9 petroleum jelly
10 Kriol
1 & 3 look impressive !
Would have liked to have seen Axle Grease & WD40 included in the test .
2 Burts bees lip balm
3 my homemade beeswax mix
4 mineral oil
5 bare steel
6 3-1oil
7 Break free
8 Casey sheath
9 petroleum jelly
10 Kriol
1 & 3 look impressive !
Would have liked to have seen Axle Grease & WD40 included in the test .
Yep, they're doing well. I don't see any rust on them at all.
One thing that I found interesting is even though the bare steel #5 showed rust spots hours after getting wet, it really isn't any worse than most of the others at this point.
No problem, hope it helps. Seems like we have a couple food safe options that work pretty well.
Glad you brought this up. A quick search shows that Burts Bees is technically edible. That's not to say that you could survive on it or that it won't make you nauseous if you straight up eat it (although I'm not sure whether it would actually make you nauseous or not if you eat it in large amounts). It's just that it should be non-toxic, so it won't poison you. You could use it on a knife that you later use for food prep and it should be totally fine.
Do you mind sharing what ratio of beeswax > coconut oil that you use? I'm interested in trying it, probably will, but if you have the "recipe" figured out already I'll try yours versus going thru rounds of trial and error.
1 part beeswax and 2 parts coconut oil by weight. I use my reloading scale. That gave me the consistency I was looking for. Not sticky, and easy to apply. A little heat and it melts and is easier to spread around. If the temps are cold, and the metal is cold it's more like a hard wax. That should give you a good starting point anyhow.Do you mind sharing what ratio of beeswax > coconut oil that you use? I'm interested in trying it, probably will, but if you have the "recipe" figured out already I'll try yours versus going thru rounds of trial and error.
There's whole beeswax rabbit hole to go down then. No idea if it makes any difference or not. But I got USA organic beeswax. That bag will last me the rest of my life though.
One thing I've noticed is it seems to have less dust/dirt sticking to it than the froglube. It just looks a little cleaner, if that makes any sense. That said I did the first tiny rust spot on it today. We'll see how fast it spreads. Still a good run though.
Since you are using a food oil, do you see any potential issues with it spoiling? Does it smell bad when it goes off? Have you noticed it attracting any attention from animals when it's left out? Do you have any pets and do they show any special curiosity or interest in it (sniffing, licking)?
Beeswax is good stuff. I haven't tried mixing with coconut oil, but I've used it in different mixtures for different things for a few years now.
I use about 1 part beeswax; 2-3 parts mineral oil for cutting boards, wooden utensils and non-stainless knives. It works better than just mineral oil for the knives that don't get used every day. I'm curious about whether coconut oil would be any better than using mineral oil.
I also use roughly 2 parts beeswax; 1 part walnut oil for oilskin waterproofing for outdoor clothing/bags that works well. The walnut oil is a drying oil and I find is a good non-toxic alternative to boiled linseed oil. I think because it's a drying oil and basically cures it doesn't go bad.
I use about 1 part beeswax; 2-3 parts mineral oil for cutting boards, wooden utensils and non-stainless knives. It works better than just mineral oil for the knives that don't get used every day. I'm curious about whether coconut oil would be any better than using mineral oil.
I also use roughly 2 parts beeswax; 1 part walnut oil for oilskin waterproofing for outdoor clothing/bags that works well. The walnut oil is a drying oil and I find is a good non-toxic alternative to boiled linseed oil. I think because it's a drying oil and basically cures it doesn't go bad.
Good question, I was actually wondering that about coconut oil myself. If it goes rancid, I wonder what effects that will have.
Wonder how something like straight up Renaissance Wax would do in a test like this, where the goal is not lubrication but food-safe corrosion inhibitor.
I have a German shepherd and a cattle dog/lab mix, and they've never shown any interest in it. I've had this stuff all mixed up since last year and it looks/smells the same. Smells like the bees wax. I made it 3 times changing the mix a little each time. They're all fine, and just sitting out. There's a lot of coconut oil waxes for wood furniture, cutting boards etc. I've been using it on my cutting board and I'm not dead yet. So there's that lol.
That's interesting. I wonder if the bees wax is acting like a preservative.
My main concern would be wild animals, like bears which are notorious for their strong sense of smell and their tendency to raid human food sources.
I just checked the old ones again, still just smells like beeswax. Now if I was a bear I still might be interested since honey is good. We have the occasional black bear around.
It doesn't smell much different than Burts, not any stronger. Frog lube is by far the strongest smelling. No idea if it's anything an animal would care about one way or the other.
Just a thin coat on a knife has no sent to me, but I'm not a animal either.
That is also a good question. I'm not clear if OP's successful home brew corrosion inhibitor is mainly because of the beeswax, OR if the coconut oil has something special about it. I have a hunch that, given the other solutions that worked best were ALSO waxy/pasty type of formulations (Burts, and Froglube), that the beeswax or paste-based solution is the real key to success in sealing the metal from moisture. Maybe because wax or paste-based products are simply physically better at sticking to the blade than oil-based ones?
In any case, if the main purpose of mixing an oil-based solution with beeswax is to soften and make it spreadable, then I'd have the same question as you: maybe mineral oil would do that job just as well, and yet would still be food-safe.
To be fair coconut oil is food safe and I seem to remember reading that it is an oil that doesn't go rancid as readily as some other plant based oils, but I might be wrong about that.
The potential of the those types of oils to go rancid was the main reason I use mineral oil though.
Maybe I'll have to give that a try.