Using Olive Oil to clean and lubricate your knife?

[the_Marshall]

Has anyone else heard about using Olive Oil to clean and lubricate there knife? I cant remember were I read this at but they were making an argument that it works very well especially if you use your knife for food prep and such.

 

[liamstrain]

Helpful in a pinch - but olive oil does go rancid over time. So not the best solution. There are other food safe oils (some mineral oils, for instance).

 

[powernoodle]

rancid

That's what I was thinking. It, or just about anything else, might be good in short term, but it might not be advisable for long term use. But I've never used it either, so I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[Blue Sky]

I've used it for years, olive oil does not go rancid. Get some food or biologicals stuck up in there and leave it, that might go rancid but not the oil. It works better than mineral oil in my experience.

 

[liamstrain]

Glad you have not run into that, Blue Sky, but it is a fact - Olive oil does go rancid. When it gets too old, or too oxidized, or too often near heat. Rancid oil isn't poisonous - but it will taste bad.

 

[Thomas Linton]

Companies that sell olive oil and associations of olive oil producers say it goes rancid.

 

[the_Marshall]

Helpful in a pinch - but olive oil does go rancid over time. So not the best solution. There are other food safe oils (some mineral oils, for instance).

Good to know thanks!

 

[link2derek]

I've used it for years, olive oil does not go rancid. Get some food or biologicals stuck up in there and leave it, that might go rancid but not the oil. It works better than mineral oil in my experience.

Not sure about that... based on my first-hand experience...

Many, many years ago I washed, cleaned, and dried a Benchmade folder (which had never been used for food or bioligicals of any kind) for storage; I oiled it with a high-quality, extra virgin olive oil (didn't know about mineral oil yet); I stored the knife away in a cool dry storage container... 10+/- years later, I retrieved the knife, and the oil (or something) had gone completely rancid - the knife was so gunked up that I couldn't even open it. Good thing I could take it apart because that's what I had to do to thoroughly scrub the gunk out and clean and (mostly) restore it to proper functioning.

Bottom line - no more olive oil for me!

 

[Blue Sky]

Well a little back-checking shows I am mistaken, sorry for the mis-information. Perhaps I clean and re-oil often enough that it hasn't ever become a problem, I wonder how long it takes?

 

[HwangJino]

Never. If I were food prepping with a folder and olive oil from the food went into my knife I would go out my way to wash the knife.

I'd imagine it being very sticky and attracting gunk.

All my knives get rinsed under hot water and a drop if dish soap. Then dried with towel and some pressurized air.

I don't lubricate my knives (except CRK), they seem fine as long as they're clean.