Best MINERAL OIL for dunking ivory??

"I also keep a humidifier going in the room where my knives are kept during the winter. Purchased a digital doodad from Cabela's to monitor the humidity. Hope this helps"

Good advice. From cigars to ivory, monitor and control of the humidity is the only path that should always guarentee success. That's what tobacco stores and museums do.
 
r connally said:
Hi Jon, I use pharma grade, pure mineral oil on handles and camelia oil on steel. I get the mineral oil from the local CVS or Target. I order the camelia from Highland Woodworking.

Handles get mineral oil twice a year. Steel gets the Roger P. finger method of applying camelia a lot (believe it was Roger who posted that a little goes a long way and be careful not to cut your finger!)

I also keep a humidifier going in the room where my knives are kept during the winter. Purchased a digital doodad from Cabela's to monitor the humidity. Hope this helps.
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Yes, Rob. That helps, big time! I agree with brownshoe :)
 
Is mineral oil fine for blades in the long term the same way camellia oil is?? im gonna submerge them completely in it and leave some on the entire knives.

Also I have a little bit of camellia oil. Can I try the 24 hour dunk with that stuff also for smaller knives or is straight mineral oil preferred?
 
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Jon, I've never used camellia oil, but I hear it's fine on steel and good stuff.

Dunk those handles, mineral oil will only help. I've soaked ivory for over a year, with no ill effects.
 
Thanks don and everyone! My question is though, will mineral oil be fine to leave on all the steel and the blades in the same fashion as camellia?
 
I don't see how mineral oil would hurt the blade Jon - though I prefer Cameila as I find it a bit "thinner", spreads really evenly, and once the excess is wiped off you can barely tell it's there. This is helpful for display purposes, but if it's for storage I guess that advantage has no bearing.

I also don't know that there's a benefit to immersing the entire knife - blade and handle - as the oil isn't going to soak into the steel. I use an empty ice cream tub filled with mineral oil and dunk the handles for 24 hrs.

I have also taken to using a humidifier during the winter months for the room where my knives are kept.

Rob - "a little goes a long way" was probably me - but I apply with a soft tissue rather than my finger.

Roger
 
I believe its Kevin who does the finger technique. I do the same thing also.
 
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Thanks guys. Some of my knives are dunking in it now. I was expecting them to look darker but some areas of the ivory almost look lighter! I guess well find out how it goes tomorrow.
 
Not sure anyone will have an answer for this as it's a very rare material, but I have a folder hafted in casein, which is (according to Wikapedia) a milk-based product.
Unfortunately, it also tends to pull away from bolsters in the dry winter, just like ivory or horn. Can it be safely dunked for a day in mineral oil, or would it damage it?
 
Can't wait for your report out, Jon.

Oooops, sorry Roger! :o Didn't mean to misquote. Some say the mind is the second thing to go, I must have gone directly to it :D

Humidifier crankin', steel is coated, handles been dipped...life is good!
 
Yeah I should have mentioned I threw a stag knife in there. They have been in for maybe.. 18 hours. Some minor gaps are still there but I really need to wait a few days and see what happens. The color does not look darkened at all on anything. I wonder if the changes are supposed to happen immediately as the knives are in the oil, or after..
 
I seem to recall that Buddy Thomason had a thread some time ago on how to re-hydrate a handle to reverse shrinking - might be worth dropping him a line.

Roger
 
I remember how he did it. He had water on the bottom with the knives suspended or up above it. I am not having major problems, just seems to be the winter maybe. I am confident everything is ok. I will wait to use Buddys method unless I really need it in the future.
 
IIRC, Buddy had the knives suspended over the water on a mesh grate.
Over all that was an inverted tub of some sort to capture the humidity and keep it near the knives.
 
Jon, here's justification for getting a humidifier for your knife room.

The room where my knives live is 22 x 16 with an 8 foot ceiling. It is connected by double french doors, which are always open, to another room that is 15 x 19 with an 8 foot ceiling.

The humidity in the "knife room" where I have a Sunbeam warm mist room humidifier (running constantly during winter) is always in the 45% range.

I measured the humidity in the adjacent room over the last 24 hours and it is in the 25 - 30 range. I'm surprised by the degree of difference! Time for a whole house unit to throw on the furnace.
 
Jon, I wouldn't use mineral oil or any other "juice" to add moisture to your ivory. At Tom Mayo said, if it goes in it can come out. I had lots of trouble with ivory handles that had been soaked in mineral oil. One piece of ivory came from Nevada, got soaked for some time here and made into a dagger handle, then sent back to Nevada. Within a week there were large cracks in what had been a perfect piece of old elephant ivory. On another knife I'd made it went with me to a show where it was cold and dry, and over the weekend it cracked. In both cases I believe that the dry climate sucked the moisture out by evaporating the oil, and that shocked the ivory. This was back in the late 90s and I stopped that oil soaking after the problems. No bad experiences since then. I now wax the ivory and leave it alone.

David
 
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