Blade/knife cleaning and wax/polish questions

[number9]

(Ballisol) really does stink, not as bad as Hoppes 9 but close..... (-:

Heresy!

 

[jaseman]

I use hand soap and water to clean my blades.
I use mineral oil to clean, protect and lubricate them.
Mineral oil is food safe, doesn’t smell bad, and cheap. You can get a big bottle for $3-$7 at most drug stores. You’ll find it with the laxatives.
I treat my carbon and stainless blades both the same. I’ve had carbon blades sit unused for a year with just a thin coat of mineral oil on them; no problems.
It easily cleans off adhesives, tree sap, drywall... I’ve never needed anything beyond that.
I suppose if I owned a knife that cost $1000+ and was putting it in storage I might use something like Renwax.

I knew an old fella who had two jars of mineral oil that he stored his traditional slip joints in. Had five or six in each jar. The knives standing on end next to each other like pickles. Most had delrin covers, some were bone.

If I'm doing more than just wiping the blade on my pants, I use mineral oil as well. Also keeps my cutting boards nice. I'll also use cutting-board wax (half mineral oil, half beeswax) on wood handles that are untreated.

But just a note about mineral oil. Make sure you use food-grade oil. Like stated above, you can find it in the pharmacy, or sometimes in a kitchen store listed as cutting board oil. Do NOT use the stuff found in hardware stores - unless specifically labeled as such, it is not food grade.