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.
