Crisco

H

hollowdweller

Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
13,182
Hey Y'all?

Normally when I go hiking I'll put a thin coat of mineral oil on my carbon blades to protect them.

Yesterday I twas thinkin' I had these little round containers that came with a bag of camping bottles I bought and I was thinking of filling one w/crisco and sticking it in my pack to use as a food safe rust inhibitor on my blades.

Can anybody think of a downside to this? Food safe? Won't run off? Good idea?
 
Sounds like a good idea. Only downside I can think of is that if its real hot, they might smell like fried chicken!:D but, then again maybe thats not so bad.....:p
 
i agree, it sounds like a good plan to me.

what i have read that i thought was a good idea was to just keep an oily rag in a plastic baggy in your pack so you can wipe down the blade with it periodically...easier sounding than a liquid in a bottle to me...
 
Olive oil works good too. I kep a little squeeze bottle with my gear to use for cooking/ oling in the field.
 
I could see it maybe going rancid but if its in constant use then it probably isn't a big deal. Personally, I carry a half ounce nalgene bottle of mineral oil in my pack,
 
The downside is that you can get a build-up of oil residue in your sheath which can accumulate dirt and grit. Food oils are about 80% lipids and they do go bad after a while. Olive oil will for example get thicker and this will contribute to residue buildup.

Also the oil on your blade leaves a perfect fingerprint when your knife has been recovered as a weapon (ha ha just joking and putting on my prac tac hat).

For camping trips, it is fine, provided after you return you wash out your sheath and de-oil your knife with soap and water and then add a more long term lubricant. Or you can just use mineral oil which is safe for consumption - just don't slather too much of it on as was used traditionally as a laxative.
 
TWBryan said:
Ummm...Wouldn't the crisco attract carnivores?
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. HD is in black bear territory fer sure. Think I'll stick with my petroleum products..... Crisco might have petroleum in it for all I know. :eek:
 
yum, regular or butter flavored?

Has anyone tried Spray cooking oil/ PAM? it lubes pretty good and flames great when you spray it on the grill

I don't know about the rancid thing, we have been keeping it on the shelf in the pantry for a long time till we use the whole can of crisco.

Pat
 
i never had a problem with carbon knife getting rusted on trips as i use them alot more then at home. But if i would carry oil it would be Olive oil atlist i know i could use it for cooking and its good for me.

Sasha
 
as for protecting yer carbin steel blades, do the following:

wash in VERY hot water, dry and spray amply with silicon lubricant spray. Let it soak in and put the knife intot he sheath. You will NEVER see rust again.
 
hollowdweller said:
Hey Y'all?

Normally when I go hiking I'll put a thin coat of mineral oil on my carbon blades to protect them.

Yesterday I twas thinkin' I had these little round containers that came with a bag of camping bottles I bought and I was thinking of filling one w/crisco and sticking it in my pack to use as a food safe rust inhibitor on my blades.

Can anybody think of a downside to this? Food safe? Won't run off? Good idea?
Click to expand...


I have been using Thompson Center "Bore Butter" for quite while and have long suspected it's not much different than Crisco and supposedly edible.
 
I use cooking oil on some of my blades.

The other choice is to simply not lubricate them at all. The initial layer of rust might appear quite quickly, but the corrosion rate seems to slow right down after that unless the knife is continually wet or left in salt water etc. The rust can be polished to make a finish that may appeal to some. This might sound a bit heretical, but being laid back about corrosion may reduce stress....and in my experience rusty knives are still great cutters and they can easily outlast their owners.

As the knife is used and washed, the rust can take on a bit of a polish.

We had a thin home-made filleting knife once that lived in a shed next to the sea. It was probably made from some thin saw blade. It was heck of a rusty, but the blade outlasted the rivets and the handle and we had it for many years - maybe thirty years or more....and I think the blade is still hanging around somewhere.

I guess I had fixed-blade knives in mind while writing the above. If I had a carbon-steel folder I'd want to keep it well-oiled. I wouldn't hesitate to use something like canola or olive oil.

Mutton fat has been used to protect iron woodstoves from rust....applied while the stove top is warm. Seemed to work really well.
 
Crisco is vegetable oil so you might attract a few vegans , but it sounds like a god idea to me. I also like olive oil as it is multipurpose ie lubing, cooking , god sorce of fat , and can be used to make a liquid oil lamp.
 
I keep a tiny squeeze bottle of mineral oil for this purpose, since its food safe.

Try not to lick the blade too often though, it supposedly is a very effective laxative:eek:
 
http://www.crcindustries.com/faxdocs/tchdta/101.pdf
Can be found at Home Depot ,Lowes or hardware store in the Electrical supplies section..
Have used it for decades, it is food safe. We use it in the Bakery's on all the equipment. I use it on all my outdoor equipment {saltwater area} and household electronics.
Before someone says silicone! Its FDA and Agriculture approved.
Find a small bottle or a small rag and soak it to wipe down your gear.
PS: it is very versatile, I remove paint ,tar,magic marker ,unstick frozen rusted metal fittings ect.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top