knife protection questions (oil/tuff glide)

drrickso

drrickso

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Nov 5, 2014
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I had been using tuff cloth/tuff glide on my blades, but decided to try switching to mineral oil wipes since I do on occasion use an EDC for food... my question are:

When I use the mineral oil, it leaves a much thicker film than the tuff cloth, so is it safe to fold them up and store them like that, or do I need to still wipe them down with a microfiber cloth after? Would wiping them down just undo my having applied the oil?

Is there any benefit to using tuff cloth/glide first and then going back over with the mineral oil? Is there any reaction between using both that I should worry about?

Finally, is the mineral oil ok to use on various handle materials as well?

I rotate my collection pretty regularly, but there are a couple that get less pocket time than expected (Damascus specifically), so I want to make sure I don't have issues on a blade like that.

Thanks,
Rick
 
Some tests show that mineral oil really doesn't protect against rust all that well. It's food safe but is also a petroleum product. Tuff Glide is a non petroleum compound in a mineral spirit solution. I personally wouldn't mix the two. The mineral oil would ruin your tuff cloth and the mineral oil may prevent the tuff glide from working properly. I'm not sure about the long term exposure of mineral oil on handle materials. It's probably ok for most. I believe it's recommended for wood.

I recently switched to camelia/tsubaki oil. It's a Japanese cutlery oil that is used on high end carbon steel kitchen knives. I read several vendors for Swedish axes praising it. I found it on Amazon from a vendor named Yoshihiro Cutlery. It's food safe and has been working well for me. It's very light and a little goes a long way. It has even kept my O1 steel knives from staining. That's proof enough to me that it works since O1 stains easily. I do like natural patinas just not rust. Good luck
 
Thanks... I'll stick with the tuff glide as a primary on the damascus but check out that tsubaki oil for the others
 
You need just a little oil. Do you store you knives folded?? Wipe the blade down with a cotton wipe then squeeze the oil off all the way to the tip, i.e. squeegee it. You don't need a thick coat, nor do you want one---oil attracts lint and dust, even in storage.

I don't use microfiber or 50/50 poly cloth. I think 100% cotton distributes the oil much more evenly and thinly. A box of gun patches will last you for years as you can use a patch until it is totall dirty. So will a white cotton T-shirt.

Tuff Cloth and other treatments are certainly OK but keeping blades oiled is enough. I always have a few cheapo silicone cloths laying around for occasional wipedowns of the blades. Doubt I'd spend the money on a TuffCloth although they may have special chemicals or whatever. Don't contaminate a TC with oil or anything else if you use one.

I would not be averse to using something like Renaissance Wax (although I can't imagine its advantage over car wax in a non-museum environment) or some of the paint-on rust preventers like Eezox, Corrosion-X, etc....but haven't tried them yet. For me they've never been necessary.

I wouldn't use mineral oil on anything other than the blade for rust prevention---you might end up with a holy sticky mess. Use lubricating oil for other things. Wash synthetic scales with water, mink oil or boot creme are a couple of basics for leather and a wax or good furniture polish for wood, Oil from your hands is best for wood because of the patina it will give the wood over time.

I've used a lot of rust preventive techniques over the years that must have worked because I've never had rust problems. A couple thing's I've done include coating a blade with Flitz metal polish and just leaving it on there while storing the blade. Another is wrapping the blade in oiled gauze for long term storage. I've also never really followed the rule about storing fixies out of the leather sheath. I have not, however, lived in a real rust climate.

Now I just leave a thin coat car polish on most of my uncoated blades for storage; oil on the edges of coated ones. Too simple. :)
 
yes i keep my knives folded, but i only used the tuff cloth on the blades then wiped off excess with micro fiber cloth before folding them back down. as far as the mineral oil wipes, i just started using them but havent used them at the same time as a tuff cloth
 
The above threads are very fine about the info. related to the knifes as they are made off steel. We can generate the same for Austempered Ductile Iron.
This is a great information and very helpful.
 
thank you all!

great link btw... all things considered i think ill stick with the tuff glide for most of my stuff, but ill have to check out eezox for my safe queen

for food safe stuff ill check out the other suggestions here including frog lube
 
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on plain kitchen knives a lot of ppl just use regular veg oil or something. but on a folder that is used in food prep, probably not a good idea at all. what i used to do is this when i worked in a restaurant. Keep it polished every 2 weeks with flitz, which will keep rust off and make it hard for rust to form in the first place. Also keep the inside of the knife oiled with tuff glide, so you won't have any issues with water getting into the joints, or middle of the folder and create rust. you can simply rinse off the knife before you use it in the kitchen as well if you use an oil like tuff glide, which is what i did. i would always keep a thin layer of oil on it and then just rinse it off and wipe it with a paper towel, before cutting food. But keep it oiled any other time, for cardboard and opening stuff too. But at least use flitz to keep a polish on it that will prevent rust, and oil in the joints. if cutting food becomes the main purpose consider a more rust friendly steel like 420hc, or H1.
 
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