Mineral oil for my Gransfor Bruk(Brand new =)

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NeedItCheaper

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Jun 17, 2012
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I have been using Mineral Oil made for Edit, lol: cutting blocks on all my knives lately. It works perfectly, not sticky, not smelly, not need to worry about it rubbing on my food, and no rust(almost:rolleyes:). My question is, can I use this stuff on my axe handle and have a positive affect? I'm not worried about what is better, I just want to know if it is positive?






 
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I use BLO on my handles and heads. Unlike mineral oil, the BLO dries and doesn't leave oily spots on the shop floor where I store my axes. I don't have an answer about using it on your handle, but it seems to work fine for butcher blocks, though.


-Xander
 
Generally speaking I wouldn't put a non-drying oil on either a wood or leather handle. It'll soften the leather and slick up the wood, neither of which is beneficial. I happen to like linseed oil cut with mineral spirits or turpentine around 1:4 as a tool handle wipedown.
 
Actually guys, I believe you are right. But Boiled Linseed Oil seems to be as environmentally friendly as Mineral Oil.

Do you guys have any recommended brand? I see some online for about $8 for a quart.............
 
NeedItCheaper said:
Actually guys, I believe you are right. But Boiled Linseed Oil seems to be as environmentally friendly as Mineral Oil.
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Whoa, one correction there, boiled linseed oil contains toxic heavy metals and shouldn't be mentioned in connection to environmental friendliness.

E.DB.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
Whoa, one correction there, boiled linseed oil contains toxic heavy metals and shouldn't be mentioned in connection to environmental friendliness.

E.DB.
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I've never heard that. In that case BLO is a renewable resource. And I like the smell of it.
 
It's part of the process that turns it from raw linseed to the relatively fast drying boiled linseed oil. The drier additive is usually some kind of heavy metal like cobalt. Some BLO is actually treated via a heating process to start off the polymerization and doesn't have heavy metals added, I just get the stuff from the hardware store, which I think is metallic drier based.
 
I use mineral oil on wooden handles all the time. It soaks right in and while it leaves a slightly more slick surface than BLO would it's really not bad at all. I like to use Ballistol, which is mostly mineral oil, as it's in a handy spray can. I actually just re-oiled the handle on my hay fork and one of my scythes yesterday and it's already completely absorbed.
 
I use mineral oil on wooden handled kitchen utensils. I use drying oils (BLO and tung) on other wooden handles - not in food service.
 
I use food grade mineral oil on most of my knives. I use it on leather, stag, bone and wood handles. I use it to store my knives.
I get the cheap stuff from the Wal Mart pharmacy. Can you say laxative? Works great, I've been doing it for years. It will not hurt your axes...But BLO just might be a better idea for an axe.

Tom
 
OMG ants love BLO. I was very surprised today when I walked out after putting BLO on a walking stick and finding it covered in ants after a checked a few hours later.

I did a test of BLO on a walking stick, and mineral oil on an old beater stick. The beater stick did not smell, did not have any oil drops on it, all absorbed, and it really wasn't slick. I think I'm stick with mineral oil. We'll see what long term use brings.

Anyone have a timeline of how often they use mineral oil on their wood items?
 
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I reapply it whenever the wood starts feeling a bit "dry." Not sure of an real timeframe but I'd guess it's probably a light rubdown every 3-6 months.
 
Double Ott said:
I use food grade mineral oil on most of my knives. I use it on leather, stag, bone and wood handles. I use it to store my knives.
I get the cheap stuff from the Wal Mart pharmacy. Can you say laxative? Works great, I've been doing it for years. It will not hurt your axes...But BLO just might be a better idea for an axe.

Tom
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Pharmacy is where I get mine also. Its great on butcher blocks too.
 
I use flax seed oil (not boiled linseed) on all my wooden kitchen surfaces, knife handles, and work handles. Heck, I even use it on my revolver grips in summer. Buy the bottle, or in capsule form and just punch a hole in the caplet for a knife or cutting board. It's served me well for years, and you can drink it as well!
 
ThundarStick said:
I use flax seed oil (not boiled linseed) on all my wooden kitchen surfaces, knife handles, and work handles. Heck, I even use it on my revolver grips in summer. Buy the bottle, or in capsule form and just punch a hole in the caplet for a knife or cutting board. It's served me well for years, and you can drink it as well!
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Do you ever notice it go rancid? Edit: by rancid, all I mean is that......... Does it smell, does it somehow rot and mold up ever? I had read that BLO is used instead of LO, because of issues like that.

And note to those who said mineral oil makes it slicker. 2 days dry time is the max I have had to wait in 3 coats. And it's not slicker than my linseed oil. Though I will note that it is two different woods I am testing on. Mineral oil on hickory, and Boiled Linseed Oil on my walking stick(Pine I think).
 
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Don't worry, the mineral oil might feel dry but it wont dry being a crude oil byproduct. One drawback is that wood treated with it and left unused, will attract dust which will continually draw the oil back to the surface. Clean it off and let the object stand and the process will repeat until the oil has all been drawn back to the surface and removed. It's a continuing routine I go through, for some years now, with a spot on the workbench where some oil had spilled. Linseed oil will only spoil in some cases where there is no air flow and no light. It's a problem where it is used to finish the insides of cabinets for example, not on axe handles. Sometimes mould can happen initially though rarely if at all, it's then a matter of cleaning it from the surface and re-oiling.

E.DB.
 
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I've mostly used linseed oil with great results. Exposure to light and air will break the double carbon bonds on the fat molecule, which is why it goes rancid. Polymerized oil (boiled and the such) is 100% rancid. If there are no chances for ingestion, polymerized linseed oil works okay for relatively rigid structures like axe handles. The worst place to apply polymerized linseed oil is on structures that are made to bend, like a bow. My friends who use bows tend to use hemp seed or walnut oil.

I am currently experimenting with Walnut oil. Does anyone have experience with this oil? It's highly reactive with air and light, but the reacted product is not a polymer, if I understand correctly. I purchased a bottle from lee valley and am using it on cherry and walnut handles, not sure how it would fair on hickory.
 
It's true that in places where it gets a good deal of exposure to sunlight linseed oil does not fair well and decays quickly, "boiled", cold pressed, warm pressed, it doesn't matter but adding a pigment will increase its durability. Rancid on the other hand is nominally a matter of a sensory perception experienced most obviously through taste or smell rather than a static condition, it means it's spoiled and it occurs if the oil in not able to completely cure as would happen where airflow is restricted or there was insufficient warmth, to high humidity and other conditions. It's not correct to say that rancid is either a normal condition or equivalent to cured.

E.DB.
 
I use Ballistol on pretty much everything, tool handles, guns, knives, holsters, sheaths, etc. I find it works well across the board.
 
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