Mineral Oil for storeing and oiling knives

N

neeman

Joined
Apr 5, 2007
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My question is mainly about slip joints.

Is Mineral Oil good for oiling the joints?
Is Mineral Oil good for oiling blades (carbon and D2) against rust for storage?

The reason I want to use Mineral Oil is that I often use my knives for cutting food.

Thanks,
 
Most commercial lubricants are mineral oil based. Some are simply mineral oil with color and fragrance and/or a thinning agent added.
 
There are two grades of mineral oil: light and heavy.

Light mineral oil mixed with fragrance is baby oil. If you check with St. Gobain Abrasives, their Norton Honing Oil might be light mineral oil, too, despite their adcopy. Ballistol uses light mineral oil as well as other additives (that make it smell like funk and sambuca). Anyways, light mineral oil will seep deeper into joints, nooks, and crannies than heavy mineral oil, so it's better for lubricating moving parts on folding pocketknives while still being safe for food.

Heavy mineral oil will lubricate moving parts and protect steel from rust and is often sold as laxative grade mineral oil (use it on strops to emulisfy buffing compound for knives so sharp you'll poop yourself), but it takes longer to reach the nooks and crannies in folders, so it's still a very good choice, but better is available.

Both are flammable, so be careful not to start an oil-soaked rag collection in your workspace.
 
thombrogan said:
There are two grades of mineral oil: light and heavy.

Light mineral oil mixed with fragrance is baby oil. If you check with St. Gobain Abrasives, their Norton Honing Oil might be light mineral oil, too, despite their adcopy. Ballistol uses light mineral oil as well as other additives (that make it smell like funk and sambuca). Anyways, light mineral oil will seep deeper into joints, nooks, and crannies than heavy mineral oil, so it's better for lubricating moving parts on folding pocketknives while still being safe for food.

Heavy mineral oil will lubricate moving parts and protect steel from rust and is often sold as laxative grade mineral oil (use it on strops to emulisfy buffing compound for knives so sharp you'll poop yourself), but it takes longer to reach the nooks and crannies in folders, so it's still a very good choice, but better is available.

Both are flammable, so be careful not to start an oil-soaked rag collection in your workspace.
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Thanks

So baby oil for daily lubrication
And laxative grade mineral oil for storage
 
Food grade mineral oil from the pharmacy works fine on slipjoints as a lubricant. I've loosened up corroded blades with it. It won't dmage natural materials, either, although it will darken leather.
 
I've found mineral oil, in the way of Hoppes Lubricating Oil, to fair well as a rust inhibitor providing you reapply a couple of times per year and are in a relatively stable environment.

That said, if you have a damp storage area/environment or doubt you'll be able to reapply multiple times per year, try something else (no recommendations from me; yet). I have had rust develope on my USMC Ka-Bar's edge in storage (outside of sheath) with a coat of Hoppe's on it.

I've heard Breakfree CLP does very well at corrosion inhibitation as does WD-40 (but thats a very weak lube, and I don't know how well the corrision resistance holds up over time).
 
This won't work for a blade used for food prep, but the lubricity in WD-40 comes from mineral oil. Mineral spirits make up the solvent component.

And as others have noted, Johnson's Baby Oil is 100% mineral oil plus fragrance.
 
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