-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
Rapeseed oil
- Thread starter nismo4wd
- Start date
Just wash the knife with warm water with Dawn dish soap. My EDC is a Hinderer in M390. Great steel.
fwiw - try using food grade mineral oil as a lubricant. Most grocery stores sell it as a laxative in the pharmacy/drug section for about $5. Farm and ranch stores like Tractor Supply sell it as a horse laxative for about $35 for a gallon. Then there is no worry about cutting food with the EDC pocket knife.
Amazon sells small plastic bottles with needle oilers for cheap to use as a dispenser or use the cap to drip a few drops into the pivot area.
fwiw - try using food grade mineral oil as a lubricant. Most grocery stores sell it as a laxative in the pharmacy/drug section for about $5. Farm and ranch stores like Tractor Supply sell it as a horse laxative for about $35 for a gallon. Then there is no worry about cutting food with the EDC pocket knife.
Amazon sells small plastic bottles with needle oilers for cheap to use as a dispenser or use the cap to drip a few drops into the pivot area.
Last edited:
But do you think I have broken the knife now? It's a Giant Mouse ace riv Black titanium
Exceedingly unlikely. Go wash it, dry it, oil it, and then the 100% correct answer is in your hands.
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2010
- Messages
- 3,943
So years ago I tried using canola oil as a food safe/ non toxic oil to wipe down and ship my blades with....
Entire batch rusted over night. I don't even think its the acid, I think its that that seed oils are all rancid completely oxidized. So they rip electrons out of the metals and cause rust.
They do the same thing to the electron transport chains in our mitochondria and create superoxide free radicals.
Canola oil is good for nothing. Mineral oil for blades, Beef tallow for my fries.
SharpBits
Gold Member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2002
- Messages
- 6,148
What jeffbird said. Dawn soap will remove that canola with no issues. Rinse well, dry. If you have an air compressor, use that to blow out the water. Oil pivot and detent with with mineral oil and you'll be fine. Make sure to wipe off the excess oil.
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2008
- Messages
- 26,200
I'll start by saying I'm not a chemist, but these are all my understandings of the chemistry involved, and may have a few things wrong as a result, so take this with a grain of salt.
All plant oils are comprised of fatty acids (a hydrocarbon chain with a hydroxyl group on one end) chiefly oleic and linoleic acids...however, they are, themselves, not acidic. Mineral oil, by contrast, is a heavy fraction of hydrocarbon chains derived from petroleum sources. Fatty acids will go rancid and break down into free radicals with exposure to oxygen, light, and heat, and those free radicals will cross-link to form a natural polymer, which is why oils like linseed oil "dry" over time as they oxidize and convert to a polymer. Linoleic acid, which derives its name from linseed oil, is a chief contributor to that polymerization, with oleic acid being a larger part of the composition of most food oils, causing the oil to be less prone to going rancid. As such, plant- and animal-derived oils absolutely will work for protective coatings on knives, but do have a tendency to go "gummy" or tacky over time as they slowly oxidize, and once polymerized they can be challenging to remove. Olive oil, as an example, is only about 7% linoleic acid, while a high linoleic oil cultivar of safflower can have linoleic acid content of as high as 87%, while the content is about 15% in linseed oil. Bacon fat is 8-12% linoleic acid. However, as fatty acids degrade by oxidation they do release carboxylic acids, the most recognizable in that category for most folks being acetic acid (vinegar), but others as well. If using a natural food oil, corn oil is seemingly one of the least prone to oxidation, along with peanut oil, though rapeseed is also considered highly stable.
Mineral oil can degrade from oxygenation and heat exposure over time, but are comparatively much more resistant to this mechanism of breakdown due to their saturated double bonds and the lack of a reactive hydroxyl group. When they break down it tends to be into lighter paraffinic fractions that are more reactive, and can then cause the formation of LONGER hydrocarbon chains that form insoluble waxes and varnishes. But this is much slower and dependent on elevated temperature or oxygen levels that are unlikely to be meaningfully experienced in a daily carry knife.
All in all, you should be fine with the canola, but understand the other options and their relative strengths and weaknesses. Mineral oils are usually used as lubricants in industry rather than plant or animal derived oils due to their greater resistance to oxidative breakdown and superior wear characteristics.
All plant oils are comprised of fatty acids (a hydrocarbon chain with a hydroxyl group on one end) chiefly oleic and linoleic acids...however, they are, themselves, not acidic. Mineral oil, by contrast, is a heavy fraction of hydrocarbon chains derived from petroleum sources. Fatty acids will go rancid and break down into free radicals with exposure to oxygen, light, and heat, and those free radicals will cross-link to form a natural polymer, which is why oils like linseed oil "dry" over time as they oxidize and convert to a polymer. Linoleic acid, which derives its name from linseed oil, is a chief contributor to that polymerization, with oleic acid being a larger part of the composition of most food oils, causing the oil to be less prone to going rancid. As such, plant- and animal-derived oils absolutely will work for protective coatings on knives, but do have a tendency to go "gummy" or tacky over time as they slowly oxidize, and once polymerized they can be challenging to remove. Olive oil, as an example, is only about 7% linoleic acid, while a high linoleic oil cultivar of safflower can have linoleic acid content of as high as 87%, while the content is about 15% in linseed oil. Bacon fat is 8-12% linoleic acid. However, as fatty acids degrade by oxidation they do release carboxylic acids, the most recognizable in that category for most folks being acetic acid (vinegar), but others as well. If using a natural food oil, corn oil is seemingly one of the least prone to oxidation, along with peanut oil, though rapeseed is also considered highly stable.
Mineral oil can degrade from oxygenation and heat exposure over time, but are comparatively much more resistant to this mechanism of breakdown due to their saturated double bonds and the lack of a reactive hydroxyl group. When they break down it tends to be into lighter paraffinic fractions that are more reactive, and can then cause the formation of LONGER hydrocarbon chains that form insoluble waxes and varnishes. But this is much slower and dependent on elevated temperature or oxygen levels that are unlikely to be meaningfully experienced in a daily carry knife.
All in all, you should be fine with the canola, but understand the other options and their relative strengths and weaknesses. Mineral oils are usually used as lubricants in industry rather than plant or animal derived oils due to their greater resistance to oxidative breakdown and superior wear characteristics.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2008
- Messages
- 26,200
It's worth noting that lithium grease is not a food safe lubricant.
Ok, in the simplest words. Don't care your knife with what you wouldn't your bike.Just my two cents.
