Rust Prevention ... Without Forcing a Patina

Someone beat me to Froglube, but that stuff is awesome. Follow the directions for the first application: clean it well, then apply paste (preferably, or liquid) and heat it up with a heat gun, dryer, or leave it in the sun. Let it melt down and soak in really good and then wipe off the excess. Excellent protection.

This guy has a trio of videos, with some extensive testing of a dozen different brands. Froglube performed well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOB5eCReAQY&list=UUyRTN9Df63fcTZKR9kKMFwQ
 
james terrio said:
I'll look into the FrogLube because I very much prefer something food-safe when actually shipping knives out. Mineral oil works OK for that, but not great.
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Here's a pretty decent-looking test of Froglube against a whole bunch (46) other products: http://www.dayattherange.com/?page_id=3667

Scroll down to the corrosion resistance section. Froglube was the only one in the top 4 that is food grade, and from what I can tell looking at the pics it just barely missed being in the final three that didn't show any corrosion at all.

Honestly, it seems like any petroleum jelly type product would work pretty well simply because it stays on, whereas mineral oil seems to come off pretty quickly. Maybe chapstick would work, who knows? But Froglube does have a pleasant smell, so that's kind of cool.
 
shane_o_ca said:
Renaissance wax works pretty well from what I hear. I haven't tried it myself, as I can't find any locally.
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Shane, Lee Valley sells a 'micro crystalline wax' that's very similar to Ren Wax, seems to work well and is inexpensive.
 
aarongough said:
Shane, Lee Valley sells a 'micro crystalline wax' that's very similar to Ren Wax, seems to work well and is inexpensive.
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Microcrystalline wax is pretty neat stuff. I've been making my own food safe paste wax for wood handles and blade protection out of cosmetic grade MC wax, organic bees wax, carnauba wax, and food grade mineral oil. It's super easy to make (just melt them together in a double boiler, I use a soda can cut in half suspended in boiling water), and the materials are readily available. Works great and smells nice too.
 
It looks like there are a mess of great choices out there. Perhaps I will invest some time and $$ into both food safe and non food safe experiments.
 
Others have posted that mineral oil comes of quickly. I found just the opposite and use it in the field and for long term storage in the leather sheath. I try not to rule anything out based on someone else's opinion(unless I am not set up to test it and they are:)). So don't take my word for it... or theirs.;)
 
Rick Marchand said:
Others have posted that mineral oil comes of quickly. I found just the opposite and use it in the field and for long term storage in the leather sheath. I try not to rule anything out based on someone else's opinion(unless I am not set up to test it and they are:)). So don't take my word for it... or theirs.;)
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Rick, what type of mineral oil are you using? I have some "white" food grade mineral oil that I use for making paste wax, and that's what I've found to be less than ideal for in-the-field rust prevention. This may be due to its relatively low viscosity (it's very thin, not much thicker than water). I think the stuff sold as laxative is significantly thicker (closer to maple syrup) and perhaps that would work better.
 
My experience with mineral oil is the same as Rick's. A few months ago I wanted to switch to a food safe oil to be applied when the knife was completed, so I went to CVS pharmacy and picked up a 32 oz bottle. The bottle is labeled as "lubricant, laxative". It has a very thick consistency (similar to baby oil) and definitely stays where you put it. In fact, I have to wipe the knife down with a dry rag after applying to remove some of it. I almost wished at times, that it were a little thinner consistency. I think what I may do, is switch to a soaked rag application instead of applying the oil directly to the knife. Regardless, it has proven to be very effective at staving off corrosion, so I'm going to stick with it for now. Of course I use this after the knife is completed. During the process of building a knife, I now use WD-40 religiously to help prevent any corrosion from forming. I find myself cleaning the blade quite a bit during a build using water and Dawn soap. After any cleaning, I immediately dry and apply WD-40. Using the conjunction of these two seems to be working well, as the few instances of corrosion I had previously, during and after a build, have been eliminated.
 
Mine is the "Mineral Oil, Heavy USP", Adam. Purchased at the local pharmacy, advertised as a laxative. That could be the difference... and why I am so regular.
 
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Microcrystalline wax is pretty neat stuff. I've been making my own food safe paste wax for wood handles and blade protection out of cosmetic grade MC wax, organic bees wax, carnauba wax, and food grade mineral oil. It's super easy to make (just melt them together in a double boiler, I use a soda can cut in half suspended in boiling water), and the materials are readily available. Works great and smells nice too.

I just ordered all of the ingredients to make this concoction. Do I melt them at exact proportions ... Ie, 4 oz each?

Thanks,

Bobby
 
I've been using Fluid Film, the 8 oz can, Corrosion X, the gun formulation and RIG on various knives. Happy with all of them. I tried a dry lube on an ESEE blade and it seemed to start developing a little patina in the logo area pretty fast. Switched to Corrosion X about 2 years ago and it looks great. Didn't remove the patina, just stopped any rust.
 
East Branch,

With the double Boil formula, should I melt the ingredients at a part each? ( 4 oz, 4oz, 4 oz, 4 oz) Or should I melt a different amount of each?

Microcrystalline wax is pretty neat stuff. I've been making my own food safe paste wax for wood handles and blade protection out of cosmetic grade MC wax, organic bees wax, carnauba wax, and food grade mineral oil. It's super easy to make (just melt them together in a double boiler, I use a soda can cut in half suspended in boiling water), and the materials are readily available. Works great and smells nice too.
Click to expand...
 
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