What to use to oil carbon steel blades?

Ballistol all the way. Used on steel, leather and wood and has stood the test of time since 1890. Developed by the Germans and used for military applications in the field.
 
I never intentionally oil my knife blade unless it's going into storage. In that case it's breakfree clp from the 90's, which is excellent. I have no idea if the present formula is the same.
The only time my user knife sees oil is from the rare oil stone sharpening, or a drop to free up a gummy pivot until I can give it a proper cleaning.
 
I use cutting board oil. Which is food safe mineral oil. I keep it handy for cutting boards wooden utensils knife blades and wood scales.
 
I don't oil my blades, very few have rusted over the years. Interestingly enough, half of those that rusted were stainless steel, but rusting has been a rare occurrence. I live in a dry climate.
 
sodak said:
I don't oil my blades, very few have rusted over the years. Interestingly enough, half of those that rusted were stainless steel, but rusting has been a rare occurrence. I live in a dry climate.
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I live in very humid climate.

And stainless steel corrossion is always cringey, I mean not only that stainless steels are generally weaker than high carbon steels (unless we talk about super steels, which still aren't completley stainless), and if they rust too, that's just bad.
 
GABaus said:
lip balm such as chap stick works pretty darn well in my experience.
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Well, answers like this one are what I was hoping for when I created the thread :D

It's easy to carry in your pocket, easy to buy and easy to use. It also has another use except just oiling your blade. And it is perfectly food safe.
Your lips aren't dry, your girlfriend is happy and your blade is safe from rust.

Also, people would give you weird look if you carried something like small oil bottle or small greasy rug with you to maintain your knife, especially assumig that you'll use it and you're also going to be somewhere for prolonged period of time.
But you won't really get weird looks for lip balm.
 
I wipe em down with a Marine Tuff cloth. Never ever had rust issues.
 
Silicone spray is something I like.
Long lasting.
I don't use non-stainless for food.
 
Well, I'm currently using lip balm on my EDC knife, so I'll see how it goes. I got that idea thanks to this forum :)

On my other knife I usually use for harder tasks at home or outdoors I still use coconut oil, and so far I never experienced rust.

Both of those are food safe, easily available and honestly even smell good. I mean, both coconut oil and lip balm have other purposes except being used on a knife, so I have them around all the time.
 
TheEdge01 said:
I recommend Balllistol. It smells like dirty gym socks but gets the job done.
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I use Ballistol for a wide range of different uses. I've used it also to coat carbon steel blades with good results.

My favorite rust preventative for carbon steel blades is FLITZ metal wax. FLITZ also makes a great polish and several other knife/gun maintenance products. And their metal wax is just great. If I'm not going to use the knife for food prep then I'll just use the Ballistol. But I very rarely use any Carbon Steel blade for any type of food application with all the great stainless blades available anymore.
 
Bee wax or paraffin are excellent on patina, seals very good, non-sticky, stays clean, glides trough material, last longer in wet environment, no problem with food and helps alleviate the stickiness to wet / humid thing in very cold environment. Easy to carry and use. I love it. I only oil for storage. I would never put greasy knives in my sheaths. I remove the oil completely with soapy water and wax them before uses in the field. I have a Glock that the blade rusted from under the oil film because it was all the time in high humidity in my truck's toolbox, that never occurred with wax or Paraffin.
 
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