The Essential Oilpot

[Stanley Covington]

What is being described here is nothing more (or less for that matter) than an Oil Wicke. Popular Woodworking did an article with a little drawing/plans for one of these a few years ago. Jim Kingshott used one in every single video he did that involved hand planing. Adam Cherubini talked about them more times than I can remember. They're convenient. There are other ways of getting oil on a tool but the wicke keeps it off your hands. These are not in any way exclusive to Asian woodworking traditions.

A plain, hard household candle serves about the same function on a plane -- probably even better for iron planes.

Motor oil is mineral oil by the way. If it's not a vegetable oil (flowers, plants, etc.) it's a mineral oil.

I don't get your point, Charles, unless it is to suggest that, because some people in one culture use one variety of a particular tool, no one could possibly be interested in learning about a different version used by a different culture. No one in this thread has suggested the oilpot is unique to Japan. In fact, others have already made the exact same point several times without being quite so dismissive.

Or perhaps your point is that, because this tool has been described elsewhere, it is a waste of time and electrons to have a post about it on Sawmill Creek? Obviously, it was a new idea for some of the readers, so perhaps not everyone read the PW article or saw the Kingshott videos. If the rule we must follow to avoid your disdain is to only write about subjects not written about somewhere else, then wouldn't that make an electronic forum focused on a subject as old and universal as handtool woodworking entirely meaningless?

Thank you also for clarifying that motor oil is a mineral oil. My mistake, but I had thought motor oil was a petroleum product.

But after thinking about it for 2 seconds, I remembered castor oil-based motor oils, and camellia oil-based motor oils. And then there's the current push for environmentally-friendly canola oil-based motor oil. Wow, are these all mineral oil too? Perhaps you could inform us where "mineral oil" comes from?

Your last sentence excludes a lot of oils that are neither mineral (aka petroleum?), nor vegetable based. I'm pretty sure tallow and lanolin were mentioned earlier in this thread. Crisco was mentioned, and while it is a vegetable oil nowadays, it wasn't that long ago it was made from pure lard. And please recall that tallow/lard can be made from not only cows, sheep, and pigs (Lardium), but from bears as well. Yummy. And don't forget the oil that made Nantucket great: Train oil, aka whale oil (which is actually a wax). Humanity has been using animal-based oils for a long time, it would appear.

I agree that a candle makes a fine lubricant, but I think an oilpot is better, and so I wrote the post. Just my opinion. Everyone has one. Apparently, André Roubo preferred "grease." I suspect he meant tallow (animal fat) of some kind. Oh my goodness, another opinion.

By the term "plain, hard household candle," do you mean Alkane candles or Cera alba candles? I suppose tallow candles don't qualify as "hard" but André might have liked them.

While the subject may have been written about somewhere, sometime before, I think you should write a post on the advantages of using candles. Perhaps you would clarify the difference between paraffin wax used in caning wax, and Alkane used in making candles? Perhaps you could wax eloquent on the friction and rust prevention characteristics, and maybe event the cost differential, of Alkane candles versus Cera alba candles used as a plane lubricant. And I would love to read your comparative analysis of these two varieties of candles when applied to chisels cutting through-mortises in large structural timbers.

Nothing new under the sun.

[Patrick Chase]

I for one appreciated your initial explanation and the subsequent discussion. Whether it's "novel" is of no consequence IMO - all that matters is that many people learned from you.

[Stanley Covington]

Although I have not yet used it, Jojoba oil has been available from the tool retailers for a few years now. Can anyone share their experiences using it?

Same questions re flaxseed aka pure linseed oil.

Thanks

[Allan Speers]

Although I have not yet used it, Jojoba oil has been available from the tool retailers for a few years now. Can anyone share their experiences using it?

Same questions re flaxseed aka pure linseed oil.

Thanks

I definitely wouldn't use linseed oil (or any organic oil) because it hardens over time. Your tools would likely start to get sticky.

[Stanley Covington]

I definitely wouldn't use linseed oil (or any organic oil) because it hardens over time. Your tools would likely start to get sticky.

Thanks Alan. That is consistent with my experience, but I have none with Jojoba oil. It has a pretty high oxidation resistance index (60?)

Stan

[Pat Barry]

Although I have not yet used it, Jojoba oil has been available from the tool retailers for a few years now. Can anyone share their experiences using it?

Same questions re flaxseed aka pure linseed oil.

Thanks

Stanley, I also enjoyed your topic and learned quite a lot from it and am therefore thankful. It certainly beats the numerous sharpening threads for interest in my mind. Thanks

Edit - removed comment to stay on main topic

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I definitely wouldn't use linseed oil (or any organic oil) because it hardens over time. Your tools would likely start to get sticky.

For the same reason, beware of many so-called camellia oils. I got a "great deal" on some on eBay and it all but ruined a few of my planes and saws which will now need to be soaked in astringent to get the sticky goo off. I applied acetone with a liberally soaked cloth and it didn't budge. I suspect it is corn or other vegetable oil.

[Stanley Covington]

For the same reason, beware of many so-called camellia oils. I got a "great deal" on some on eBay and it all but ruined a few of my planes and saws which will now need to be soaked in astringent to get the sticky goo off. I applied acetone with a liberally soaked cloth and it didn't budge. I suspect it is corn or other vegetable oil.

Condolences. I have had real, 100% pure D camellia oil do the same thing. I hope the rust is not too deep.

Stan

[Prashun Patel]

Malcom, even imitations are likely to be some kind of 'oil', by which I mean, mostly hydrocarbon-based. That means they should all dissolve reasonably well in mineral spirits. I would start with that. In fact, you could start with mineral oil, then move up to MS to remove the mineral oil.

Unless, that is, they send you some kind of varnish that has polymerized. In that case you might want to use a chemical stripper.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Malcom, even imitations are likely to be some kind of 'oil', by which I mean, mostly hydrocarbon-based. That means they should all dissolve reasonably well in mineral spirits. I would start with that. In fact, you could start with mineral oil, then move up to MS to remove the mineral oil.

Unless, that is, they send you some kind of varnish that has polymerized. In that case you might want to use a chemical stripper.

I tried mineral spirits and acetone. Not much luck. I did manage to briefly free up the wheel on my LN 97 1/2 but it quickly stuck like glue- literally. I'm going to soak it in mineral spirits for a while.

[george wilson]

Yes,CASTOR OIL was THE OIL used in WWI in rotary engined aircraft. Those engines spun around with the propeller to enhance their cooling,and issued a great deal of oil in the smoke they made. It was a problem for the pilots back then,because they inhaled a daily dose of castor oil. I don't think I need to tell you what castor oil does to the digestive tract!! So,in the name of protecting MOTHER EARTH,I can well see that there could be a regression to these earlier motor oil sources.

The castor oil used in these early aircraft engines eventually HARDENED UP,leaving the insides of the old engines PRISTINE from their dried oil films. This has largely made it possible to rebuild some early aircraft with ORIGINAL engines and get them flying again.(Though most repros do not have the luxury of an original engine,some lucky,and well monied people do have them).

Castor oil is also used in some paint products. I have a quart can of the type used in paints,left over from the days when I experimented with violin varnish making.

As for 17th. and 18th. C. references to GREASE,they did not commonly use petroleum,though they KNEW about it,calling it ROCK OIL,because in some places it naturally seeped out of the ground. They had no idea at all where this ROCK OIL was coming from,or,really,what to do with it. I think I have read references to it being used as a medicine(!). But,they used tallow and lard for the most part,and they did have vegetable oils. Samuel Pepys (17th. C.) in his autobiography ( A GREAT read !),mentions how delightful asparagus was,("Especially with oyl and vinegar.") I love re reading that book,and using the map of 17th. C. London,to re trace his paths.

[Prashun Patel]

I suspect it was a varnish or the "oil" polymerized into a varnish. Try a proper chemical stripper.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Yes,CASTOR OIL was THE OIL used in WWI in rotary engined aircraft. Those engines spun around with the propeller,and issued a great deal of oil in the smoke they made. It was a problem for the pilots back then,because they inhaled a daily dose of castor oil. I don't think I need to tell you what castor oil does to the digestive tract!! So,in the name of protecting MOTHER EARTH,I can well see that there could be a regression to these earlier motor oil sources.

The castor oil used in these early aircraft engines eventually HARDENED UP,leaving the insides of the old engines PRISTINE from their dried oil films. This has largely made it possible to rebuild some early aircraft with AUTHENTIC engines and get them flying again.

Castor oil is also used in some paint products. I have a quart can of the type used in paints,left over from the days when I experimented with violin varnish making.

As for 17th. and 18th. C. references to GREASE,they did not commonly use petroleum,though they KNEW about it,calling it ROCK OIL,because in some places it naturally seeped out of the ground. They had no idea at all where this ROCK OIL was coming from,or,really,what to do with it.

Interesting- didn't know they used castor oil in the old rotary engines (which have always fascinated me) and didn't know about "rock oil." Thanks for sharing.

[James Pallas]

Gosh I almost feel criminal here. I keep one of those blue paper shop towels with a few drops of 3 in1 on it on the bench and a block of paraffin nearby. I use one or the other depending on the tool or the situation. I replace the shop towel every few days and have no guess as to the age of the paraffin. I think I may make one of those oil containers someday. No rust problem so far.
Jim

[Ray Selinger]

Thank you for your time and effort in posting. I'll have to make one. A PVC pipe caps are more common than bamboo here. I use Mobil 1 0-20wt as gun oil, never have to worry about cold sticking the firing pin. My wife uses mineral oil for her lapidary saws. Hydraulic oil had been recommended but, but as a millwright, I know that stuff is not good for you.