Oiling Plane Irons and Chisels
This is such a silling question i’m embarrased to ask, but here goes. I learned the hardway that after sharpening my chisels and plane irons using water stones its important to wipe them down with some sort of oil. I’ve been using wesson vegetable oil but am thinking about ordering some camelia oil (though i’m not sure why, the wesson seems to work find, just seems like the right thing to do?). But me real question is what have others done as an efficient set up for getting the oil on to the blade. i’ve scene a couple instructional videos where the person wipes the blade on some kind of rag or sponge in a small box, maybe like an altoids tin or something, but haven’t really been able to make out what the material was in the box or what type of box it may have been. Any suggestions on this very elementary question would be appreciated. thx. .t
Replies
Use oilstones and kill two birds....
....or use ceramic stones dry.
Waterstones = unneeded hassle.
I have some honing oil (LV) that I use on an Arkansas black stone. When I am using a waterstone I'll generally wipe the chisel with a rag to remove the water, than lightly pad it with a rag that has the honing oil on it. I've used WD40, sewing machine oil- anything that's relatively thin. Vegetable oil is probably fine I'd suppose.
Glaucon
If you don't think too good, then don't think too often...
I highly recommend the camelia oil. Wesson or other vegetable oils will turn rancid with time. I had to good fortune to meet David Charlesworth at the Marc Adams school of woodworking and he used a pad that was in an old tin box and camelia oil. I made my own pad by wrapping some cotton material around a new sponge cut to fit a wooden box I made for just this purpose. It has a lid that fits close and sits on my workbench allowing me to simply wipe the plane iron on it after sharpening or handling. I can pick up the box and use it on my planes like a chalkboard eraser as well. Works great.
Tony,
My camelia oil applicator is a short length of pvc pipe that's capped permanently on one end, and with a friction fit on the other. I filled this pvc tube with strips of t-shirt fabric, cut into strips as wide as the pvc is long, rolled it as tightly as I could, and slipped the sleeve of fabric into to pvc. Then I saturated it with camelia oil, which I can easily apply to my cutting tools by removing the loose pvc cap and wiping the oiled fabric across the tool.
Of course, you could also go to Hida tools or The Japan woodworker and buy a ready-made container used specifically for this purpose; the ones I've seen have been made of bamboo instead of pvc.
Good luck,
-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
If you are wiping down the tool after use, almost any oil soaked rag will do. I have one that I keep soaked with camellia. It lasts and lasts with only occasional oil refreshment. If you wish to lubricate your plane sole during use, then the Charlesworth method described by others works well. I use the similar Kingshott method.
I have a 2" diameter round container about an inch deep that contains a cotton lamp oil wick wound into a flat roll and which fills the container. It is placed edge up/down and tightly wound and packed into the can. The top edge of the wick stands proud of the container by quarter inch or so. The container is mounted in a 3" x 1/2" deep drilled recess in a block of maple. The block with the container and the lamp wick (soaked with oil and covered with a tight fitting lid when not in use) is placed on the bench and the plane sole is drug across the wick from time to time to assist in friction reduction. The block has non-slip router pad glued to the base and is heavy enough to stay put when swiping long jointer planes during use. Having it handy allows you to keep the rhythm of planing going without taking your hands off the plane to wipe it or wax it. You can get the containers from Lee Valley and keep them in the block with rare earth magnet.
Tony
Great name. It's my son's, also. Anyway, use camelia oil, available many places, including Japan Woodworker, and Toolsforworkingwood.com.
You won't have a rust problem if you use it.
Jeff
Dry your tools after sharpening.
I don't put oil on any tools and they stay bright.
I do the same thing. wipe dry on my pants and that is it.
Try Starrett M1 oil http://www.starrett.com/pages/1040_m1_all_purpose_lubricant.cfm I have used it on all my metal, brass/bronze & cast iron tools/table tops with no problems finishing the wood afterwords. I buy it in the non pressurizied gallon can & put it in a small spayer. And it does'nt smell bad either
I spray everything with T-9.
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=984
Todd
Because I have it handy, I have used 3 in 1 oil and that has worked fine for the past few years. Any vegatable oil will evenually break down and go rancid
1 - measure the board twice
2 - cut it once
3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go
4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
You are the second poster to mention that vegetable oil can go rancid. Okay, it goes rancid - does it matter? I would really like to know because I am currently using rancid sesame oil on my tools - it's no good for cooking anymore.
It is just the matter of smell. Also I have been told that vegtable oil as it breaks down can have some water in it which can POSSIBLY cause some rust.
I have not had the experience but the smell does turn me off.1 - measure the board twice
2 - cut it once
3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go
4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
It actually takes quite a while for vegetable oil to go rancid- and there's usually not much odor, but the taste can be funny. I don't usually eat with my chisels, so it doesn't matter much.
As I said, I have honing oil handy, so that's what I tend to use. I think probably a more important factor is viscosity. For example, olive oil is fairly viscous, especially below 60 F. Since the purpose of the oil is to retard rust, ideally a very thin coating with a low viscosity oil would be best. This would avoid making toils greasy and also leaving oil marks on wood. I think any low viscosity oil that you have handy should be fine. WD40 works fine in a pinch...Glaucon
If you don't think too good, then don't think too much...
You might try paste wax... it works well for me.
Leif
http://www.norsewoodsmith.com
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