Touching the blade of a knife or dagger...

[Stahlhelm]

The surface tension or adhesion of hardened finish such as wax when dried will not remain intact when the blade expands and contracts with climatic (ambiant temperature) changes.

Tony

Very interesting thought! I'd never considered that one before.

As far as the different acidic content in the skin of different people, that's absolutely true. A friend of mine has the most acidic skin I've ever encountered on any human being. Any metals, etc. that he touches WILL be damaged, soon enough--Ren-Wax or not! I actually never let him touch anything I have, and he fully understands why. Fortunately for him he's not a collector of militaria.

This skin acid issue is, indeed, a very important fact to consider when you let people handle anything--and I do mean anything (valuable, collectible anything, that is). Imagine the damage that just one person with such acidic skin could do handling untold numbers of items at any militaria show--where almost every dealer and collector handles everything, as if humans don't even have skin oil and acid at all. That must be one of the most truly confusing and confounding things I ever observe at a militaria show--utter disregard for preservation and even basic safety with handling. It's things like that which sometimes make me sad that this stuff is in the hands of collectors--quite literally!

Chris

[Tiger 1]

Chris,

We can see this effect sometimes on early silverplated daggers that were originally lacquered to protect the silver finish. When the lacquer cracks or flakes off that allows the silver to tarnish 'underneath'. The tarnishing is not really 'underneath' the lacquer but in places where it is not intact or lost adhesion to the underlying metal thereby exposing the silver to the atmosphere.

I also believe that this is the same cause of the spidering we sometimes see on some EK cores. The paint has cracked and allowed moisture to raise minute rust ridges or trails to form 'under' the paint.

A departed friend of mine had such acidic body chemistry that he would corrode the blade on a stainless pocket knife in short order. Like within a couple of weeks. He eventually bought a Boker ceramic bladed knife. Instead of the blade being affected the nickle silver bolsters and the brass liners would patina almost black.

Just some thoughts.

Tony

[james m]

Jim,

I have to respectfully disagree.

Oil will not 'attract' anymore pollutants from the air than a dry blade will. What contaminants are in the air will settle on everything EXPOSED equally whether dry or moistened very lightly with oil.

The problem with displaying blades outside the scabbard is dust. Dust will attract moisture with humidity changes. This will cause more damage to a polished surface in the way of surface rust due to moisture retention by the dust than it will by being abrasive.

This is not an issue if the blade is properly stored in the scabbard.

I have used this method very satifactorily on my edged weapon collection for over 40 years. I also use and recommend these same presevation tips for the handcrafted damascus knives I make.

Now if you actually have 'dirt' floating around in your air enough to act as an abrasive I would strongly suggest wearing a dust or particle mask to protect your lungs and health. As an old blade grinder and steel eater I mean that sincerely.

All the best,

Tony

Tony:
I reside in Arizona where first off rust isn't much of a problem due to the lack of humidity. The airborne dust here is incredibly invasive and can and will cause problems with metals. That's one of the reasons all the major automotive manufacturers test their vehicles here but I digress.
If you get airborne dust on a waxed blade you can Well! just dust it off and the wax will protect it from scratching. I lived in the Midwest for many years and I couldn't begin to count the number of times I got caught out hunting in either rain or wet snow. My waxed firearms never rusted not once so if you need a torture test for protection I can testify to this. In prior years when I used to oil guns the exterior of my guns if you didn't immediately strip the gun down after coming in from the rain rust was a real concern.
Virtually no one anymore that I know recommends oiling the exterior of firearms for protection and if it doesn't make sense for firearms it IMO doesn't make sense for edged weapons either.
There are other issues with oil in regards to plated surfaces also but these have been covered in detail in past threads.
This is a free Country and you can use whatever you want but I'll stick with waxing my items. However; If you really think oil is superior perhaps you should consider oiling the exterior paint on your car!!
Jim

[Edgar Estrada]

Hello Tiger 1

Good information, thanks.

Please could you tell me what CLOVE oil is? Yes, sorry for my English, I believe I do not know what is that in Spanish.

Edgar

[Tiger 1]

Tony:

This is a free Country and you can use whatever you want but I'll stick with waxing my items. However; If you really think oil is superior perhaps you should consider oiling the exterior paint on your car!!
Jim

Jim,

Yes it is!

I suggested oil for unplated carbon steel blades. Wax is certainly good for other purposes. Now that you suggested that I oil the paint on my car would that suggestion correlate to me putting wax in the engine?

Tony





P.S. I also spend a lot of time hunting in the Midwest. I use Breakfree CLP for my guns. The US military apparently finds merit in using it. If the weapon gets soaked by rain or moisture a complete teardown to clean and dry is in order regardless of what you use as a surface treatment. I mostly hunt with muzzleloaders so moisture attraction is a given with the potassium nitrate reside left from shooting traditional blackpowder.

The same was used when I competed in Bullseye pistol. My target guns got handled and shot on a constant basis shooting local competition and when prepping to go to the National Matches at Camp Perry. Shooting 10k rounds of .45 ACP per season was the norm to be competative on the national level. That's a lifetime or more of shooting for the average shooter's gun. No rust or undue abraisive wear was experienced using oil.

Great country isn't it!

All the best,

T

[Stahlhelm]

Jim,

Yes it is!

I suggested oil for unplated carbon steel blades. Wax is certainly good for other purposes. Now that you suggested that I oil the paint on my car would that suggestion correlate to me putting wax in the engine?

Tony

Very interesting correlation, Tony!

Chris

[Stahlhelm]

I've also never experienced any "rust or undue abraisive wear" using oil on guns.

Surely it's not being suggested that wax be used on the interior parts of guns. I hope I'm just reading and/or understanding something incorrectly here. After all, oil on guns is, of course, meant to lubricate as well as protect them from rust. Wax also wouldn't serve both of those purposes on a gun. Again, hopefully I've just misunderstood something here.

Chris