Best Sperm Whale Oil replacement?

[Handsome Jack Hammer]

I sailed in the engine room of an old mini-tanker, the Chattahoochee, back in the early eighties.  We used whale oil in that ship as a lube/coolant for the shaft seals. 

You don't wanna put it on your guns these days, but if'n your real set on awthinticiti, just buy a can of sardines and wipe that all over- at least the smell will be authentic!

[James Hunt]

Since Del brought up olive oil I'll follow up with that. I have long used olive oil when cleaning guns. I take the cylinder out of the gun and simply hose the BP out of it under the hot water tap, then dump it in a jar of olive oil that is topped off occasionally. This displaces water, protects for as long as I've seen the gun sitting in my safe, and lubricates well. In fact I have found that it lubricates so well that in cartridge guns I must take -OH and wipe out cylinder before shooting or case will not "stick" to cylinder wall and is a problem when shooting blanks in CMS. This is a quick procedure. Due to cost I don't use it on the rest of the gun after cleaning with water, I use a tallow/wax mixture. However, I have used Olive oil to lubricate internal parts and seems to work fine (I have also used type F transmission fluid which I believe is parrafin based).

Was not olive oil called "sweet oil" prior to 20th century? Olive oil is easy to find.

[Delmonico]

Olive Oil was sometimes called Sweet Oil in times past and is still called that today if you go and buy it off the Pharmacy shelf instead of the grocery shelf (At a much inflated price)  Often a drop or two is used to loosen ear wax.  In times past it was used also for burns.

True Sweet Oil is the Extra Virgin stuff.

One unique thing about Olive Oil is that it is the only common vegtable oil that is classed as a Non-Drying Oil.  A Drying or Semi-Drying Oil will harden on exposure to air.  A good example of Drying Oil is Tung and Linseed Oil, other cooking oils are Semi-Drying, this just means that they take a few weeks or so to Dry instead of hours to a couple days of Drying Oils.  The worst offender is the Soy Bean Oils, which are the most common cooking oils today. 

In fact sometimes when I buy another old knife to use in the cook camp, I drop it in soy bean oil after it's cleaned up and sharpened.  The bean oil soaks into the wood and I lay it out on a old towel after wiping the excess off.  In a few weeks it dries out having well soaked to wood.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Delmonico;   CANOLA is a name created by Canadian rapeseed marketers. 

I use Mazzola on leather.  I've tried it once on BP guns, but it seems to be a "drying", or "semi-drying" oil.  Any comments?

[Delmonico]

Unless they've changed, Mazzola is still corn oil and yes it is a semi'drying oil.  It just takes longer than the drying oils.  I had never really thought of using olive oil for blackpowder guns, but it might be worth a try.  The Meditaranian region used it for lamp oil till kerosene was invented.  Have thought about using it in my lanterns when I go cook, it won't stink up the gear if it gets spilled like coal oil.   Could put it in a period bottle with out a label, could fill up the lantern, light it and fry some tators all out of the same bottle.  Could be fun fer shock value.

BTW DuPont added some driers to soy bean oil in the early thirties, plus pigment and started painting their cars with it.  This is the old time alkyld enamel that was common for cheap repaints because it sticks well with a minimum of prep work and shines well for a few years.  DuPont called theirs Dulux.  Ain't been in the bizzeness fer years, but the last I'd heard it was almost phased out, EPA concerns.

[Three Fingered Fred]

A quart of 20W50 synthetic motor oil will provide a lifetime of firearms lubrication.

[Virginia Gentleman]

I know all about the synthetic oils, but I am more interested in using something more authentic and like the ideas of the various vegetable oils.  I am going to stick with Jojoba oil as it is supposed to be the closest thing to Sperm Whale oil.  I am going to try Olive Oil too as it will make my gun think it is in a "spagetti western."

[Adirondack Jack]

Ok, now we can use extra virgin olive oil on guns, and vinegar and water on brass.  Gettin' so folks won't know if yer about to clean up after a shoot or make a salad

[Black River Smith]

Where do you get the jojoba oil?  What type of store or shop?

[Hell-Er High Water]

On eBay, Jojoba Oil is listed under "Health & Beauty" - "Massage Oils".  You might look for it at you local massage palor of just go to eBay and buy it there.

According to at least one supplier on eBay it also is a bath oil so you can add some to your bath water and smell sweet while shooting rather than like a old sweaty cowpoke like we usually do.  Hell, there goes the authenticity again.

Anyway, this should get you on the right track.

HHW

[Black River Smith]

Thanks High Water that will start me off.

[Fox Creek Kid]

BRS, I don't mean to pee on the parade, but jojoba oil is not a magic ingredient. For that matter neither was Sperm whale oil. Save your money. FWIW the guru of BP, the "Mad Monk" Bill Knight, told me that for the money you are not going to beat SPG. That's for LR BP shooting however. For CAS just use a beeswax/Crisco (or any tallow) mix and you'll get the same results. Been there, done that & got the T-shirt. 

[Delmonico]

BRS, I don't mean to pee on the parade, but jojoba oil is not a magic ingredient. For that matter neither was Sperm whale oil. Save your money. FWIW the guru of BP, the "Mad Monk" Bill Knight, told me that for the money you are not going to beat SPG. That's for LR BP shooting however. For CAS just use a beeswax/Crisco (or any tallow) mix and you'll get the same results. Been there, done that & got the T-shirt. 

I'm con-fused here, since the thread was about lube fer movin' parts where did the bullet lube thing came in.  Perhaps you should have got pants instead of the T-Shirt.

[Fox Creek Kid]

Go back & reread his original post. Does it say "moving parts"? I know he shoots BP as well from his other posts and was giving him some useful info on top of everything.

[Delmonico]

Sperm whale oil is non toxic and was a traditional gun oil into the mid 20th century.

I don't use gun oil on bullets.

[Virginia Gentleman]

My original post was about moving parts on the gun that back in the 1800s and 1900s Sperm Whale Oil was considered "The machine lubricant" for many precision devices.  I know there are better synthetic substitutes, but I wanted for historical reasons, find a good substitute for SWO. Jojoba oil seems to fill the bill nicely and even makes clean up easier.

[Delmonico]

Thank You Sir, kinda what I understood it to be, went through and looked at all them and never seen bullet lube till now.

[blue drifter]

hi all
  out of all four or five we spoke about, synthetic/veg whats the best one to use on my guns. I don't shoot
BP, but I would like to use the best.

[Virginia Gentleman]

I would say any modern synthetic gun oil/CLP is superior to anything that is historical.  Try CLP, Breakfree or any other modern gun product.  I was only interested from a historical perspective to try to duplicate SWO.

[Linn county ranger]

Hello all,

Just ran into this don't know if it was mentioned yet.
Meadowfoam is an herbaceous winter annual plant native to the pacific Northwest area of the United States. The oil from the Meadowfoam plant was recognized for its outstanding oxidative stability. It is unique in that it contains over 98% fatty acids having over 20 carbon atoms. The typical major fatty acid composition is: C20:1 is 63%, C22:1 is 16%, and C22:2 is 17%. Meadowfoam oil was developed to replace sperm whale oil in the 1970's, in an effort to protect the species. Meadowfoam oil remains liquid at room temperature despite its high molecular weight. It is one of the most stable lipids known, and Meadowfoam oil is so stable that it lends stability to other oils. It, therefore, is useful in applications where you are using less stable oils such as sweet almond, kukui nut, evening primrose, borage, and hemp. Use Meadowfoam oil in lotion bars and lip balms to extend shelf life. It makes a very moisturizing bar of soap when used as a superfatting agent. It is often used as a binder, and it may actually help hold fragrances better in bath salts, soaps and massage oils.