Thread: Food Grade Oil For Knives

Hi all. What food grade oil does everyone use to protect their carbon steel hunting and butcher knives, including leather sheaths so they don't adsorb moisture and transfer that moisture to the knife? I was looking at CRC food grade 5.56 and plain old white mineral oil because they are both readily available and safe for knives but is it ok on leather?

Neatsfoot oil is an old go to for leather and is rendered down from the leg bones of cattle.

whatever is in the frypan.....

+1 for neatsfoot
Lanolin if u don't mind the smell

Originally Posted by Sharki

Lanolin if u don't mind the smell

its known to attract unwanted attention from Ozzies......

I've always used a cold pressed olive oil, simply cause I have it. It seems OK, haven't had any issues from using it look at it that way. I left butter on a knife once, wasn't a planned thing but forgot to wipe it down after it was left sitting on a bit of butter in the sun where it got warm. Never again, mouldy butter - yurk.

Put Armourall leather protectant on our leather sheaths and inside the sheath.They are in very good nick. Trick is to take all blood off the leather after each hunt and not to let the leather get dry as a bone.

take the blood off the KNIFE before it goes back into sheath makes HUGE difference too.

I just use cooking oil

get some food grade mineral oil for the blades - its about $15 for a bottle of 250ml
Neatsfoot will work for the sheath and also very economical

I think Balistol is ok. But read the label....
I have a paper towel lightly soaked in canola oil.

Veggie oils are sweet as long as you use the knife reasonably often, leave them too long exposed to air and they can go rancid, especially cold pressed oils like olive oil.

The Japanese use camellia oil, which works mint as its the perfect viscosity and doesn't go rancid. Little on the spendy side but it last forever and a day.

Originally Posted by Nick-D

Veggie oils are sweet as long as you use the knife reasonably often, leave them too long exposed to air and they can go rancid, especially cold pressed oils like olive oil.

The Japanese use camellia oil, which works mint as its the perfect viscosity and doesn't go rancid. Little on the spendy side but it last forever and a day.

The cold pressed olive I've found to not be too bad in a sheath - I've left one knife for 12 months in the leather and no issues. Open air would be a different story likely, but then mineral oil is not too good left like that either. It will dry or pick up crap when exposed to the air...

I was mistaken. I thought mineral oil was readily available but I can only find online stores that sell it. Can't just walk into a store and grab a bottle after work.

https://silkystore.co.nz/blogs/news/...ol-maintenance

See what they recommend.