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Olive oil?

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I did briefly search this forum for mentions of olive oil. It does show up as a component of many people's lubes and treatments and probably was a common lube historically (where available).

What are your experiences with olive oil?

Is it corrosive? Protective? Too liquid? Goes rancid too easily? Only useful when rancid?

Do you prefer to mix it with Vaseline? Mineral oil? Beeswax? Carnuba? Crankcase oil? Fresh left nostril male sperm oil?
 
What are your experiences with olive oil?
Works great, especially for cooking, and patch/bullet lube when mixed with beeswax. It's cheap, simple to make easy to procure, something I always have on hand.

Is it corrosive?
No.

Protective?
Yes, especially when mixed with beeswax, but still inferior to modern rust preventives.

Too liquid?
Compared to what ?

Goes rancid too easily?
Not in my experience.

Only useful when rancid?
No.

Do you prefer to mix it with Vaseline? Mineral oil? Beeswax? Carnuba? Crankcase oil? Fresh left nostril male sperm oil.
Beeswax.
 
I use it as 50:50 mix with beeswax for a lube for my 58-cal Minies in the Springfield percussion type US Civil War arms. If/when bareballing the flint smoothies, I’ll also drop roundballs into the hot melted mix and pull them out w/ narrow forceps, to dry on waxpaper. Those too work slick!

It is a VERY common lube for military percussion arms, used by many No-So Skirmishers.
 
I've used olive oil before but didn't find that it was any better than vegetable oil when mixed with beeswax. I buy the vegetable oil in the big containers at the cheapest price.

For cooking, I only use olive oil or coconut oil.

BTW, I mix the vegetable oil with the ratio of 1/3 beeswax and 2/3 vegetable oil. It is easier to spread over the chambers of the revolvers with that ratio rather than 50/50.
 
Vegetable oil contains a larger percentage of polyunsaturated fats. Polyunsaturated fats cross-link and form varnish (think linseed oil, one of the highest polyunsaturated content oils). If you use vegetable oils you might get varnish everywhere. This might be a benefit or a problem (it is a problem in restaurants).

Olive oil contains monounsaturated fats and don't cross-link (much) and stay liquid. They also might contain slightly more acids which might give some corrosion protection (or not).

I was hoping for others with experience.
 
I used to lube after cleaning with only olive oil, and as a patch lube as well. Both worked fine, but have since found mink oil for my hunting patch lube and moose milk for my shooting patch lube. I found olive oil required swabbing between shots. I have also started lubing after cleaning with modern gun oils. Have not settled on one yet.
Walk
 
Olive oil does not go rancid as quickly as "cooking oil" or most seed oils, in fact, most seed based cooking oils (especially those used in restaurants) are already rancid.
I mix with beeswax, sometimes I add a little Murphy's Oil Soap, I shoot for a consistency of jello pudding while it is still warm. This results in a final product that is soft enough to be spread or smeared on metal or cloth, but does not pour or slop. I alter the amount of beeswax to change the consistency based on intended use, metal protectant I like a little stiffer, patch or wad lube a little softer and with some M.O.S. added.
I actually use it for other things as well. Without the M.O.S. I use it as a nontoxic protectant on my small daily carry sheath knife's carbon steel blade. If I know I'll be playing in or around water I add a little extra. When it is time to slice up something for lunch I don't have to worry about toxic oils and such. It is good on skin. Good for sealing and living things. I apply it to powder horn plugs when I know I'll be hunting in the rain, as well as sealing my flintlock's pan with it under the same conditions. I finish knife scales, wood pipe tampers, bamboo/cane powder measures, and wood container plugs with it.

I suppose one could use straight olive oil for patch lube when shooting at the range and not waiting to fire the shot once loaded. But, I think that would get messy as the wax keeps the oil in place.

Oh, you mentioned vaseline. I believe this is a petroleum product, I understand some use petroleum based products like petrol jelly and vaseline to seal the front of b.p. revolver cylinders. I would avoid it within the barrel of your muzzleloader.
 
Gents, is this 50-50 mix of olive oil with beeswax recommended for the half inch cushion wads for shot loads? Also, is this something kept in a tin or is it too soft for that. I wondered if it could be poured into an old flip lid tin to keep in my shooting bag. I used paste lubes for my 50, but I do have access to bee's wax so this could be a good option for me.
 
Gents, is this 50-50 mix of olive oil with beeswax recommended for the half inch cushion wads for shot loads? Also, is this something kept in a tin or is it too soft for that.
I use it on fiber wads for shotgun. I also keep it in a tin.
The nice thing about using beeswax/olive oil is you can adjust the mix as thick or thin as you like it. you can also adjust it for summer or winter use.
 
I would describe the consistency of what I use most as "paste" like. I keep some in various style tinsel, mostly available from specialtybottle.com

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I did briefly search this forum for mentions of olive oil. It does show up as a component of many people's lubes and treatments and probably was a common lube historically (where available).

What are your experiences with olive oil?

Is it corrosive? Protective? Too liquid? Goes rancid too easily? Only useful when rancid?

Do you prefer to mix it with Vaseline? Mineral oil? Beeswax? Carnuba? Crankcase oil? Fresh left nostril male sperm oil?


I have used olive oil in my barrels for years, I do live in a hot dry climate. I never have to cap off with my revolvers, I get no crud ring near the breech of my rifles. Old timers called it "sweet oil". No doubt there are better modern things, but it works well for me.
 
Isn't olive oil used as a replacement for the whale oil that was common in the day?
No, but olive oil was also common during the period.
Whale oil was commonly used in lamps until the 1840s when prices began to rise. Lard lamps were an early substitute beginning in about 1842. Camphine was the first fuel used in burning fluid lamps. Henry Porter of Bangor, Maine patented a turpentine/alcohol blend and the name "burning fluid" in 1835. Hence, the name Porter's Burning Fluid. The mix had been developed as a fuel for oil lamps by Isaiah Jennings of New York in 1830.A typical camphine lamp has wick tubes forming a V. They have caps resembling thimbles to extinguish the light and to prevent evaporation when the lamp is not in use. Whale oil lamps could be upgraded to use the new fuel by installing camphene burners, but the combination of more flammable fluid and the larger fonts in whale oil lamps sometimes caused lamps to explode.
 
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