Thread: With what do you oil your wick?

Raw linseed was standard with wooden planes. I cut up an old wooden jack to make some chisel handles. On the outside it was cracked all over and black from the tip where it was found; not fit for renovating. Inside however was a different matter - you could still smell the linseed oil. I suspect that in those days everything in the shop had a thin layer of linseed just from being used.
Cheers,
Jim

I think I read of new woodies being submerged in BLO for a couple of days when bought new.

Paul

Looks like I need to do a test of linseed, jojoba and Trad Wax (all three of which I have on hand) and see which works best (if any).

Boiled linseed oil, and raw linseed oil are not the same thing, you need raw for lubricating the bottom of a plane. It stays fluid and won't get sticky. Boiled linseed oil puts a finish on wooden planes, and protects the wood. Some people soak wooden planes and saw handles prior to waxing.

Toby

Agreed. Raw was what I was going to use for that reason

for lubricating plane soles in use I apply wax. generally just candle wax, which works very well, but if I have a rag with caranauba out sometimes I'll use that.

I have an oil wick that I use to lubricate burnishers for edge prep of card scrapers. it's charged with usp mineral oil (unscented baby oil from the pharmacist) thinned with turps.

Originally Posted by jmk89

Agreed. Raw was what I was going to use for that reason

Hey jmk89,
This thread has a lot more viewers than posters, I just thought it might need to be clarified so that someone doesn't make a mess of things. I wasn't aiming at you. Boiled linseed oil had been mentioned in this thread and someone might get the idea that it was either/or.

Toby

I haven't tried it, so may be dead wrong, but I would not have thought an oil wick a terribly great idea to keep sitting on a bench top - surely it's going to pick up dust & grot & end up a right mess? I presume the idea of applying it by a wick is to keep the amount of oil to a minimum, to avoid a similar problem with your plane bottoms. Seems to me much less bother to keep a candle or block of paraffin within reach. Lubrication from a dry block is dead easy to apply, extremely effective, & it doesn't break when accidently knocked on the floor......

Cheers,

Ian

In fairness to the oil wick idea, Jim Kingshot makes it clear that the oil wick is not soaked in oil - the oil is to be kept to the absolute minimum necessary to transfer a really thin film onto the sole.

As for picking up crud, I agree and I am making a lid for my oil box.

Hey Ian,
I've seen candles and blocks of paraffin on workbenches that were full of grit and dirt too. Whatever you use should be covered until you use it. (In my humble opinion)

Toby

I use a block of paraffin too and surely it is the superior lubricant for all the reasons mentioned above. But if you want to use oil, Steve Maskery uses a strip of felt from an old hat rolled up in a small round tobacco tin like a shoe polish size and adds only a couple of drops of oil to it a year. Lid goes on when not in use. Don't know what sort of oil he uses, but I suspect it's not linseed, his current tin was his fathers and is fifty years old, and would be pretty gummy if it was linseed. I'd say it's paraffin oil or some other highly refined mineral oil

A slightly different type of wick I have seen is a piece of 1" thick soft rope about 50% longer than a #4 is wide. The rope was jammed lengthwise into a slot in a block of wood (I don't know if it had sand paper underneath) and it had a hinged lid to keep it clean.

I prefer wax

I wouldn't use paste wax in a wick as it has solvents in it that would dry up in short order. Roy Underhill uses mutton tallow, I use paraffin as it is low maintenance, my friend has a stand with a block of paraffin on it so he can just pull the plane across it. If you are taking an extremely fine shaving and put paraffin on the sole the wax will be thick enough to prevent the plane from cutting until some wears off.

The plane wicks in the tool chests I have found have paraffin oil in them. Never found one with linseed oil in it......
wouldn't there be a potential for a disaster using linseed oil and winding it up tight in felt?

I went looking for paraffin oil recently to use on the cast iron tables of woodworking machines, and found it at a larger bunnings store.

Products | Diggers Paraffin Oil | Recochem - Australia


Regards,
Peter