Thread: Wood v Iron Planes.

Originally Posted by Ian Wells

Baby oil is just paraffin with a bit of colour and pong added , or faulding sell a small bottle in the "personal care " isle of most supermarkets.

I thought baby oil was just mineral oil. And mineral oil is used as a finish in itself sometimes(though probably not considered a good finish). And that mineral oil doesn't dry at all really like other oils. I like to use it for rubbing out because it doesn't cut so fast so I'm less likely to cut too deep.

so is baby oil …similar to….paraffin oil ….similar to mineral oil ? (all similar stuff)

in any case baby oils quite thin and cheap and obviously (apparently) ok for your health , so I'll stick that in my spray bottle instead without turps and see what happens with my planes. And just put up with smells that remind me of that overwhelming smell you get when walking through myers cosmetic section. Which always confuses me. Women with perfume on actually REPEL(me at least) ? maybe thats the idea for some women.

sounds like an improvement. appreciate your thoughts. thanks.

Originally Posted by apricotripper

I thought baby oil was just mineral oil. And mineral oil is used as a finish in itself sometimes(though probably not considered a good finish). And that mineral oil doesn't dry at all really like other oils. I like to use it for rubbing out because it doesn't cut so fast so I'm less likely to cut too deep.

so is baby oil …similar to….paraffin oil ….similar to mineral oil ? (all similar stuff)

in any case baby oils quite thin and cheap and obviously (apparently) ok for your health , so I'll stick that in my spray bottle instead without turps and see what happens with my planes. And just put up with smells that remind me of that overwhelming smell you get when walking through myers cosmetic section. Which always confuses me. Women with perfume on actually REPEL(me at least) ? maybe thats the idea for some women.

sounds like an improvement. appreciate your thoughts. thanks.

yep paraffin oil = mineral oil
baby oil = refined? paraffin oil + sents

My first jack, in fact my only jack for the first 20 or so years of working was a transitional. Worked fine for me.

I use wax on the sole. Candle wax, canning wax, beeswax, used them all, they all work.

Certainly less Polyaromatic hydrocarbons in Mineral/Parrafin oil than in Mineral turps, sure gum turps contain's terpenes, but there is very limited evidence of them being carcinogenic as compared to ethylbenzene and trimethylbenzene that can be found in mineral turps. If a petroleum spirit is to be used , white spirit is probably a bit better than turps, it certainly has less non-drying oils in it so it may not make varnishes sticky.