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Choji oil versus other stuff.


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I've lived in Sydney, Jakarta and now Singapore...I've never had any rust issues. And this is my oil of choice! (Sounds like a retail advertisement). At AU$24 it's a lot cheaper than choji, which is, as I understand it, light mineral with a spot or two of oil of cloves added to make it smell nice. And frankly I spilt some neat oil of cloves on a saya and it left a mark.

 

http://www.carbatec.com.au/camellia-oil_c6250

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I agree about the cloves oil leaving marks John, for me it was on the blades, staining them, i stay away from using anything with cloves oil in it myself now, i use the 3 oils below, all good IMO, never had the chance to use Camellia Oil?

 

Rem oil

Hoppe's oil

Outer oil

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David.

 

There is no outlet for camellia oil in OZ as far as I know, and believe me I have looked into it. Any good quality cleaning kit from Japan has what is referred to as Token Abura (choji oil which is I understand, a vegetable oil (plus a tiny amount of clove oil).

Pure Camellia oil is a yellow oil and absorbs moisture and salt and is easily oxidised. It is a cleaning agent. This reference comes from a book put out by the All Japan Swordsmith Association.

 

Pure clove oil is acidic and it does mark almost anything it comes into contact with. As I understand it, it is only added to other oils to give them the correct PH to use on a sword; others may be able to expand on this or refute it. (Correct me if I'm wrong :) )

 

As far as the question of Choji versus the sythetics and mineral oil goes, I'm something of a traditionalist. I have used Token Abura for over twenty years now and it works. I'm a great believer in 'If it aint broke dont fix it', so i guess its unlikely I'll switch to an alternative. However, mineral oils are being used and they are acceptable to the above authority (AJSA). I would be interested if someone has conducted an analysis of the various alternative oils to see if they are in fact more appropriate for sword care.

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Thanks Moss.

 

Its been a few years since I was trying to source camelia oil in Australia, so this must have become available since then. Good to know though. :D We might actually be approaching becoming civilised in OZ! Although civilisation originating in Queensland is a bit hard to swallow! :badgrin:

 

OK....... I'll go back to being nice now. :beer:

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Keith, there is even a Carba-tec outlet in Perth. Also I never use clove oil (can't stand the smell) I was introduced to camellia oil many years ago and have always been happy with it. If I haven't been able to aquire Camellia oil, I've used General purpose home oil (singer sewingmachine oil, castrol handy oil etc) and never had a problem there either.

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Singer????? Castrol??????????????? :shock: Heresy I say! Do you hear that rumbling sound? That is the sound of thousands of swordsmiths turning in their graves. :glee: May your tatami curl up at the corners!

 

Seriously though, there are a lot of highly refined and specialised oils out there now that were unheard of in former times. It would not surprise me to find that one or two of them were in fact suitable for sword care. I wont be changing over to them myself because I'm a traditionalist and what was good enough for sword care in the 1500's is good enough for me. Some things should just not be messed with.

 

Cheers guys :beer: :beer: :D

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hope someday this sticks, the one on the left is for your teeth, never a sword, it will stain it. The Middle one is for Nihonto and wont give you anything other than a light scent and has been used for years ya cant go wrong with it. The one on the right works in a pinch and cleans old choji oil and all kinds of crude well.

 

"the Middle path you should take"

Yoda or was that Buddha?

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Sword oil for swords......... Baby oil for babies. End of story. Baby oil is water soluble DUH!

 

Baby oil must work well on babies though....... I cant remember ever having seen a rusty baby! :D

 

The above statement makes about as much sense and reflects the same naive logic as the use of baby oil on the blade of a nihonto. :roll:

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