Almost Choji oil

[Bleda]

Hi this is my first post here. Anyways i was trying to mix up some choji oil today for my iaitos and unfortunately it seems i couldn't find any sources of clove oil so i mixed in almond oil with the mineral oil instead. Now my question is, is the almchoji (copyrighted as of now! :D ) which is about 85% mineral and 15% almond oil going to be okay for use on my blade or is it going to hurt my sword?

BTW i did try the search and found nothing on almond oil relating to swords.

[renfield_kuroda]

The clove (or almond) content of choji is totally irrelevant; just there to make a pleasant smell.
The key is the mineral oil. Search for mineral oil, it's been covered exhaustively in the past.
Bottom line: don't put random gunk on your sword.

Regards,

r e n

[Bill Gallant]

Mineral oil by itself should've been fine for your Iaito.

I don't believe the almond oil was at all necessary. I don't know anything about almond oil, but hopefully it has no properties that can be harmful to your blades. (ie. stains or such)

[Brian Owens]

One oft overlooked characteristic of clove oil is that it is a natural anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. It is also an aromatic, so it will evaporate from the blade and "scent" the inside of the saya, over time giving some protection from mildew, mold, and other fungi.

Almond oil is a "sweet" oil, and if it builds up in your saya could turn rancid and/or attract undesirable bugs.

If you can't find true choji cheaply, and can't find clove oil to mix in yourself, then -- as mentioned above -- just use straight mineral oil.

BTW, most healthfood stores should carry small bottles of (outrageously overpriced) clove oil, also called clove bud oil, if you really want to go the full route. Some extracts have a dark brown tint depending on the time of year and geographical location of the harvest, but if diluted sufficiently with the mineral oil it shouldn't be a problem.

[David T Anderson]

Oil of cloves can be found in pharmacies...it's used to relieve toothache. You only need a drop or two per pint of mineral oil [look for LIGHT mineral oil also at the pharmacy]. 15% almond oil sounds like way too much. Any vegetable oil will contain a fair amount of water, which will be harmful to a steel blade and very possibly gunk up the inside of your iaito saya. I wouldn't use it...

[Bleda]

Thanks guys, for some reason the pharmacys here carry full clove buds, clove stem, clove this and that but no clove oil. I went with almond oil mainly since i had heard of it being used for medieval swords back in olden times and since its a non drying oil with a nice scent (not a big fan of clove scent personally lol). Anyways i'll just dilute this sword oil down to 95% and 5% and go with it till i need my next batch.

[Cady Goldfield]

I was also admonished that it's not the clove oil, but mineral oil that is the main ingredient. Not only that, it should be light mineral oil, the most refined form. The clove is just for aroma and only a tiny amount should be used. I don't know whether this is true, but I'd heard that full strength clove oil can actually contribute to corrosion.

[mikeym]

Cady Goldfield wrote:
I was also admonished that it's not the clove oil, but mineral oil that is the main ingredient. Not only that, it should be light mineral oil, the most refined form. The clove is just for aroma and only a tiny amount should be used. I don't know whether this is true, but I'd heard that full strength clove oil can actually contribute to corrosion.

I have heard the same thing. I was told that most museums now use plain mineral oil on their swords.

- Mike

[Brian Owens]

Originally posted by David T Anderson
...Any vegetable oil will contain a fair amount of water...Here's an experiment. Take a quantity of the vegetable oil of your choice and add a small amount of water to it. Stir vigorously. Let it stand for an hour. What happens to the water?

[Brian Owens]

Originally posted by Bleda
Thanks guys, for some reason the pharmacys here carry full clove buds, clove stem, clove this and that but no clove oil.
May I ask where you live?

[Daniel san]

Bleda: If they have all the parts of cloves you could make clove oil.
Mr. Anderson: I was also wondering about there being water in the oil you're getting;) Can't happen my friend. Or, rather, it is very obvious when it does.

[Bleda]

I was thinking of that but i honestly have no clue how i could make clove oil. I live in miami, well hialeah to be more precise so there are alot of "latin medecine" places that i visited and they all have clove parts in stock(infact the manufacturer/distributor is right here in hialeah) but no clove oil. I think i may have found a place that sells some clove oil, but i'm just gonna use this little bit of almchoji that i have left and then go make real choji afterwards.

[Ralutin]

Hi,

Clove oil (eugenol) can be extracted from cloves via distillation. You'd basically boil some cloves in water, collect the condensate and extract the eugenol from the condensate using an appropriate organic solvent, such as methylene chloride. This can be a fairly easy process, should you have a distillation apparatus and solvent lying about. I did this in my college organic chemistry course and got back quite a bit of oil from a few grams of cloves. Too bad I never saved it. :(

[Ralutin]

Originally posted by Ralutin
Hi,

Clove oil (eugenol) can be extracted from cloves via distillation. You'd basically boil some cloves in water, collect the condensate and extract the eugenol from the condensate using an appropriate organic solvent, such as methylene chloride. This can be a fairly easy process, should you have a distillation apparatus and solvent lying about. I did this in my college organic chemistry course and got back quite a bit of oil from a few grams of cloves. Too bad I never saved it. :(

Correcting myself: clove oil contains about 60-90% eugenol and similar compounds. Eugenol is an acidic compound, which is why one shouldn't use pure clove oil on steel nihon-to.

[David T Anderson]

Originally posted by Daniel san

Mr. Anderson: I was also wondering about there being water in the oil you're getting;) Can't happen my friend. Or, rather, it is very obvious when it does.

[ahem] I was just testing you guys to make sure you were paying attention...yeah, that's it...

Seriously, I've observed vegetable oil stain steel in the past, and assumed that it must have some dissolved water content. After doing some searching online, I discover that it's not water content, but rather acidic compounds dissolved in the oil that does this. A lot depends on the quality of the oil, I imagine.

In any case, I would still recommend against using anything but light mineral oil or quality gun or machine oil on a swordblade. A good sword and closely-fitted saya is not a place to start experimenting with kitchen products.

[Hank Irwin]

Use only mineral oil, you run the risk of making your blade rancid with ANY type of medicinal or fruit or nut oil added to the mineral oil. Lightly oil buki, not use light mineral oil. Improper mantenience will result in corrosion and that's all it takes to start a problem. Clove is for fragrance ONLY!:D