Thread: Question about Camellia Oil

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

IIRC all plant oils become sticky/gummy, but the Tsubaki oil seems to only do so on blades. I only ever used it on bonsai pots because I use a different oil for my razors. Perhaps because the bonsai pots are exposed to the elements, the oil reacts in a different way, I'm not sure.

I know you may have said in another post, but how much is a 500ml of tsubaki. I was hoping you might do an experiment, but I'd like to get some if you will help

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

IIRC all plant oils become sticky/gummy, but the Tsubaki oil seems to only do so on blades. I only ever used it on bonsai pots because I use a different oil for my razors. Perhaps because the bonsai pots are exposed to the elements, the oil reacts in a different way, I'm not sure.

I'm interested. What oil do you use on your razors?

I sometimes use 100%camellia oil, but find it quite thick. Japanese people use it on their skin - it doesn't have to be wiped off. It is skin friendly. I think it is quoted as the closest to natural skin oil - might be wrong though! I find that Ballistol is better - much thinner, better creep, can be drunk, does not have to be wiped off. Old barber manuals recommend castor oil - I haven't tried it, though.
Regards,
Neil.

is thw camellia oil that you reference the same as the camellia oil that you buy for skin/hair at cosmetics stores? I was not sure if it was the right stuff so I did not buy it. Thanks.

Hi Garrett - I'm pretty sure it is the same thing. You can even use the cooking oil variety of it. I reckon it could cost quite a bit more in a cosmetic store - try looking for some on Ebay. You only need a small quantity - 250mls goes a long, long way!

I use Camellia oil for five reasons:

It works.
It's safe.
It's been used in Asia (high humidity) as the go to oil to protect carbon steel for Centuries.
It washes off easily with warm water.
It's inexpensive.

Originally Posted by netsurfr

I'm interested. What oil do you use on your razors?

I hadn't paid much attention when I bought it, and the label came unstuck and disappeared, so I had to go to the shop, to find out what oil I bought. Turns out I bought Choji oil, which is for swords, but got ripped off quite badly.

Choji oil is 99% mineral with 1% clove oil. Something I could probably have made myself, had I had known better. I paid $18 for an 18ml bottle, that means $1 per ml. Strange thing is though, it is a thick oil, on the same level as camellia oil for thickness. Today I am mildly p!ssed off.

I only bought the stinking stuff (actually it has no scent but you know what I mean) for my Tamahagane Iwasaki razors.

Originally Posted by kevint

The old myth of why clove was added to sword oil is that it prevented confusion with the household cooking oil, which I always thought was somewhat preposterous.

I'd say that is definitely a myth, and is ludacris (sp?) I just paid attention to what I use, and its a mixture of 99% mineral to 1% clove oil. You cannot smell the clove oil, so there really would be no telling if you were going to mistake it in cooking. Not to mention, I think the Japanese had a little more common sense than to store sword oil with cooking oil eh.

hmmm, all I can say is $1ml oil definitely deserves a sword to go with it.

Is there in general only one viscosity available in pure camellia? I'd be interested to learn when and how the transition to mineral oil based choji occurred and why it seems to be so complete. Just seems rather odd from this side of the world- I seriously doubt anyone had mineral oil 500 years ago.

I don't think samurai would be easy going enough to have their swords all gummed up with tsubaki or oxidized by pure choji. The easy solution might just be frequent cleaning with tsubaki, and it's limitation led to a ready transition to mineral

Originally Posted by kevint

hmmm, all I can say is $1ml oil definitely deserves a sword to go with it.

Maybe if Pope Benedict XVI blended and blessed it himself, it would be worth $1 per ml.

Originally Posted by kevint

Is there in general only one viscosity available in pure camellia?

I have no idea.

Originally Posted by kevint

I'd be interested to learn when and how the transition to mineral oil based choji occurred and why it seems to be so complete. Just seems rather odd from this side of the world- I seriously doubt anyone had mineral oil 500 years ago.

I don't think samurai would be easy going enough to have their swords all gummed up with tsubaki or oxidized by pure choji. The easy solution might just be frequent cleaning with tsubaki, and it's limitation led to a ready transition to mineral

Perhaps their swords didn't have a chance to gum up. My test was based on a razor coated with a thin application and left for just under 2 weeks. I honestly couldn't even speculate.

Mineral oil I thought, was a pound a penny basically, its that cheap. That would make perfect sense as to the change over, coz pure Tsubaki oil is rather spendy, but not $1/ml spendy.