The Best Oils for Camping and Hunting Knives
You would be surprised to know that camping and hunting knives require oils to keep them in shape at all times. These knives are not your everyday regular knives found in the kitchen. They are built for extreme environments and uses, which requires the use of high-quality raw materials like carbon steel, among many others, to ensure they can hold out in the wild.
To increase their longevity and boost their ability to perform without needing any form of repair, special oils are used in their maintenance. We are going to explore some of these oils, their best features, and their drawbacks.
The Best 10 Oils
Yoshiro TSOIL
Yoshiro TSOIL is a Japanese brand of knife oil that comes in a small bottle of about 3.4 ounces and is predominantly made using camellia oil. It is considered to be one of the best oils for all types of knives, especially camping and hunting knives. The oil is safe and certified food grade, which means that even if some traces of it remain on the knife and get into whatever food you may be preparing when out camping will be okay for consumption. The oil kit comes with a Sabitori rust eraser for dealing with rust spots and a cloth for the application of the oil.
Kurobara Tsubaki Oil
Kurobara Tusbaki is another Japanese brand of knife oil that’s food-grade certified and ranks highly among knife enthusiasts around the world. It comes in a much larger bottle that operates like a pump spray bottle which makes it easy to use. All you need to do is point the nozzle to the part of the fixed blade you want oil and spray a little. You can control the amount of oil you want to use, making it an economical option. The oil works well against rust and corrosion, giving your hunting and camping knives a longer lifespan. The oil is also handle-friendly, so don’t fret much when some of it goes onto the knife handle; you are even encouraged to apply some on it for uniformity.
UltrasSource Mineral Oil
The UltraSource mineral oil comes in a 4-ounce bottle, and it is the best oil out there for stainless steel blades found in the hardy types of hunting and camping knives. It not only lubricates the blades, giving them that alluring luster, but it completely protects the blade from rust and any other form of corrosion for as long as you keep using it.
The oil is also handle-friendly and can be used on any type of handle, be it plastic, metallic, rubber, or plastic. The oil is USDA-approved, meaning it is okay even when it comes into contact with the food you are about to consume. It is odorless, tasteless, and colorless; you’ll barely feel it if a drop of it gets into your game meat by accident.
Citadel Black Natural Blade Oil
The Citadel Black Naturalblade oil comes in a stylish bottle that can easily be confused for deodorant, thanks to its square shape. The oil is a combination of white mineral oil and cold-pressed Tsubaki oil, and both ingredients are safe for use near consumable foods. The oil is ideal for carbon steel blades as well as regular stainless steel. It adds some protection to the blade, reducing the chances of rust, corrosion, or the knife’s gradual wear and tear due to constant use over time.
The oil is odorless and colorless, spreads nicely and evenly on the blade when applied, and doesn’t solidify when in the bottle no matter how cold the conditions may be. It comes with a dropper that allows you to control the amount of oil applied.
Thirteen Chefs Knife and Honing Oil
The Thirteen Chefs honing oil is more of a general type of blade oil that can be used on any type of knife, including kitchen knives. The bottle size is much smaller than most of the other oils in this list, but don't let that diminutive size distract you from the fact that this is one of the most efficient knife oils around. It is food-safe, tasteless, odorless, and colorless, and it goes a step further; It has no traces of allergens or gluten that can be found in most knife oils on the market.
The oil is also safe to use on all types of blades, from carbon to steel, creating a formidable barrier between the blade and humidity. This keeps the blade shiny all through no matter how long you use it as it is protected from rust and corrosion. When applying the oil, make sure it seeps in well into the crevices in the handle as that has been known to be a spot where rust begins due to water accumulating there over time.
Sentry Solutions TUF Oil
Sentry Solutions TUF oil comes in a unique design. It has a permanent dropper fitted at the top; all you need to do to use it is remove the cap and squeeze a little of the oil onto the blade before applying evenly on the surface to your satisfaction. The product comes in two variations; the other version comes with an aspirate pen applicator and is designed for bigger knives. The former is best suited for folding knives as it can apply the oil straight to the sheath’s hidden crevices without missing any spot. Ensure you squeeze in a generous amount in the moveable parts to make the opening and closing of the folding knife much easier.
Daiwa Reel Oiler
The Daiwa Reel Oiler has one of the most unique shapes on this list. It is built to be portable and lightweight, just the type that you would throw into your pocket at a moment’s notice alongside your pocket knife. The shape of the bottle resembles a pen, making it the smallest knife oil container on this list. It has a thin applicator that gives it a good range when it comes to applying the oil, even to the most hidden parts of the knife. The applicator also gives you the freedom to adjust the amount of oil to use, reducing wastage that comes with using other types of knife oils. The container is also clear, which gives you a good visual of how far gone the oil is.
Nano-Oil Anti-Friction Oil
The Nano-Oil Anti-Friction knife oil is another uniquely shaped bottle that almost resembles the Daiwa Reel Oiler both in shape and application. The only difference is that this oil tube folds; this makes it easy to walk around with it in your pockets. You can fold it up into a smaller shape, and you wouldn’t even notice the bulge in your pocket. The blade-based lube serves two main functions when it comes to hunting and camping knives. The first one is to protect the blades from any form of corrosion and rust that is brought about by exposure to moisture when you are out in the wild. This ensures that your hunting knife lasts longer.
The second function is to provide lubrication for all the knife’s moving parts, especially if the knife in question is a folding knife. The needle-like applicator comes in handy for this role as it can be used to add oil into the most squeezed of spaces that normal means cannot be able to reach.
Liberty Synthetic Oil
Quick Release Oil
The Quick Release oiler for hunting knives is one of the most versatile oils on this list as it can be used for many blade based products indiscriminately. You can use it on kitchen knives, dagger, hunting and camping knives, bicycle gears, fishing hooks, firearms, switchblades, basically anything metallic that you can think of. The reason why it has this wide range is that the contents of the product have been known to give metallic surfaces a very lustrous shine that gives them the appearance of being new when properly polished.
The oil minimizes friction in folding knives during their opening and closing by providing the right amount of lubrication to get things going. The bottle comes with a need-like applicator which makes the application of the oil much easier and faster. The package comes with some clothes that you can use to wipe off any extra oil that remains on the knife after the application. But here’s no harm in leaving some of the residue caked in as it is food safe.
Conclusion
It is clearly evident that hunting and camping knives need the best maintenance practices for them to continue delivering the intended results. Fortunately for most enthusiasts, these oils come cheap, and they last for long; you only need to use them at least once a week. If you have any more questions regarding different types of knives, please contact us at your earliest convenience, and our team of experts will handle any concerns you may have promptly.
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