Whale Oil

What is the closest thing we have today to whale oil?

I do not want a recipe for moose snot or mouse milk, but a comercial replacement for the whale oil of past days.

Is there one?

 

[GregC]

This may sound stupid but how about another type of fish oil?

 

[bezoar]

the only fish oil replacement for whale oil comes from, naturally, other whales. The most desired oil was the whale of the sperm whale. Whale oil was used for many things from precision high altitude mechanisms to motor oil additives, to automatic transmission oil.

And last time i checked they big companies were still trying to find a good man made alternative to whale oil. So i doubt a quart of cod liver oil is going to do anything other then turn rancid on your gun.

 

[roundball]

What is the closest thing we have today to whale oil?
I do not want a recipe for moose snot or mouse milk, but a comercial replacement for the whale oil of past days.
Is there one?

Yes.......Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis)

Made up almost exclusively of liquid wax-esters, the oil of jojoba seed is unique in the plant kingdom (Wisniak 1987). The general structure of these lipids is shown in Fig. 9. Jojoba is often touted as a whale oil substitute, while in fact it has features that, in most applications, make it superior. First of all, whale oil has a significant (about 30%) amount of polyunsaturated triglycerides as part of its total lipids. These make it oxidatively less stable than jojoba, which has essentially no triglycerides, polyunsaturated or otherwise. Secondly, jojoba wax-esters are considerably longer in chainlength, ranging from C40 to C44. The bulk of sperm whale oil has chainlengths of C32 to C36. The fatty acid and alcohol compositions, making up the wax-esters of jojoba oil, are listed in Table 5. The specific combinations of alcohols and acids have been established by mass spectrometry (Spencer et al. 1977).
Jojoba oil's current use is centered on the cosmetic and personal care industry This is due primarily to its ability to lubricate without the sense of greasiness. There are about 6,000 productive hectares (15,000 acres) of jojoba in the southwest U.S. As these areas become more fruitful, and additional areas come on-line, the price of the oil is expected to decrease. As this comes about, more industrially oriented uses for this material will emerge in the market place. A number of derivatives have been made. These include sulfurized and halogenated jojoba oil, for high-pressure applications such as in automobile transmissions, and hydrogenated jojoba as a wax.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Bah! Roundball beat me.

I tried hunting some down and it weren't cheap. Like $5 per oz. +/-

 

[GregC]

Whats Roundball do for a living? Seems like soon as you send him a PM or a post, he replies instantly?

Must be nice RB to surf the muzzleloader site all day...course that is what I am doing now.

Ha Ha. Most gun related or hunting related sites don't make it through the filter or "surf control" but thankfully this one does!

 

[Tahquamenon]

Interesting link about whale oil;
http://ks.essortment.com/whaleoil_redd.htm

Also for lubes:
http://www.nyelubricants.com/

 

[NORD]

Try Mink oil from the Track...I just warm it up on the stove with the steel can it comes in and make a large batch of patches by dipping strips of patch cloth through the oil. It works great...one can goes along way...and it is totally natural and very slick...I even increased accuracy out at 100 yards! I just love the stuff!

:front: :m2c:

 

I thought everybody liked castor oil - isn't that why it made it's way into the infamous lube recipe?

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Bah! Roundball beat me.

I tried hunting some down and it weren't cheap. Like $5 per oz. +/-

Hmmm.... My brother is a pharmacist and owns Family Drug in Napa, CA. My mother, two sisters and two nephews work there too, so it really is Family Drug. When I was there last year, my sister gave me a couple of 4 oz. bottles of JoJoba Oil by J & J Jojoba. It might of been $8 or $10 for that bottle, but I don't think it was $20. I use it for the dry skin I get from our freaking cold winters here in Vermont. Guess I'll have to run some patch material through it and see how it works.

 

[tireland]

Dixie list some "Synthetic Sperm Whale Oil" $3.00 for an 8oz. bottle. Add says "Non petroleum." I got a bottle Of stuff (that says the same thing) from a vendor at Kalamazoo last year. I haven't used any yet but it did still pour after a couple of days in the freezer. :results:

 

[dlemaster]

The stuff I got from Dixie a while back smelled like Cod Liver Oil, but I don't know for sure what it is.

Regards, Dave

 

[buckknife]

Ghost im thinken that whale oil which is renderd from whale blubber most closely relative would be sumthin like bear oil.Now whales are mamels,they give milk to their youngens.Perhaps there fat would be different than the fat from a fish,which aint a mamel.I know that sounds silley but there fats could have different propertys.I aint never seen bear or whale oil but they both come from fat.
I bought a bottle of the jojoba oil,4 ounces for $8 a couple years ago.I have half a bottle left.It shot fine but it was just another lube i played with.Your thread made me get the bottle out,jojoba that is and put a dab on my finger,on the other hand i put some of my rendered beef tallow on my finger,rolled em around a little.The jojoba aint much different than olive oil,maybe a hair thicker.
I then ran water over my fingers to see how well it would repell water,did the same with the tallow.after rubbing the jojoba between my thumb and finger under the water for 5 seconds the jojoba was gone,the tallow on the other hand was still greasy.What this tells me is that jojoba oil would be a poor sub for whale oil.It may shoot closely the same but it would not protect the bore the way the whale oil would im thinken.
Now them old timmers back then most likely kept there guns loaded and had plenty of black powder fouling in the bore.They would have needed a lube that when mixed with the fouling it would keep the fouling from drawing moisture.If the fouling caint draw moisture it cant rust.
Aint no bears around here but i have heard that renered coon fat is much like bear,there in the same family tree,and if you have ever skinned a coon you know how greasy they are.The greasyer the animal the better the lube and bore protection for its properetys of repealing moisture im thinken.Maybe i think too much :youcrazy:
I ran an experement for at least a month with tallow and my old junkar 45 caplock pistol.Cleaned all the oil out with ruben alkey till it was squeeky clean,dryed er out and lubed it with tallow.No rust after a couple of days.I loaded it up and shot a ball with tallow on the patch.Didnt clean it just ran one grease patch of tallow in the bore and left it in there with the ramrod.Would have just reloaded it but i didnt want to leave it loaded around the house.Pulled the ramrod and patch the next day,just black greasy fouling.Loaded it and shot it one more time and didnt clean.I kept this up for around a month.it was shot at least once about 3 times a week on average.it was never cleaned during the expereyment and it never showed any signs of rust at all.I gave it a good soap and water bath here a while back cause i wanted to see what was going on.No rust in the bore.Not even in the snail which kinda surprised me. ff: :sorry:

 

[oomcurt]

Hmm..just thinkin...if it is a greasy animal ya want...trap a possum...easy to catch and great tastin too.

 

[SimonKenton]

Let's hear for the mink! I love that stuff and it stays slick even near zero. Haven't tried it below zero.

-Ray :front:

 

[buckknife]

From what i understand there were different grades of whale oil,the sperm whale the most prized.I doubt many people could have aforded the high quality stuff for muzzleloaders.The lamp oil grade is what most likely would have been available to the common man.Some how rendered animal fat which would have been readly available to anyone that hunted and was readly at hand about anywares would have been the lube of choice.If you look at Lewis and Clarks provision list you wont find anything that could be stated as a patch lube to last the intire trip.They didnt need to pack it along,it was readly available everywhere there was a animal.
A link to whaleing............
http://www.colonialcdbooks.com/rendering_the_whale.htm

 

a friend bought a 55 gallon drum of whale oil at a government auction in Klamath Falls (used for oiling aircraft insterments)and gave me a couple of quarts. I love the stuff.

 

[musketman]

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=2073&osC

http://www.theeyeofnewt.com/store/html/items/Whale_Totem_Oil.asp

http://www.ageless.co.za/jojobaoil.htm

 

[big bore 75]

the stuff Dixie Gun Works sells works great if you can get over the smell, I use it for patch lube and after rust browning a barrel, then useng the hot water process to stop the rusting and use Dixies whale oil on the barrel the stuff is rather thick but works interesting well.
bb75

 

Having used sperm whale oil for my guns in the past (it was still available in limited quantities in the eary 70's if one was willing to search for it) - the "closest" thing I've found is double refined bear oil - render the fat for the oil, run it through cheese cloth and then chill it - the liquid that will sit on top is the what I call double refined.....