Oil for rust inhibition without attracting dust and dirt

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Silly_Billy

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I've discovered that PS88 lubricant is invaluable. It was designed as an oil for locks, which means it inhibits rust yet resists dust and grit. I found that many other oils can attract dirt, but PS88 avoids this problem.
 
I haven't found dirt attraction to be a problem with mineral oil. If you're using a drying oil, it will probably be a problem.

If you have flat surfaces that are getting rusty, use paste wax instead of oil - it won't attract anything and the barrier will last much longer.

most of the canned rust preventives are naptha or some kind of drying solvent with wax mixed in them - beware of silicone. You can make the same thing by dissolving paraffin (i'm sure english terms are different ) in mineral spirits or naptha. beware of creating a fire hazard, though (i'm sure what comes out of those cans would light off quickly, too).

Paraffin is $2-$4 per pound here in the states, and mineral spirits is - I don't know, $5 a quart. I'm not sure that a quarter pound of paraffin into a quart of mineral spirits or some mix of that and something more volatile (naptha) wouldn't be too much paraffin.
 
If any UK readers think it's worth saving a few pence by making their own products, I am pretty sure that US "paraffin" translate as solid wax (candle wax) not pink or blue fuel for your greenhouse heater. And naphtha is probably what's sold as lighter fuel.

But most of us will probably already have suitable non-drying mineral oil in the workshop. Mine's labelled 3-in-1 with those three purposes being to lubricate, clean and protect.
 
we have the same oil over here. It became unfashionable when lie nielsen videos came out touting camelia oil.

naptha is also sold as "lighter fluid" over here, too - you're right. It's just a cleaner version of gasoline as far as I know. Paraffin is generally the cheapest wax for candle wax, and it's also used (or used to be) as a seal when canning because it has a low melting point......and is cheap.

mineral spirits over here is a refined form of kerosene. I once tried to cross reference a post in a UK forum about terminology, but by the end of it, some of the folks thought naptha was mineral oil and that lighter fluid and naptha were drastically different. I'd imagine this kind of thing is a problem for engineers who come from England to here and thought that we all speak the same language.

Mineral spirits is also the least expensive form of "brush cleaner" for oil based paints and varnishes sold over here. THe most refined type is sold as "odorless", but chasing this stuff, as you say, isn't really necessary. there are many non-drying oils available - the cheapest may be medium mineral oil sold as "scent free baby oil".

A 50/50 mix of mineral oil and beeswax makes for a nice non-drying wax for anyone who wants to put a very thin coat on something but doesn't like the solvent smell of the drying wax types.
 

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