Oil for leather and metal

DECIMUS MERCATIUS VARIANUS

Okay, here's one that will show what an idiot I am... what kind/s of period oil would be best for oiling the leather items -- someone told me neatsfoot... did the Romans have this? For that matter, WHAT EXACTLY IS neatsfoot oil?

And for Armor? Same stuff? I have read of reenactors trying olive oil, but it seems to get gummy. Is there anything period that would work right?

Britannicus

A blade maker friend of mine uses Clove oil for all his metal work...more pricey than some, but he swears by it and he says its 'period', but I just don't know what time period! 

But his blades all smell nice!

Magnus / Matt
I think clove oil was used mostly by the Japanese, especially when it came to storing their nihon-to. Not sure if clove oil is european or not..

Hibernicus
Palm oil, walnut oil... beeswax.

Paul

Yes, I use walnut oil too- as well as using it to oil the wood on the pommel. Not sure if that is in period, but it is natural and looks good !

Luca

my leather provider told me "natural oil" only.

So long it doeasn't matter which kind is and I'm gonna try olive oil that is so mediterranean....

scythius

You may want to try almond (or some other nut) oil instead - it does not oxidize and go rancid. The olive oil will.

You may want to try this on scrap materials first before commiting yourself.

Hibernicus

And from our experience olive oil hastens the deterioration of leather straps... especially if you use your segmentata...

It also makes metal sticky.. dust and dirt accumulate very fast... especially if you use your segmentata...

Darius

We have a fellow that uses olive oil on both his leather and armor as well, and swears by it. With his leather, I haven't noticed any serious problem other that the leather seems to darken abnormally fast compared with other oils. With the armor, it does indeed seem to build an oily film... true, it doesn't rust, but it's annoying to handle, and stains his other clothing. I have not noticed anything with regards to going rancid, but our guy is very diligent about re-doing the oil periodically.

I would lean more towards using some sort of animal-based oil/fat/lard than a vegitable-based oil [if you're trying to replicate the Roman methods]. We do know that many of these vegitable oils, especially olive, were more common to Italy than to England or Germany, and that the Romans highly prized olive oil as a food additive... would they have hauled huge cisterns of it to the outer reaches of the empire, just to have guys slop it all over their armor? Perhaps. I would think, however, that the various animal (and perhaps vegitable) by-products that were germain to the legions' particular regions of deployment would prove closer to the truth.

scythius

Andy

Other than olive oil, are there other oils that can be used? Can Neatsfoot (spelling?) oil be used for both metal and leather? Or is that too modern as well?

what modern oils do you guys use (say for long term storage or don't mind sacrificing accuracy for rust prevention)? I'd assume machine oil is ok?

scythius

A lot of the modern 'neats' foot' oils available are adulterated by things like silicone... try to obtain stuff that is labelled as '100% pure' or similar.  

Crispvs

For the past four years I have been using pork fat on my helmet and have had good results as long as I remember to reapply it every couple of months. The fat comes from my grill pan at home after I have cooked sausages and one small scraping can easily last me a year or more without going rancid in its plastic 135mm film container. The fat needs to be rubbed thinly over the entire helmet, paying special attention to the eyebrows, the steps in the neckguard and the meeting between the peak and the bowl (you will all gather from this that mine is an Imperial Gallic), and will not discolour the metal greatly if properly spread. I have not tried using fat with my segmentata, owing to the amount which would quickly be rubbed off by the movement of the arms, the sword and baldric and, when worn, a cloak. Perhaps someone else has tried fat with body armour and can advise.