Whale oil

[JMtoolman]

Hi guys, I read about mixing up batches of lube for several years, and now I have a question. I was given a gallon of old sperm oil. That's right, old whale sperm oil. Came from a friend that used to shoot long range front stuffers. If I were to use this to make a bullet lube, along with beeswax, does any one know of a mix to use for a soft lube? I have been wondering what I was going to find a use for this stuff . It must be almost unubtainium nowdays. Best regards, the toolman.

[OLPDon]

Wow I surly would think the first thing you will find is you will surly have many friends..................... Its better then having a built in swimming pool or a pickup truck. You will find you have many, many new friends and old ones will become new again.

Don

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

....I was given a gallon of old sperm oil. That's right, old whale sperm oil. Came from a friend that used to shoot long range front stuffers. If I were to use this to make a bullet lube, along with beeswax, does any one know of a mix to use for a soft lube? I have been wondering what I was going to find a use for this stuff . It must be almost unubtainium nowdays. Best regards, the toolman.

unobtainable for sure ...it may even be illegal to possess for a non-native american ...even if it's very old. I, myself, wouldn't be stating I am in possession of it in an open forum, But then again, I see black helicopters.

If I were mixing it with BW, I'd look into that % is used in recipes that call for olive oil. when you ask "soft" that doesn't tell us that ambient temperature you are referencing. You could just start at 50-50 and try it out.
Good Luck,
Jon

[bgoff_ak]

I’ve never had whale oil, but I’ve had seal oil for eating and it stunk to high hell and tasted like you were eating bad fish and axle grease all at the same time. has this been processed for lamp oil etc ( i would assume it would go really rancid ) but there are additives you can mix to keep it "fresh" if it has not been processed. like you said it maybe worth its weight in gold to some one. ( I have no idea of the legality of such... it could be like ivory or game... just a heads up i don't want you to end up in the slammer because i thought it was a good idea to go peddle it )

[bgoff_ak]

JonB_in_Glencoe you must be fast on that button I was still a finger pecking at my keyboard, you had all ready replied and gone to cast more boolits... ive got to learn to type...

[waksupi]

It's sperm whale oil, not whale sperm oil! Possession shouldn't be a problem. I tried whale oil years ago as a patch lube in muzzle loaders. I found it fouled the bore rather badly. I had to swab every ten shots or so. I also had smouldering patches, a bad thing in this part of the country. I really don't know what it's application in a lube would be. I would check Hatcher's Notebook to see if he did anything with it.

[bgoff_ak]

It's sperm whale oil, not whale sperm oil!

ohh maybe its not worth as much as i thought before... one seems rare, the other almost common place.

[Junior1942]

ATF is artificial whale oil. I'd use it in a lube recipe which calls for ATF.

[mdi]

Wonder how they collected the whale sperm, oil...

[btroj]

Yuck. Not a job for me

[Bulldogger]

Whale oil is supposedly the best fine lubrication nature ever made. Watchmakers used to use it. I suppose synthetics have caught up now, but will continue to wonder.

As I understand it, it is legal to own, but it is HIGHLY ILLEGAL to sell. Your friend was OK in gifting it to you, and you are allowed to share, but don't ever get caught selling whale products.

As rare as it is, I wouldn't waste it on lube, but then again it's of zero use sitting on a shelf anyway.

Bulldogger

[Char-Gar]

Whale oil was harvested to use in oil lamps back in the day. It also had a number of other uses. Brownells used to sell pint cans of the stuff to be used as a honing oil. I had some back in the mid-60's.

While oil was used in early automatic transmissions and as Jr. said, ATF was developed to replaced it. AFT can be substituted in many of the old formulas that call for it.

That gallon is a blast from the past, but not a lubrication treasure. There are many modern synthetic lubricants that surpass it's performance in whatever use.

[pipehand]

The difference in Sperm Whale Oil, and true Spermacetti oil, is that the Whale oil was rendered from the body blubber. The Spermacetti was taker from the sperm whale's "Case" or that part of the head that houses the whale's sonar apparatus (for lack of vocabulary.) That "Case Oil" was what the watchmakers used because it would not gum up or oxidize like other oils. Your gallon is probably 80 years old or more!

[leadman]

It was an additive in limited slip differential oil so the clutch plates would not stick.

[BABore]

Wasn't jojoba oil found to be a good replacement?

[felix]

Yes, and so has certain synthetics. But, as usual, specific applications call for VERY narrow solutions. ... felix

[Patricklaw]

I'd look up Ed Harris' article on making Ed's Red bore cleaner. Not that you'd want to use it for that but I believe that article was where I saw an historical discussion of the transition of our industry from sperm whale oil to ATF.

[plinky56]

Glad post #6 cleared that up.

[montana_charlie]

If I were to use this to make a bullet lube, along with beeswax, does any one know of a mix to use for a soft lube?

Whale oil, is not suitable.
If what you have is spermaceti, it can be used for making bullet lube.
It is a liquid wax which solidifies when in contact with air. It can then be re-liquified by 'trying' it ... which means heating it.

Here are two articles which show the difference between 'whale oil' http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilH...ale/whale.html
... and spermaceti http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilH...sperm_oil.html

The old Sharps company supplied a lube for bullets which was also used to make grease cookies.
It consisted of 2 parts (by weight) of spermaceti to 1 part beeswax.

I would have provided this information days ago, but I was banned from the site until this evening.

CM

[Whiterabbit]

Whale Sperm Oil would make an incredible Dirty Jobs episode.