Found Gold

[KCSO]

I recently had to liquidate a fellow's shooting supplies for his widow and in the stuff I sold I found gold. Something I havent seen in over 30 years... two unplened pints of SPERM OIL. I am old enough to remember when sper oil was used for everything from lock oil to patch oill to bullet lube. Now just like gold I have to decide how to ration this out. I use to use bees wax and sperm oil for B/P bullet lube and this was my first thought but... Oh my ducats Oh my daughter. SAo both cans sit untouched while I ponder.

[Dean D.]

Nice Score KCSO, rarer than hens teeth now days! I hear it works great for lubricating the lock on flinters, never tried it myself as I've never had any to try!

[JIMinPHX]

Be careful about how you dispense that stuff. These days there are all kinds of screwy laws preventing it's sale. The penalties can be quite stiff. I seem to remember a story about somebody selling some on e-bay & getting jail time for it, even though he owned it legally somehow. The environmental wackos have some strong laws on the books these days.

[RayinNH]

Sperm oil, what sperm oil

[noylj]

Sperm oil is incredible stuff and I haven't heard of any synthetic duplicate.
It transmits sound waves faster than almost any other material. A drop will lubricate a large area, like silicone oil (except silicone oil is not as "oily" and doesn't lubricate as well.
Wish I had just a little to lubricate some of my antique watches.

[stubert]

Don't sell it, you'll never see more again if you do. Use it and remember your buddy every time.

[Dean D.]

Don't sell it, you'll never see more again if you do. Use it and remember your buddy every time.

Well said and a big +1 :drinks:

[Catshooter]

Don't sell it; it's legal to posess but a felony to sell.

It is great stuff. I was given some by a friend. He is a gunsmith and when he heard (in the 60's) that it was going to be outlawed he ordered a case of it from Brownells. Smart.

I use it to lube my precision tools and a tiny tiny drop goes a long ways. Every time I use it I think of him and his generosity.


Cat

[Harry O]

If anyone asks, say that you bought them from Brownell's back when that was legal and you have had them ever since. I have about 1/3 of a pint left from back then. I don't use it unless the other lubes I have, have failed. I just clean whatever it is that is having problems and use the Sperm Oil. Never had it fail me yet. I have read about old time black powder lubes using SO. I wish I had enough to try it. It must have been awesome.

I got a letter from Brownell's after it was outlawed. From memory, it said that you could use what you already had on hand, but you could not sell it, could not buy it, and could not have it given to you or give it away.

[quilbilly]

NASA used to use whale oil to lubricate parts in space because it doesn't gel in extreme cold. If you are headed to the Arctic for a polar bear or muskox hunt (or spend the winter on the North Slope) whale oil is the best lubricant you can use on firearms. NASA at one time found a substitute in ratfish liver oil which is nasty smelly stuff but works well in cold weather.

[mpmarty]

Sperm Oil? You can buy all you want in Japan. DAMHIK

[nicholst55]

Sperm Oil? You can buy all you want in Japan. DAMHIK

Hmmm, says the man in Korea! Wonder if I can buy some here.....

[JIMinPHX]

Sperm Oil? You can buy all you want in Japan. DAMHIK

Really? Can you give me the name & address of a place that carries it? I've got a couple of friends with names like Shegai & Yutaka that could probably pick some up if I told them where to get it.

I would be just recommending that they get it for their own personal use, over there, of course...

[home in oz]

What about Iceland?

They still hunt whales, dont they?

[Echo]

Used for clock and watch oil in the old days. Doesn't creep like petroleum oils will.

[MtGun44]

AFAK the Japs are not hunting sperm whales, smaller and less rare species.

Bill

[x101airborne]

believe it or not, sperm oil or was a major ingredient in machining lathe/mill oil back in the day when the bessemer process was new. The reason was that whale oils not only went a long way, but the steel mills added a chemical to the steel that made it mildly acidic in PH. When these chips found their way into the machinery, they caused localized corrosion. The whale oil not only lubricated, but prevented this acidic dust from transferring to the porrous (by todays standards) metals such as cast iron in the mills and lathes. After machinists found out that it worked so well, nobody ever bothered changing from the whale oil.

JOKE: i love dolphins, taste like spotted owl; you just dont have to kill as many.

[FWAddit]

There should be a chemical wizard somewhere who could analyze the molecular structure and synthesize that stuff. Sounds very marketable.

[Markbo]

I hope you remember your buddies widow and let her know how valuable it is too.

[kawalekm]

There should be a chemical wizard somewhere who could analyze the molecular structure and synthesize that stuff. Sounds very marketable.

Uhmmmm, that's what automatic transmission fluid is, synthetic sperm whale oil.

[zardoz]

I've never seen sperm oil, but was reading about substitutes for it a while back.

Jojoba oil, apparently, is extremely close in characteristics and chemical nature to sperm oil. It comes from plants grown in North America which are of course renewable. It is used for many of the same lubrication purposes as sperm oil used to be. Unfortunately, it is still very expensive as well.

Here is an article about jojoba vs. sperm oil, short and worth the read.

http://faculty.ucc.edu/biology-ombrello/POW/jojoba.htm

[Bret4207]

NASA used to use whale oil to lubricate parts in space because it doesn't gel in extreme cold. If you are headed to the Arctic for a polar bear or muskox hunt (or spend the winter on the North Slope) whale oil is the best lubricant you can use on firearms. NASA at one time found a substitute in ratfish liver oil which is nasty smelly stuff but works well in cold weather.

Well, there ya go. All I gotta do now is catch a mess of ratfish and get their livers...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_ratfish