Hints & Tips – No.1 The Oily Cloth
August 22nd, 2011 | 
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I’ve decided to add a new section to the BushcraftStuff Blog site. So, welcome to the first post in the Hints & Tips section. Here you will, over time find… well, hints and tips some of which you may hopefully find useful.
This one is very simple but I personally think quite effective. Especially when you’re going on a trip which is going to last a few days.
Carry an oily, lint free piece of cloth in a zip lock bag. I usually use olive oil. You can then use this cloth to help take care of your knives and tools by wiping them down with the cloth and putting a protective oil coating on them after you have cleaned and dried them of course. This will obviously help to keep rust off your precious tools.
Like so many other pieces of bushcraft kit the oily cloth has more than one use. On the odd occasion I carry a lightweight frying pan with me. Before cooking I give the pan a wipe around with the oily cloth (This is why I use olive oil as it’s edible and will not harm you if you ingest it). This thin coating on the pan aids in cooking and also helps to stop food from getting welded to the pan, making it much easier to keep clean.
**If you have any useful tips please feel free to use the comments box below or you can email them to use using the contact form on this blog site. If we use your tip we will credit you as the author**
In my kit I always try to keep pistachio shells. The oil in the shells make them a exelent fire tinder !
New to this, found your address on the Birch sap blog. Did you know that orphanages in Siberia are feeding the children on cabbage and Birch Sap?
Much as I like olive oil, I would think mineral oil would be a better choice as it will not turn rancid and is also safe for human consumption. It is commonly sold in small containers for treating wood cutting boards, but is available in larger containers which are more economical at many drug stores.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for the great tip on mineral oil. I’ve never used it myself but I’ll certainly be getting some to give it a try. I like that you say it does not go rancid over time.
Tony,
Thank you for the great web site!
Tony et.al…
1} olive oil better as can used with food and if no bush buffet can eat cloth and absorb all good vitamins of the oil, natural sunscreen greeks and others have used for millenia…
2} mineral oil has no odor (won’t attract animals and rats/mice/bugs), is a natural laxative, can be placed via drops into ears to naturally dissolve wax and clean/prevent buildup
and other things…
so there you have some attributes and if properly stored good extra virgin olive oil will take a long time to go rancid and is flammable for torches…
~~~^^^STAY~~~^^^OUTSIDE^^^~~~
Hello all…
Just thought I would mention I’ve been using Virgin Olive Oil in lamps (candle type some what) for over 30 yrs. At the time I was living in the mountains totaly off grid. Today you can buy them from this ‘Amish’ website: http://www.lehmans.com/
I have lived off grid for most of my life. Its been an awesome life! Lady.Survivalist@yahoo.com
When I was a teenager (in the ’60′s) my Grandmother gave me mineral oil to brush my teeth with. she swore it kept away tarter buildup. My teeth always felt smooth (oily?). When I was pregnant, well past due date, I took mineral oil to induce labor. Son was born within 2 days with 4 hr labor. Maybe just a coincidence.
Coconut Oil might be worth a try; I have been using it to season pans. In any kind of cool weather it will solidify into the cloth (not sure exactly what temp. it solidifies at but cool room temp. sees it solid) but it also liquifies readily with a little heat (even the heat of rubbing it over a cast iron pan – or knife blade). Also edible, does not go rancid easily at all (I’ve never had it go rancid yet) and a natural sunscreen like Anti mentioned of the olive oil. Also: delicious! I will be taking along an oily cloth with me and I’ll try both… I like the edible ones though.
Thanks for the olive oil lamp tip, lady Survivalist!