The Essential Oilpot

Little strokes fell great oaks.

Ben Franklin

f set up and maintained properly, the blades of quality chisels and planes will endure many decades of hard daily use. In this article your most humble and obedient servant will describe a useful tool Beloved Customer can make yourself, one that will not only make maintenance easier and more efficient, but will make your tools perform better and last longer.

Historical Precedence

Versions of the oilpot have been used in all nations since ancient times. Indeed, we know from the archaeological record that tallow, simply rendered animal fat, was commonly placed in open grease pots to use as a tool lubricant in Europe and America from pre-Roman times right up until petroleum products, including petroleum-based waxes, became widely available in the 1920’s. I am told that the black crust found on many antique plane bodies (wood planes not airplanes) and workbenches is a remnant of this tallow oxidized, hardened, and combined with dirt.

Indeed, I can recall my father, uncles, and grandfather using sticks of paraffin caning wax for the exact same purpose when I was a child, and before that my English ancestors probably used candle stubs of tallow or beeswax.

Vegetable oil was more commonly used in Asia, and probably in Europe as well.

I haven’t tried soft tallow as a lubricant and probably never will since rancid fat has even less appeal to me than rancid vegetable oil, but I’m confident you will find the solution described below a serious improvement over these ancient methods.

Corrosion Protection

It’s a sad truth that the blades of woodworking tools often receive more damage while they are waiting to be used than when they are actually being used. Thankfully, neglectful corrosion of the sort that creates microscopic pits at the cutting edge can be easily avoided.

When not in use, store your chisels and planes where they will be protected from dings, dust and large temperature swings. And oil your blades after every use to keep away oxygen, moisture, and chemicals that might persuade your expensive blades to “turn red and go away.”

A convenient way to apply good oil to your blades is to use an oilpot, or aburatsubo (ah/boo/rah/tsu/boh 油壺) as it is called in Japan, similar to the one in the photo above. This is an effective, inexpensive, and time-proven tool for this purpose, certainly better than bottles or spray cans.

Friction Reduction

Oil pots are useful not only for keeping corrosion at bay, they also help minimize the friction your chisels, saws, planes, and knives generate when cutting wood, as well as the energy you need to expend in cutting. By using an oilpot to reduce friction as your blade cuts wood, that same wood, and especially the “hairy” fibers that project into the kerf, will not deflect the blade away from your intended line of cut as easily, noticeably increasing the precision of your work. Do you doubt me? Give it a try and prepared to be pleasantly surprised

Making the Essential Oilpot

In Japan, an oilpot is traditionally made by cutting a joint of well-dried, large-diameter bamboo into a cup 3 to 4 inches deep. If you don’t have access to bamboo where you live, a hollowed-out piece of some close-grained wood suitable for making water-tight barrels, such as white oak, or a plastic mug, or even a segment of capped PVC pipe will work just as well. The important thing is that the container not be made of metal, glass, ceramic or any other material approaching the hardness of a chisel blade.

Shape the bottom or foot of the cup so it will rest on a more-or-less flat surface with a few irregularities. Some people scallop the bottom so it rests on only three or four spots at the foot’s perimeter thereby making it more stable on irregular surfaces. And a piece of sandpaper glued to the bottom of the container will prevent your planes from dragging it around when you pass their soles over the wick.

If you use bamboo or wood, be sure to prime and paint both the inside of the cup, and underside of the foot, with a high-solids urethane or polyurethane paint. I used a natural urethane extracted from the cashew tree called “Cashew” on the bamboo joint in these photos. The gaudy orange color makes it easy to differentiate my oilpot from others on a jobsite

If you make your oilpot from bamboo or wood, after painting it be sure to line the inside of the cup with an unbroken sheet of aluminum foil to prevent the oil from soaking through. The paint alone will slow down the oil’s movement through the wood’s fibers, but sure as hogs are made of bacon, without an impermeable liner of some sort, it will eventually seep out making a mess. An aluminum foil liner will fix this.

Next you will need some clean, white, cotton T-shirt fabric. Used clothing is fine. White because you want to be able to tell how dirty the fabric is at any time. T-shirt fabric because it’s knitted, not woven, and sheds the least fibers. Clean because pixies hate it. If you don’t believe me, just ask them.

Roll the cloth up very tightly into a wick just a hair smaller in diameter than the inside of your container and bind it tightly with string or thread. You should be able to force this dense cloth wick tightly into the cup with approximately ½” projecting above the lip. It must be a tight enough fit to prevent the wick from falling or pulling out accidentally, but not so tight it breaks the container. It will take several tries to judge just the right amount of fabric, so be patient and keep at it until you get it right.

Add Oil

Now that the oilpot is made and wick installed you need to add some oil. Just soak the cloth wick with your favorite lubricant and you’ll be ready to rock-n’-roll like Zeppelin. It will take some time for the oil to saturate the dense wick, so be patient or it may overflow without saturating the wick. I get impatient and spill a little oil sometimes (ツ).

In Japan, I was taught to use vegetable oil and change the wick when it became rancid, which it always did. But I recommend Beloved Customer be smarter than I was back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and use a non-organic oil from the start. Stinky wicks are not only unpleasant, but more importantly, rancid oil does not protect steel at all.

Some people prefer to use straight mineral oil or scented furniture oil, which is just perfumed, industrial-grade mineral oil. The lemony smell of furniture oil is nice. But please avoid any furniture polishes or oils that contain insidious silicon because it will weaken glue bonds.

Please also especially be careful to avoid linseed oil. A wick loaded with such oil is inviting spontaneous combustion, a dangerous inconvenience in a woodshop.

Some people prefer to use camellia oil, an organic product with a long history of usage as a lubricant, cosmetic and hair oil in Japan. But beware that the so-called camellia oil available commercially for rust protection is actually just mineral oil with a bit of yellow dye and some fragrance added, sold at an inflated price, much like commercial furniture oil. Caveat emptor, baby.

Mineral oil is a petroleum distillate sold as lubricant laxative in pharmacies. It’s not only cheaper than the fake “tsubaki abura” sold as tool oil, but is higher quality and performs better than genuine camellia oil because it will not become rancid and gummy.

While it sounds strange, the best lubricant by far in my experience is a lightweight, light-colored 100% synthetic motor oil such as Mobile-1 (5W). I have tried regular motor oil too, but the synthetic variety smells better, lasts longer and seems to perform better. And while I like to flatter myself that I am a “high-volume guy,” my chisels never get hot enough nor rev high enough to justify the zinc, organic sulfur, or chlorine compounds added to high-performance motor oils. Your mileage my differ. (ツ)

Oilpot Storage

Store your oilpot in a metal or plastic container with a lid when not in use to prevent abrasive dust from contaminating it. Some people make a container from a segment of PVC pipe with a flat end-cap glued on one end to form the bottom of their oil pot and place a domed cap on the other end as a lid. I use a tin can with a slip-on lid to store my bamboo oilpot.

Place a pad of newspaper in the bottom of your container to absorb loose oil and cushion the pot from rattling around.

Even a plastic bag will do until you find something better.

Using the Essential Oilpot

This is the most important part of this article.

When you are cutting a mortise with your chisel, make it a habit to occasionally jab its cutting edge into the oil pot, and even wipe the sides and ura (flat) on the wick to lubricate the blade. You will be pleasantly surprised to find that this bit of oil will make your chisel work not only go faster, but more precisely and with cleaner results. The oil will not weaken glue bonds, so long as it does not contain silicon, I promise.

Likewise, when using a handplane, occasionally swipe its sole over your oil pot’s wick. This little bit of oil will greatly reduce friction, reduce wear on your planes’ soles, and give you more control. But, if you value your public dignity, be forewarned that the first few cuts you make after doing this will make you grin like a lunatic! (ツ)

The same benefits of reduced friction and increased precision can be found in the case of handsaws too, although the difference may not be as noticeable.

Before you store your tools away for the day, a dab of oil from your ever-present oil pot will prevent rust and frustrate corrosive pixies.

Maintaining the Essential Oilpot

During use, the cloth wick will naturally become frazzled, coated with sawdust and wood chips, and will discolor accordingly. No problemo.

If, heaven forfend, you drop the oilpot and it hits the ground, Murphy’s Law of Buttered Toast dictates it will land oily-cloth down contaminating it with abrasive grit (unless you work in a cleanroom). If ignored, frikin Murphy will smugly use your oilpot to damage your tools and ruin your work. But never fear: simply brush the wick vigorously with a steel-wire brush and all the sawdust, wood chips, dust, grit and pixie golf balls will be gone. The sound you will hear while doing this will be Murphy gnashing his teeth in frustration.

Of course you always have a steel-wire brush close at hand to remove embedded grit from boards before planing them, right?

When the wick becomes too dirty for the steel wire brush to clean (difficult to imagine though that may be) you can either cut off a few millimeters to expose uncontaminated cloth, or replace the cloth wick to present a clean surface.

As the cloth wears, the wick will shorten and stop projecting from the oilpot’s mouth. When this happens, simply remove the wick and place some clean rags in the bottom to elevate it thereby restoring the necessary projection of the wick.

The oilpot is an ancient, dirt-cheap tool you will find to be an invaluable addition to your woodworking tool kit. I promise it will make you grin when using handplanes!

YMHOS

© 2023 Stanley Covington All Rights Reserved

Related Articles:

Tool Maintenance – Corrosion Prevention

If you have questions or would like to learn more about our tools, please click the see the “Pricelist” link here or at the top of the page and use the “Contact Us” form located immediately below.

Please share your insights and comments with everyone in the form located further below labeled “Leave a Reply.” We aren’t evil Google, fascist facebook, or a Director of the CIA and so won’t sell, share, or profitably “misplace” your information. If I lie may ticks, fleas and biting flies be my only friends.