WINTERGREEN OIL for Guns ..

 WINTERGREEN OIL for rust .. Yeah it is old fashioned stuff .. 

WARNING: NOT to be confused with Tea Tree Oil which is highly toxic if consumed and allergenic.

Some old boys on the net swear by Oil of Wintergreen for freeing RUST-frozen bolts - Jolly Jack Tars are quoting using gallons of the stuff onboard seagoing navy ships - so I bought a wee bottle, and am trying it as a cure-all penetrating oil.

I fully accept that modern chemicals may work fine or better - but they might be NASTY STUFF.

WARNING 2: I have never used 'Naval Jelly' but it is said to be mostly phosphoric acid that eats rust - & it will damage gun blueing ..

The science here is that Wintergreen Oil is a thin oil that CREEPS and the active constituent Methyl salicylate 2-(HO)C6H4CO2CH3 is a chelating agent for iron - it dissolves and loosens rust. - It is related to aspirin and maybe can be used as a rubbing oil to relieve arthritis, as it's absorbed into the skin. It is smelly and creepy stuff .. sort of minty-OK ish.

I have old and painful THUMBS - and I gotta say that this minty stuff drips and creeps all over your hands when using AND my thumb pain DOES seem somewhat improved.

- Some say that it's perfume can make a feller sexually attractive to beautiful women ..

I am not selling anything to anyone.

I'm currently still working with three fecked antique gun bits I'm trying to fix .. a rust-frozen flintlock turn-off barrel .. a sheared, cross-threaded stump in an Adams percussion revolver, .. and the drilled remnants of a rusted percussion NIPPLE in a rough old pocket pistol: 

Now I won't try teach grannie how to suck eggs .. BUT this oil of wintergreen stuff works remarkably well to dissolve rust while leaving an oiled metallic surface. - Bear in mind that this stuff is squeezed out of plant leaves by distilling .. much of that orange-rusty metal corruption on my three specimens had GONE after an overnight coating with smelly leaf-juice and a quick rub - just saying ..

Note: Famous gun oil BALLISTOL is mineral oil ("liquid paraffin") mixed with alkaline detergents plus .. One of its additives is said to be Jagermeister herbal liquer which itself contains wintergreen oil. - Gun oils SEAL1,  FrogLube and also Marvel Mystery Oil each contain wintergreen oil - just saying.

The Good News continues in that, the 'good oil' on half a cotton ball lightly rubbed on that action face lifted and removed RUST from what looked to be a clean pitted surface. - Wintergreen Oil seems to seek-out the dreaded rust and deal to it. - Listen and learn with mother ..

Note: If you consider rust to be valuable PATINA .. don't use oil of wintergreen

Be Aware that none of my antiques have much remaining 'BLUE' to damage .. but W. Oil seems not to harm 'cold blue'.

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Marty K.