I know it’s odd to be a lubricant enthusiast, but hear me out.
Last week we had a great class of dedicated woodworkers in the shop to build stick chairs. They had the tools and the skills, but they forgot one ingredient important to any bit of hard labor: the lube.
When I travel to teach, the first thing I pack is my oil-soaked rag. I call it my woobie.1 On the few occasions I have forgotten to pack my woobie, I went to a local store in Alaska or Metten, Germany, or wherever and bought a microfiber cloth and jojoba oil to make a travel woobie for the trip.
The second thing I pack is a chunk of Gulf Wax, a paraffin used in canning foods.
I can’t imagine working without these two tools. The rag cleans the dust off my planes, protects them from corrosion and lightly lubricates the steel of all my tools (from saws to awls). The paraffin lubricates my bench planes during use, making the work much easier.
After years of messing around with different oils and rags and waxes – and talking to my fellow lubricant zealots – here is my preferred set-up.
The Rag
Any rag will do. But if you want one that will hold a crap-ton of oil and has just the right texture for wiping your tools, get the red Norton microfiber cloth.2 Norton says it’s a dry tack cloth. Ignore that. It’s the ultimate woobie. Nothing else compares. It’s just $10 for the best ever.
One good woobie will last a lifetime. If yours becomes fouled with dust and chips, throw it in the washing machine. It will come out as good as new.
The Container
I keep my woobie in a Trusco T-150 trunk box. It’s a jewel-like Japanese-made toolbox. Just the right size for a woobie. You can close the lid so that dust doesn’t collect on the woobie, making it last longer. And when I need to add oil, I just dump a few ounces in the Trusco and press the woobie into the puddle. By the next day, the oil has been distributed throughout the rag.
The Trusco is much better than using a plastic bag. You can buy them for $11 to $14 and they will last a lifetime.
The Oil
Any oil will do as long as it doesn’t have silicone in it (silicone can mess with film finishes). I like natural oils: jojoba, camellia and “whatever is available.” I probably have seven different oils on my rag (including WD-40), and I have never had a finishing problem. Please don’t fall for the odd “it will interfere with finishing” misdirection. Because 999 times out of 1,000, it won’t. Camellia oil is available everywhere.
The Wax
Go to the grocery store and buy a box of Gulf Wax. It’s about $6 for a lifetime supply. Rub it on your plane soles every 5 minutes or so when you are really working. It makes a huge difference in the effort required to push the plane. Again, it does not interfere with finishing.
There are other shop lubricants we use in the machine room, but I’ll save those for another day. This post is already a little too personal as it is.
The name comes from the 1983 movie “Mr. Mom.” One child’s security blanket is called a “woobie.” Check it out here.
Full props to Deneb Puchalski at Lie-Nielsen for turning me on to Norton cloths.
What’re your thoughts on mineral oil instead of Jojoba oil? Some Reddit posts seem to say it’ll work the same, but my experience has been mineral oiled tools rust after awhile. Any idea why?
Lubrication World!