WD-40 as a blade coating

[Django]

Is it ok to use WD-40 on my Chinook blade? It makes it shine like no tomorrow, and it should prevent small flecks of rust.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't coat my blade with it?

I squirt some on a rag, then polish the blade. Is that enough, if I should even be using it?

[4 s ter]

Is it ok to use WD-40 on my Chinook blade? It makes it shine like no tomorrow, and it should prevent small flecks of rust.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't coat my blade with it?

I squirt some on a rag, then polish the blade. Is that enough, if I should even be using it?

The main reason for not using it is because there are much better products to use to polish and protect your knife blade. There is nothing mysterious about WD-40. It consists of (from the product safety info):

50% Stoddard solvent (mineral spirits)
25% Liquified petroleum gas (presumably as a propellant)
15+% Mineral Oil (light lubricating oil)
10-% Inert ingredients

Lots of people use WD-40 to clean their blades. It works because of the solvent (mineral spirits AKA paint thinner) but there are lots of products that can do that. Mineral oil is OK as a protectant but there are better rust protectants than a product that is 15 % mineral oil. If you want to use mineral oil then buy plain mineral oil and use it - without the solvent, propellant, etc. at least it's non-toxic. It does however require more regular reapplication to maintain rust protection.

David

[donutsrule]

Is it ok to use WD-40 on my Chinook blade? It makes it shine like no tomorrow, and it should prevent small flecks of rust.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't coat my blade with it?

Yes: It makes the food you slice with your knife taste funny!

WD-40 is great for taking tape residue off of a blade, but I'm another one in the camp of preferring something less toxic on any blade that might ever go near my food.

I did once use my CE Chinook II to cut a watermelon up at a picnic when we discovered nobody else had a knife! :D

[Vincent]

Going Fishing, use yor regular Lubticant and then spart the knife and the parts inside with WD-40. Just to displace the water. I use MIlitec and wd-40

[Franco G]

The WD-40 lubricant is toxic - don't know how dangerous. I always use a German Balistol, which is non-toxic, and used in food industry.
Balistol has a sharp smell, but only for a few minutes.

Franco

[greencobra]

I use it in a pinch to keep nasty stuff from developing until I get something better on there.

Just for fun...I saw a show on TV a while back on WD-40. The name means,
WD stands for Water Displacement and 40 signifies the 40th formula tested while in development was used for the final product. And as the name implies, it was used for, well, water displacement. Now, it's used for just about anything.

[Django]

A guy on Blade Forums reccommended PAM.

I can see his logic - non-toxic, makes it very shiny, but I'm not sure if it would prevent rust. What do you guys think?

[Childe Roland]

I don't know about rust prevention, but I think the Pam would go rancid. Not very pleasant.
I'd rather use mineral oil for a non toxic coating.