Rust Prevention Test

A

adamBomb

New member
So after reading about 'coconut oil = frog lube' in several forums I decided to test coconut oil vs some other gun oils. I will continue to post my results here.

To start I bought a steel bar from lowes for $5, cleaned it, dried it, and divided it up with tape. I will post pics when the test is all done in 2 more days (testing for 72 hrs total) but figured I would post the 24hr results here. I am also going to test the back of the bar with a number of other oils too after this test is done so there will be an experiment #2. To get the bar to rust I have sprayed with a salt water solution and I live at the beach so my air is very salty. The bar is sitting in my garage.

24 hour results (and total 4 salt sprays):

Control - some rust specs all over.
Turtle wax - some rust specs all over. almost worse than control.
olive oil - one small spot of rust
fractionated coconut oil - one small spot of rust
regular coconut oil (the white paste stuff) - perfect
WD40 - perfect
Breakfree CLP - perfect
Hoppes 9 - perfect

So far the regular coconut oil is holding well. The fractionated, which is an oil did not. For the next test I am going to do all of these plus add several more oils including ballistol, eezox, and about 5 others I have laying around. I will also post pics at the conclusion. I will make my next test post at 48hrs.
 
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48 hour results:

Control - Tons of rust
Turtle wax - Tons of rust. Looks worse than control.
olive oil - Number of specs now
fractionated coconut oil - Number of specs now
regular coconut oil (the white paste stuff) - Very few tiny specs starting to form
WD40 - Good but looks like there may be some specs starting
Breakfree CLP - Perfect
Hoppes 9 - Perfect

Overall it looks like coconut oil is not as good as regular gun oil. Tomorrow I will look again and clean the rust to see what the damage really is. Then I will try test # 2. In test 2 I plan to put one drop in each square so that the water cannot disperse as easily. I think it will be more controlled than this first test.
 
It's fun doing these tests. I did my own a bit back... turned out to be a real eye opener and changed my CLP of choice as a result.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Thanks. I was really curious to see how coconut and olive oils would do because if they worked it would be awesome since they are healthy and cheap. Oh well I am glad I tested before putting them on a firearm. I am really disappointed in the wax though. I thought it would hold up better but after reading other tests online I see they got similar results. I am going to post some final pics tomorrow and do another test with about 7-10 more products and it will be better controlled too. I believe I have eezox, ballistol, mpro7, gunzilla, and a few others lying around in my gun clean cleaning box. I just did the hoppes and bf clp in this test because they were on my work bench already.
 
72 hrs and overall from test #1:

Control - Tons of rust
Turtle wax - Tons of rust. Looks worse than control.
olive oil - Tons of rust
fractionated coconut oil - Tons of rust
regular coconut oil (the white paste stuff) - some rust forming but not terrible
WD40 - some rust forming but not terrible
Breakfree CLP - one spot of rust starting to form
Hoppes 9 - Perfect

Pics coming later and test # 2 will be started tonight. I am also going to clean up this rust to see what the damage is underneath.
 
Its interesting how poorly Olive Oil tested. Its the old "sweet oil" of B/P cowboy days & I used it for quite a while on my 1858 Remington revolver with no problems, even after I'd cleaned it with hot soapy water & a fresh water rinse! I did blow & wipe dry thoroughly though. I also used a mix of Olive Oil & Crisco as a non-petroleum grease with no corrosion.

I wonder whats different?

Perhaps the bluing of the revolver, it is an early form of passivization for steel?
DSCF1156_zpsb4bd8e46.jpg

(Image (c) Wogpotter 2010)
 
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Its interesting how poorly Olive Oil tested. Its the old "sweet oil" of B/P cowboy days & I used it for quite a while on my 1858 Remington revolver with no problems, even after I'd cleaned it with hot soapy water & a fresh water rinse! I did blow & wipe dry thoroughly though.
Click to expand...

It did well over the 24 hr test and that was with several salt water sprays and sitting in a humid garage overnight...so I would imagine with regular use it would be fine.
 
Ive begun experiment # 2. In this experiment I will be testing more products and instead of spraying with salt water I will just place one drop in the middle so that it cannot disperse. I think this will be more controlled. I started by cleaning and then drying the metal bar. I put the oils on, a thin film just as I would a firearm, and am letting them dry (if they are the kind that dries). I will put the drop of water on this evening.

Here are the products I am testing:

control
Hoppes
Fractionated coconut oil
olive oil
coconut oil (the paste kind you buy in the groc store)
turtle wax
breakfree clp
WD40
Eezox
Weapon Shield
Ballistol
M Pro 7
Outers
Shooters Choice
 
Results of one drop of salt water. This is much more controlled and realistic. Its much closer to you touching your gun in one place or it rubbing against your body for a day. I have now placed a 2nd drop on but here are results and pics of the first spot. These are in order from best to worst:

Eezox - perfect
Ballistol - perfect
Weapon Shield - small little dot
Shooters Choice - small little rust spot
WD40 - Small little dot/mark that is beginning of rust
M Pro 7 - small little dot/rust
Outers - small little spot/rust
breakfree clp - A mark but not rust. I think its the beginning of rust.
olive oil - Small rust patch.
coconut oil (the paste kind you buy in the groc store) - Rust
Fractionated coconut oil - Rust
turtle wax - Rust
Hoppes - Rust
control - Rust

Pics

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ow2h3h5llnvqr8l/File Mar 02, 8 42 24 AM.jpeg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tmhu02g6km36dw9/File Mar 02, 8 42 50 AM.jpeg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z000yut6kfxnyts/File Mar 02, 8 43 13 AM.jpeg?dl=0

Would be curious to see how coconut oil did vs Frog Lube.
Click to expand...

Considering how poorly store bought coconut oil is doing and how well I have seen frog lube do in online tests, I would say the chances are slim to none that it is REGULAR coconut oil. There many types of coconut oil and some very processed and used for rust prevention (see here http://bit.ly/1QrGfwm). These kinds are probably no less toxic than regular gun oils though even though they are derived from coconuts after all of the processing they go through. So if frog lube is a type of coconut oil, its not a type we can just by at the store. My sister is working on her PhD in bio chem so I can ask her when I speak to her next but I assume she is going to agree to with my conclusions. She could probably run a test to see if I beg her haha.
 
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Update: After 3 drops all have a rust spot where the drops went except the following:

Breakfree CLP - a mark but no rust
Eezox - Perfect
Weapon shield - a mark but no rust
Outers - a few marks but no rust
shooters choice - the tiniest mark

All of the others mentioned above have a big old rust spot. The olive oils rust spot is the smallest of the natural stuff but its still a nice size rust spot. So I have put a new drop on just these 5 to see how many they can go through. It appears that the eezox is the best at this point as its the only one without even a mark. I love how eezox protects but that stuff is definitely the most toxic. I have a feeling I might just be sticking with breakfree after all of this.
 
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Update: After 5 drops all have a rust spot where the drops went except the following:

Breakfree CLP
Eezox
shooters choice

The breakfree and shooters choice have some marks but not rust. I believe they will wipe off. The eezox is perfect. I am going to keep putting drops on until they do rust.

Also, I ordered some frog lube too and will test it when i get it. If it can hold up as well as these three I dont see why you wouldnt choose the healthiest of the bunch...but I need to test that out first.
 
Nice work !!

Ballistol - perfect
Click to expand...
Nice work, Adam and thanks for including Ballstol, in your tests. I understand that one should not stop using a particular product but instead, know their limitations of all. ..... ;)

Thanks again and;
Be Safe !!!
 
Think you missed the mark by not including Frog Lube. Would have really liked to see how the actual Frog Lube would come out rather than guessing at its formula of coconut oil. Otherwise would have been a good experiment.
 
Think you missed the mark by not including Frog Lube. Would have really liked to see how the actual Frog Lube would come out rather than guessing at its formula of coconut oil. Otherwise would have been a good experiment.
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I just ordered it and will be using it for experiment 3. Experiment 3 will include:

frog lube
coconut oil
fractionated coconut oil
eezox
breakfree clp
Shooters choice
and maybe a few of the others that I want to see tested again.

And I think overall since the coconut oils didnt really perform better than the control that we can assume frog lube is not coconut oil as the internet rumors are claiming. But I will do this 3rd test to see for sure and compare it vs the other gun oils. It comes saturday so I will start exp 3 then.

Nice work, Adam and thanks for including Ballstol, in your tests. I understand that one should not stop using a particular product but instead, know their limitations of all. .....
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Yes I should test ballistol again. It was the best one after the first drop and then it rusted after the 2nd. Since its one of the less toxic options I was happy to see it do so well in that first test. And you bring up a good point about just using what 'prevents rust the best'. There are a number of factors into going into what you decide to use and if something is working for you there is no reason to jump the gun. I am just testing for those people who are having rust issues. Since I live at the beach I have to worry about that more than most people, especially with my carry gun and I just got a lcp, which has a blue finish so I am interested in the topic again. Although I havent had an issue I just want to prevent one. Even if I got the SS framed lcp the barrel is blued.
 
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Fantastic! I look forward to the next test results. Please remember that the proper application of Frog Lube involves heating the metal, applying, letting it dry and buffing it off.

Thanks for doing this. I know many are anxious to see how all compare.
 
Several more drops later and the eezox still has yet to rust.

Tomorrow when the frog lube comes I will start test #3.
 
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