Question about supplies

[Matt D]

What are the best sources for sword oil and other supplies?  The larger online retailers all seem to carry the same sword cleaning products.  Those kits are fine for my non-nihonto training sword.  But for Nihonto, where can I get the better quality stuff?

[Brian]

Place an order with Namikawa in Japan?

[Matt D]

Thank you Brian.

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Matt,

My care and cleaning kit consists of a bottle of choji oil (light machine oil with a drop or 3 of clove oil for the scent), white unscented facial tissue for applying the oil, and micro fiber lens cloth to remove the oil. Nothing else is needed.

Grey

[Robert S]

Grey:  Speaking as someone who has had involvement with the pulp and paper industry, I'd be a little careful with facial tissue.  There can be micro abrasives in them, as a result of the manufacturing process.  I use 100% cotton cosmetics pads instead.

[Lewis B]

I use laboratory Kimwipes by Kimberley Clark. These are a nice disposable alternative to microfibre for certain jobs like removing old oil. 

[ROKUJURO]

13 minutes ago, Robert S said:

......Speaking as someone who has had involvement with the pulp and paper industry, I'd be a little careful with facial tissue.  There can be micro abrasives in them, as a result of the manufacturing process.....

Robert,

could you please expand a bit on these abrasives? What are they made of, are they mineral or organic substances? Thank you in advance!

[Bazza]

Robert, very interesting, thank you.  Though I use facial tissue first to remove oil and then microfibre to remove any remaining fine film of oil, I've often nonetheless wondered about the tissues.  I do gently 'roughen' the tissue and vigorously shake it before applying it to a blade to minimise any chance of scratching.  So I searched kimwipes and found this phrase from one of the suppliers:

 

KimWipes are a type of cleaning tissue commonly used in laboratories.

KimWipes are composed of paper, silicon, and other substances.

As a result of the silicon, the paper is somewhat rough feeling.

KimWipes are used to wipe a variety of items, including slides and pipettes.

They are sometimes used to clean lenses as well, but using lens tissue

instead is often recommended, as KimWipes can scratch optical surfaces.

 

And perhaps 'optically perfect' Ninontou???  Many years ago (decades?) someone in England (in The Token Society of Great Britain's "Programme") did a comprehensive analysis of various types of tissue, facial, top-end toilet paper etc etc, with various tests including burning/calcining to measure ash content as an indicator of abrasiveness.  As I remember, better quality facial tissues were found to be adequate for our purposes.

 

BaZZa.

[Lewis B]

What is the source of that passage Barry?

 

According to the Zeiss institute at the Uni of Florida

 

• Soft cosmetic cellulose tissue specifically designed for optical surfaces (Kimwipes are suitable for lens cleaning, but typical facial tissues contain hard particulates that are harmful to optical surfaces)

 

From what I've read many of the potential scratches are from particulates embedded in the oil or settled on the blade surface. Safest way to minimize those extraneous particles leaving scratch marks on the blade is to moisten the tissue with alcohol before wiping the blade.

[Robert S]

20 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

Robert,

could you please expand a bit on these abrasives? What are they made of, are they mineral or organic substances? Thank you in advance!

Facial tissues and other similar products are often made in whole or part from ground, rather than chemically pulped, fiber, and residual very fine grit material from the grinding stones can show up in the tissue.  I never use facial tissue for cleaning lenses, for instance, since it can result in scratches on the lens.

[ROKUJURO]

Thank you, I understand.