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>Cosmoline is an oil and parrafin (wax) blend, just like (some of) you used to use to treat cycle chains...melt a bar or two of parrafin in a coffee can and mix in an equal amount of 30 weight motor oil. ugh. But it WILL prevent oxidation on both ferrous and non-ferrous metal surfaces. Depending how you mix it, it may stink, and depending on how you mix it it may not set up hard or be easy to apply a thin, uniform, cosmetically inoffensive layer. Why not store things in an low humidity setting?
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> Dale Phelps,
> Longmont CO
I never knew what is was made from, but I never had to use anything stronger than mineral spirits (AKA Stoddard's Solvent, AKA Paint Thinner) to remove cosmoline. Used to get cast iron parts from Brazil coated with it and wrapped in kraft paper. Seems like a cheap and effective rust preventative as long as the item can be solvent-washed without damage. Nowadays it seems like cheap tools from China and India come slathered with a foul-smelling oil, don't know how they refine it to get it smelling so bad, but it must be really cheap.
Alan Goldsworthy
SF, CA (where it's never a low humidity setting)