I bought nice heavy duty clippers from Andis and they recommend using their oil, but is it okay to use Mineral Oil instead? To clean and store so the blades don’t rust?
It would much easier to go the local Pharmacy and p/u Mineral Oil, instead of ordering on-line, shipping costs… Thank you!
I have used mineral oil, baby oil to be exact in the past. For the short time storage, say, a few weeks to a month or so it’s not a problem. I use Kool Lube or similar when beginning a clipping job and it cuts any gunk. Long term though, I’d look into a specific clipper oil. Doesn’t have to necessarily be made by Andis, and some hardware stores might carry it as well. But if you use mineral oil for several year long storage, I found it can gum up a bit. There’s never any rust after comign out of storage, but a gummy film that can be tough to remove…
mineral oil is thicker and heavier than what you would use on clippers. You might see some gumming up and need to clean out the oil in the spring.
In a pinch you could use it , but I would seek out clipper oil at the farm supply store, hardware store ( used for oiling saws and equipment) or a beauty salon supply shop
To keep rust away… Use WD-40 Not gummy
use WD40
Not what I would recommend, Mineral Oil.
I use Sewing Machine Oil, made for machinery that gets hot, with FINE clearances needed EACH stitch. Have not found Sewing Oil to get sticky or gummy for me. Sewing Oil is pretty available, always 40% off on sale or with a coupon at JoAnne Fabric stores.
I store the oiled-after-use clippers in a sock (which gets oily) to prevent moisture reaching clippers and blade dulling if they get moved around between uses. They are then put inside a canvas bag, with the sock on clippers, when put away in the closed tackroom. No rust or moisture issues with this method in our humid location. Clippers are never left out, used, cleaned, put away. Some are pretty old!! Still work well and look nice.
Extra Blades (not attached) are kept in a locked plastic box to keep moisture out. I usually add the extra dessicant packs received in new shoe boxes, new bottles of pills, which absorb moisture. Seems to work pretty well, no blades get rusty in storage boxes. They come back from sharpening in those little brown envelopes of paper, marked with sizes. I do think that helps with keeping blades sharp, since paper glue lets go to tell moisture has gotten in. I have a LOT of spare blades, various sizes, so I invested in good Snapware storage (JoAnnes with coupons again!) boxes. Even with the bargin price of blades at a tack sale (A5 for $1 a set!), the cost of resharpening ($5 the set) makes it well worth the time to store them well.
Almost any place that sells clippers (big box stores like Walmart, or drug stores like Walgreens) will also sell clipper oil, FYI 
Thank you. I just happen to have WD-40.
Absolutely not, it cannot cope with the temperature that the clippers will run at when you first use the blades and will leave a deposit on the blades.
To keep blades clean and rust free, run in a 50/50 mix of Diesel and Engine oil. While still wet and cleaned by the mix wrap blades in a piece of towelling soaked in the mix. I store my blades in the little travelling soap boxes, just the right size.
When actually clipping you can run the clipper blades in the mix. It cleans, cools and lubricates the blades so that they stay sharper longer.
This tip was given to me by a member of the Household Cavalry when I was at the Royal Mews in London clipping the Civil Service Riding Club horses.
I’ve used this method now for over 30 years and one time did 25 full clips on the same set of blades without the need to have them re sharpened.
Yes you can! I have run mine in a 50:50 mix of engine oil and Diesel for decades - a tip I learnt from a Cavalry Officer at the Royal Mews. I run them in the mix during clipping as it cleans and cools the blades, keeping them sharp - 25 full clips on one set of blades without having to have them sharpened.
I then run them a final time in the mix to clean them and then wrap in kitchen towel that has been soaked in the mix. They then go into either a travel soap box - perfect size or a small Sistema box, again the perfect size - air tight and don’t leak.
Come winter the blades go back in the clippers or may have been away to be sharpened. Either way they are good to go, clean and rust free.
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