I have a small oil bottle produced sometime prior to 1900 with the following label intact;
Pure
CACHALOT OIL
for
Sewing Machines
Manufactured from the
Oily Matter Contained in
the head of the Cachalot
or Spermaceti Whale
Prepared for the
WEED
Sewing Machine Co
by
CT & C Sheppard
New LOndon Ct
This was I believe some of the finest sperm oil ever produced. Oils which were produced by rendering out the fat (blubber) at this point in time were mostly used for il;luminating purposes. As time went by & less & less sperm oil was needed for lamp-lighting & sperm whales became in shortewr supply, more & more of the rendered oil was sold for lubrication purposes. This oil had a tendency to try to return to its former state, & thus would thicken or even gel over time & gum up fine mechanisms. Only that which was tapped from the whale in liquid form could really be considered of top grade. All this came from the head of the whale. A much, much larger supply could be obtained by "Cooking Out" the fat, but a much inferior oil was produced.
I have a bottle of some of the last readily obtainable sperm oil & it is near solid in the bottom. I had some in a small oil can I obtained years ago for keeping oil for my guns & fishing reels in & it totally clogged up the spout so I had to give it a good cleaning before it could be put back to use. Undoubtably this was not of that finest grade of head oil from the whale & I would not at all recommend it for a fine gun mechanism.
That Mobil 1 chassis grease would do a better job as it would retain the consistency it had when applied.
