doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Sperm Oil Question

HomelessjOe
Sperm Oil Is found in a reservoir located in the head of the Sperm whale.
In past ceturies it was the prefered fuel for oil lamps.[By the way,I was of the understanding that the Sperm Whale was a protected species!!].
Sperm Oil is an excellent oil for quenching screw heads/pins during the tempering process. Because Sperm Oil dose not contain the rust inhibitors found in most modern oils the bright purples & blue oxides seen during the tempering process are retained after quenching.
The resulting bright blues and purples seen on the pins and screws of best British Guns are a result of Quenching in oil free from rust inhibitors.

Sperm oil primary use for gunmakers has been to harden and temper flat springs, such as gunlock mainsprings. I was in America 10 years back at the Las Vegas gunshow and found some for sale. Sperm oil has just the correct flash point for making springs, however peanut oil has a similar, but higher flash point and works very well.

Whalers also reduced the blubber from the whale to make oil. It was not just from the head. The old whaling ships of sail had a "works" on deck with fire and kettle to melt the blubber which was barreled. The whalers would often be gone for years before returning to home ports. After the Atlantic was almost picked clean, ships sailed around the tip of South America into the Pacific where whales were plentiful. During whaling lulls, the whalers would create scrimshaw from the teeth of sperm whales. Here's a typical tooth scrimmed for a wife or family member as a gift. As the old whalers would say: "Greasy luck!"

According to what I have read on the subject of Sperm Oil the oil from the head cavities was primarily reserved for fine lubricating oil for precision machinery. Most of the illuminating (Lamp) oil was rendered from the blubber. I once purchased some sperm oil from another source (Haven't had any of Brownell's) & it was the worse oil I have ever had to Gum & Gel. I can only assume it was not the fine quality oil from the head cavity, also known as Cachalot oil. I have a pre 1900 4oz bottle (empty) so marked, bottled in New Bedford, Mass for the Free Sewing Machine Co.
It is also my understanding that when GM starting making their first automatic transmissions that sperm oil was the only suitable oil found to use in them. Realizing the days of availabilty of Sperm Oil were drawing to a close they set out to develop a substitute. The result was Dexron ATF, basically a synthetic sperm oil. This was the reasoning behind Dexron being used in Ed' Red, a modern day substitute for an old army formula which used sperm oil in its composition.

One of the sites I clicked on said that our government has a supply of it stockpiled for national emergency. I think I'll stick to CLP.

Baumgarten's info on NE:



http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat....true#Post139489

I feel confident he'll be along shortly?


Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

You are confusing regular whale blubber oil with Sperm oil...two different things.

And just who is this "Baumgarten"? Baumgarten happens to be my last name.

A man that knows his Sperm Oil ?

To Tell The Truth, jOe I would like to see the real Baumgarten please stand up.