On Wed, Apr 16, 2014 at 10:42 PM, Don Schwartz  wrote:

> In his sharpening book and planing video, Jim Kingshot inisists "the
> informed' use an oil wick, a shallow wooden box he keeps on his bench with
> a large cloth wick in it, which he charges with linseed, swiping the plane
> across it before using. But he doesn't explain his preference. Does anyone
> have any comments or preferences in this regard?
>

This week I received Kingshott's Bench Plane video.  I watched some it over
my lunch hour today.  I really love his presentation.  My son and I have
had many laughs about the "dirty little corner" he keeps referring to in
the mortise and tenon video.  (Thanks Galootaclaus, yet another slope.)

In the Bench Plane video he talks about wax vs. oil.  The oil wick he has
looks like tightly wound cloth in a close fitting wooden container.  The
wick does not sit in oil.  He charges the top of the wick with just a
little oil and then goes to work.  At one point in the video he uses a
wooden try plane and hits the wick about every 8-10 strokes.  Then he
switches to a metal jointer and did many, many more strokes than that and
never hit the wick.  That seems backwards to me,  but he might have been
just demonstrating how to use the wick.

The main advantage he sees to the wick is that it is much faster to apply
the oil.  He just drags the plane backward over the wick.  With paraffin
you have to stop, find the paraffin, and rub it on the plane sole.

I have not tried the wick, but I might.  I have used Johnson's Paste Wax
and paraffin.  My experience says the paste wax is a better lubricant and
lasts longer than paraffin.  However, the paraffin is faster to apply
because I don't have to open a can, wipe on, wipe off, etc.  Also, if the
paraffin is drooping, I know I have to make sure and drink a lot of water.

Mark