[modeleng] Re: Steam oils

Ron,

I have heard about steam oils "going bad", but I have had nary a bad smell 
emanate from my five gallon bucket of Sharvania.  As I said, Sharvania 
company is long gone, but we used to buy regular 30 weight oil from them to 
use in the 36 foot by 12" Shotgun carriage feed we had at the sawmill. 
Salesman presented me with a lifetime supply of steam oil in the form of the 
five gallon can.  :>) Black with a slightly greenish tint and smells like it 
has some stearic acid in it, but I don't know anything else other than it 
was considered the best steam oil made in the USA.  Not many steam engines 
left running so the market for the oil collapsed, but thankfully not before 
I got my bucket full.

The last time I saw the big twin cylinder engine pulling the sawmill at 
Grenada, Mississippi, the engineer was using some sort of thick black steam 
oil on everything , but that was long after Sharvania was out of business. 
That was the only engine I ever saw that rivaled the "Newbie" for being 
coated with sticky black oil.

Jesse in warming up West Tennessee 

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