When I taught at the Texas Maritime Academy (now College of Maritime Studies, Texas A&M Univ - Galveston) we used instrument oil made from jujube beans for all our marine sextants (C. Plaths, Tamayas and Leupolds). This oil replaced the sperm whale oil which was considered the best for instruments, including recording barometers, gauges, and watches. In order to save money, my students would go down to the local health food store (GNC) and buy jujube bean oil to oil their sextants after cleaning when spending evenings on a small boat deck offshore doing their celestial navigation workups. Celestaire, a navigation supply company, and our local ships' chandlers sell this same oil for quite a markup.
However, for my guns, regardless of age and quality, I believe in Breakfree CLP for cleaning and preserving, and Rem-Oil for lub. I use short-fiber lithium grease for boat trailer wheel bearings for the hinge pins (I filled a film cannister with a scoop of this from work several years ago and have yet to put much of a dent in it). Jim Haynes
