Andy, your question got me thinking. I haven’t actually tried this, so I can’t recommend it. It is something I intend to try. Everybody is concerned about rust preventatives that are safe to have on a knife that you use preparing food. The standard answer is mineral oil. Mineral oil may not poison you, but it’s nothing I’d recommend taking internally. After all, mineral oil is a petroleum distillate.

Since I have continuing problems with my DMDC rusting, I’m going to try using beeswax. Not Burt’s beeswax, not fancy-with-additions beeswax. Just beeswax. The sort of plain beeswax they sell in blocks at fabric stores for waxing thread. It may or may not actually work to inhibit rust. That awaits testing. The potential advantage is, for the life of me I can’t see how a layer of beeswax on a knife would be a problem if I’m making a salad.