Whale Oil

Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Whale oil was sometimes known as train oil, which comes from the Dutch word traan ("tear" or "drop").

Sperm oil is obtained from the head cavities of sperm whales. It is chemically different from ordinary whale oil, being mostly liquid wax, and was more expensive.

The first principal use of whale oil was as an illuminant in lamps and to make candle wax. It was a major food of the aboriginal peoples of the Pacific northwest, such as the Nootka. Whale oil later came to be used in oiling wools for combing and other uses. It was the first of any animal or mineral oil to achieve commercial viability. It was used to make margarine and was the basis of very effective protective paint for steel, e.g. the original (but not current) Rust-Oleum. Whale oil also had many uses in battle as a weapon, it was used by various military forces all throughout the 1700s and even into the 1800s.

Whale oil was heavily used in the mid-1700s and early 1800s. Whale oil's predominant place in society was mostly eliminated with the development of kerosene from coal in 1846, and the advances in petroleum drilling in the late 19th century, which led to petroleum-based waxes and oils replacing whale oils in most nonfood applications. Sperm whale oil was however still a key component in automatic transmission fluid until 1972. With the 1986 International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling, whale oil has ceased to be viable, as substitutes have been found for most of its uses, notably jojoba oil.