I get it. He may have old chains, like I usually do, because I'll throw them on a bike, or use one for extension pieces. Keeping them in oil so they won't rust. The one I use as a wallet chain, I had kept it in a baggy of either motor oil or transmission fluid to kill the rust. That was 3 or 4 years ago, and it has not rusted yet. I only left it over night.

Sometimes in a quick pinch, I've lubed a chain with vasoline.