Best knife lubricant

JDRanger

JDRanger

Joined
Aug 14, 2017
Messages
399
Hi. I’m looking for some experienced people to help me choose the best nano oil (or other type) for my knives. I’m also looking for the ideal knife grease for maintaining my folding knives and loosening up stiff action on my new knives.

When I buy a Chris Reeve I use what they provide and it works great.

But there are so many other products out there I have no clue what I should be using for my other knives.

I’ve been using products I use on my handguns but I’m pretty sure that’s not the best solution.

Should I just buy more Reeve lube and use it for all my knives? Or, are there other products that are generally considered to be the best?
 
Benchmade Blue Lube is hands down the best knife pivot oil I’ve ever used and I’ve tried a bunch.
 
Sentry Solutions Tuf-Glide. It dries completely so there is no oil left behind to attract dirt.
 
I second the Go-Juice you get 4 oz for a really good price and it can be washed out with soap and water under a tap,Benchmade oil is just mineral oil with blue dye added to it I read what is in the bottle and that's all it is.

If you decide to try the Go-Juice get a needle oiler bottle from ebay and you only need 2 small drops down each side of the blade and the bottle will last you for a very long time.
 
wade7575 said:
I second the Go-Juice you get 4 oz for a really good price and it can be washed out with soap and water under a tap, Benchmade oil is just mineral oil with blue dye added to it...
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That's disappointing but it brings me back to that classic article by Grant Cunningham. This discusses premium lubes in terms of gun oil but it applies to knives as well. It's worth a read.

https://www.grantcunningham.com/2006/05/lubrication-101

We use premium oil because we want premium lubrication and protection. When companies add stuff like coloring or fragrance, I can't help but feel a little disappointed. I suppose gimmicks like that can help a product to sell but they don't help the product to work any better. I'll take a plain bottle of non-toxic FMO 350-AW any day.
 
If you have guns you should look at the Go-Juice grease,I have that as well and it's very thin and when you spread it out it stay's on part's better then the oil and leave's a nice finish.

The only reason I don't use the grease in my knife's is because I don't want to take them apart to lube them and strip screws and stuff,I have a few friends that use Go-Juice grease on their guns and it's more like spreading out a thick oil on metal and wiping off any extra,it's also a vegetable based oil and grease they sell and it's easy to clean and doesn't getting sticky like other oils and grease.

I have tried a lot of different oil's and Go-Juice is by far the slickest oil I have ever used,the only down side to it being so thin you need to lube your knife a bit more often but when you only need to add just 1 or 2 drops down each side of the blade and with the size of bottle they sell it will last a very very long time.

Chronovore said:
That's disappointing but it brings me back to that classic article by Grant Cunningham. This discusses premium lubes in terms of gun oil but it applies to knives as well. It's worth a read.

https://www.grantcunningham.com/2006/05/lubrication-101

We use premium oil because we want premium lubrication and protection. When companies add stuff like coloring or fragrance, I can't help but feel a little disappointed. I suppose gimmicks like that can help a product to sell but they don't help the product to work any better. I'll take a plain bottle of non-toxic FMO 350-AW any day.
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I have always used food-grade mineral oil for the blades, but have been recently using the Breakthrough HP Pro for pivots. Said to be synthetic non-toxic, excellent stuff :

642913__47930.1553005895.jpg
 
I have been using Swan mineral oil for years on knives and pivots.

That said, it’s not 100% safe, and if your concerned about ingesting (or especially getting it into your lungs) it might be worth looking into alternatives. I found some interesting reads:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081124102706.htm

https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+1922

This may be an alternative: fractionated coconut oil. Supposedly does not go rancid. I may order and try some, as I go through quite a bit of mineral oil (fixed and folders), and I did not realize that mineral oil was a distillate of petroleum.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/fractionated-coconut-oil

Take this all with a grain of salt, I’m just offering up some ideas and data that are sorta applicable.
 
Go-Juice by alg defense and I don’t lick the oil so I don’t know if it’s food safe.
 
I use Break Free CLP. The gun trainer at my local police force recommended this to me years ago for firearm maintenance. Then I saw a thread on this forum comparing various lubricants for their ability to prevent corrosion. The CLP scored very well. Don t know how food safe it is, but I wipe my blades thoroughly before cutting food.
 
Another option worth mentioning is food-grade silicone oil, which is pretty cheap and very light in its viscosity. It's also safe for most plastics, which can be a factor in some folders. Petroleum products can cause degradation of some kinds of polymers.
 
Toxicity isn't just an issue for food safety. We also tend to get that lube on our skin, especially during and after application. Let's also remember that most of us keep our knives in our pockets, up close to our bodies. Our pockets can be warm and in the right weather, slightly moist. The skin near those pockets tends to be more sensitive. A small amount of diffusion can occur.

Yeah, dose makes the poison in most cases. However, some substances tend to accumulate in our bodies. As a good friend here sometimes says, "why lean into the punch". So if you can find a decent non-toxic lube, why not use it?
 
I’ve tried a bunch, Daiwa reel oil is my favorite.
Get the one with the needle applicator that looks like nano oil (I think it’s called ‘daiwa reel Oiler’ on amazon).
I used to get into high end Japanese fishing gear, and I know how much Daiwa has put into researching oils. This stuff is formulated to stand up to saltwater day in and day out.

Weight wise, it’s probably between the nano 5 & 10 weight.

Now, if you want some ULTRA viscous oil... high speed micro ball bearing oil is where it’s at.
Or check out ZPI F-Zero oil.

(but honestly, that stuff is overkill for knives, regular Daiwa oil is perfect).
 
The problem with silicone oils and greases is they can become gritty over time,I used to have a lot of RC Cars that you build yourself and a lot used ball differentials and if they included silicone grease most people who knew better switched it out.

If you have never tried Go-Juice I would get a 4 oz bottle it will last you a very long time all you need to get is a needle oiler bottle from ebay,is very thin and runs right into the pivot and is very easy to wash off under running water and I soap as well.

I always try different oils for different thing's and Go-Juice is by far the slick oil I have found hands down and it's a plant based oil that doesn't get sticky at all so there is never a need to take the knife apart to clean off the old oil unlike other oils.

FortyTwoBlades said:
Another option worth mentioning is food-grade silicone oil, which is pretty cheap and very light in its viscosity. It's also safe for most plastics, which can be a factor in some folders. Petroleum products can cause degradation of some kinds of polymers.
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