Recommendation? Grease VS Oil, the great debate...

Forgot to mention I have also used Moebius grease. I use it in watch repair work and mainly my bearing knives. Worked well on my Sebenza as well.
 
I only use the CRK grease, but mine don't need to be flickable. I did try KPL when I was out of grease and had more on order and I didn't notice much difference. The Inkosi and 31 will have more of a chance for flicking open than a 21. If you polish your washers you will have more of a chance with a 21.

Just know damage to the stop pin from flicking the knife open isn't going to be covered by warranty. But it's your knife do as you will.
 
Just sharpened,cleaned, and GREASED my large 31. I don’t have any interest in fixing something that isn’t broken imho
 
My KnifeArt Sebenza 21 has always had really stiff action which I hate. Ever since I start mixing KPL with my CRK grease I’ve had the smoothest/perfect action on this knife I could ever ask for. Just KPL alone I didn’t really like and it needed to be reapplied too often but just the right amount of mixture of both and it’s absolutely good to go. Highly recommend it.
 
I don’t remember what CRK grease felt like, for the last eight months to a year or so I have been using various oils, generally liking 3-1 oil or Lucas gun oil best, but recently cleaned my 21 and tried some real moly grease I have for air guns, it was good but not awesome, different feel than oil but in a good way, just needed to be a bit more fluid/smooth to be just right, so I dug out an old tube of Militec-1 grease I have never found much use for in the past, it’s a winner for me on this 21, the action feels so smooth and hydraulic, it’s slower than oil, but feels like it’s riding on lube with no metal contact, perfect.
 
I’ve used nano oil (10weight and 85) KPL, TW bravo 25, nano grease, and I’ve mixed grease and oil. After all the experimenting I’ve been with only CRK grease for quite some time. I don’t have to have flickable either. I wouldn’t think oil would cause any problems over time tho. Just my opinion
 
Been using a thin gun oil on my 21 (ran out of the CRK grease) and if it gets on the lock face it causes lock stick. :(
 
TRfromMT said:
Been using a thin gun oil on my 21 (ran out of the CRK grease) and if it gets on the lock face it causes lock stick. :(
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A reco to you and to all, Krytox GPL 205 is great, especially in the applicator syringe w/ the super-fine tip attached. It's NSF H-1 certified (so it's safe for incidental food contact), it feels absolutely perfect, and for about the cost of two 5g CRK fluoro tubes, you'll get a syringe with enough to last the rest of your life even if you cleaned your knives way too often.

The biggest plus (to me, anyway) is that the lubricant doesn't separate, so you won't have one of those "oh crap" moments when you squirt out all your base oil and leave behind a tube of (mostly useless) thickener that costs $10, and takes a few days, to replace.
 
knoob said:
A reco to you and to all, Krytox GPL 205 is great, especially in the applicator syringe w/ the super-fine tip attached. It's NSF H-1 certified (so it's safe for incidental food contact), it feels absolutely perfect, and for about the cost of two 5g CRK fluoro tubes, you'll get a syringe with enough to last the rest of your life even if you cleaned your knives way too often.

The biggest plus (to me, anyway) is that the lubricant doesn't separate, so you won't have one of those "oh crap" moments when you squirt out all your base oil and leave behind a tube of (mostly useless) thickener that costs $10, and takes a few days, to replace.
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I have tubs of this stuff at my workplace, but how much thicker is it than CRK grease? To me it seems stickier but I've never had the two side by side.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
I have tubs of this stuff at my workplace, but how much thicker is it than CRK grease? To me it seems stickier but I've never had the two side by side.
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Since I squirted out my CRK (Christo-Lube) base oil, I can't make a fair comparison. Then again, even if I did have it, I wouldn't trust my own assessment--I'm no tribologist.

My recommendation would be to find out which specific variant of the Christo-Lube grease CRK uses (perhaps via call to them), and compare that lubrication's viscosity with the Krytox 205 row in the link above. Note that 205 is the least viscous in the present table, but I've seen 204 for sale online, so it could be possible to get an even "thinner" (less viscous) variant.
 
I received a three yo small 21 and it felt dry. I guess the grease dried up during the years. I added a drop of sewing machine oil to the pivot area and 'worked it in'. It is just right now.

I guess anything is better than nothing. Coconut oil, bacon, chainsaw oil, bike chain oil, sewing machine oil and wd40 are always at hand if I ever run out of the CRK stuff. The only oils I would avoid are so called drying oils, such as tung oil and linseed oil. Also, fats will go rancid sooner or later and smell funny, but will do in a pinch..
 
I have used Nano, KPL, and CRK grease forever. Must admit the grease works best over a longer period of time between cleanings. I think that the nano works well, but not nearly as well as the grease especially for smoothness.
 
DBH said:
I have used Nano, KPL, and CRK grease forever. Must admit the grease works best over a longer period of time between cleanings. I think that the nano works well, but not nearly as well as the grease especially for smoothness.
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...so it seems "Nano" is referring to nano oil, and not the nano grease? I've been a little curious about whether the nano oil 85wt outlasts the 10wt, in case you've tried both.
 
Ron Sabbagh said:
Chris Reeve always said to use grease & not oil. There is a reason. Oils are meant to lubricate closed systems, like your car engine. Greases are meant to lubricate open systems, like firearms and knives.

Certain greases actually bond chemically with the metal - providing lubrication & protection at the cellular level. Without going into a long discussion, greases are a better choice for pivots. If you want an alternative to CRK grease, try TW25B . It is a light grease preferred by the military for all firearms. It is applied lightly - not gobs of grease- and will lubricate your pivot (or firearm) and for longer periods of time because it provides lubrication and protection both physically and chemically.

if you are curious and want to learn more, research “grease vs oil for 1911 firearm”

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Oils are also meant for open systems as well. One example is an open gear oil which is around ISO 600 to 1000 in viscosity range at 40 C. In guns specifically greases are meant for certain areas that have high contact wear/pressure (sear) while oils are better on a slide. Both oils/grease have additive packages in them which contain certain chemicals for wear (usually phosphate/phosphite additives), extreme pressure (polysulfides, sulfurized olefins), corrosion ect. These form iron sulfide, iron phosphate (and poly phosphate) layers via chemical adsorption.

Just remember to use something that is designed for the application at hand.
 
I bought a fancy looking gun oil (M-Pro 7) when I was getting low on the CRK grease. It works great and I find it hard to believe that if you disassemble and clean your knives regularly that any quality grease or oil would not be fine. The ease of disassembly is one of the great things about CRK knives. I have not tried it, but I have some high-end bicycle grease that I bet would work great also. After all, bicycle wheel bearings spin at great speed and are subject to dirt, so I think it would hold up well.
 
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I recently used some Tetra Gun grease that I use on a couple of my firearms with great success on my Mnandi. I figure if Chris Reeves uses grease on hos knives that there is a good reason for it so I will follow suit.
 
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