Lubes affecting plastic?

[Bluegrasser12345]

Will any lubes out there, specifically petroleum or solvent based lubes affect FRN? I've always been paranoid about this, because one time I saw a guy use wd-40 to oil a nail gun, and it melted every single little rubber o-ring and it needed major repair . But I wondered if any of the major, readily available lubes like remoil, ballistol, militec, hoppes, clp, sentry solutions, or anything else will harm fiberglass reinforced nylon in knife handles.

Thanks a lot!

 

[nate1714]

im no expert but from what i have experienced it would but it will take time..and it depends how long the lube is on it..longer time more its effected...

 

[yoda4561]

Good FRN seems to be chemically impervious to anything I've put on it. Cheaper plastics you need to be more careful of, such as SAK handles and celluloid, as certain lubricants can cause crazing and brittleness due to solvents or other nasties in the oil.

 

[shecky]

I've found some O-rings (and various rubbers) are sensitive to petroleum products.

SAK scales seem to dissolve in alcohol. Typical plastic solvents such as acetone and MEK would probably do it to. WD40 is OK, though.

I suspect most knife handle materials are unaffected by WD40. WD40 is basically Stoddard Solvent (kinda like Kerosene/mineral spirits) with some mineral oil added. I believe in some other countries, naptha is the substitute solvent.

 

[knarfeng]

Will any lubes out there, specifically petroleum or solvent based lubes affect FRN? I've always been paranoid about this, because one time I saw a guy use wd-40 to oil a nail gun, and it melted every single little rubber o-ring and it needed major repair . But I wondered if any of the major, readily available lubes like remoil, ballistol, militec, hoppes, clp, sentry solutions, or anything else will harm fiberglass reinforced nylon in knife handles.
Thanks a lot!

There is a big big difference between Nylon and the rubber used in O-rings found on a nail gun. Those are most likely made from something on the order of Neoprene. Neoprene does not do well in aliphatic hydrocarbons (paint thinner, oils, etc.)

The "N" in "FRN" stands for "Nylon". Nylon is impervious to paint thinner and lacquer thinner type solvents as well as to oils and lubricants at temps lower than about 120F. (Don't want to get any solvent that hot anyhow.) It doesn't do real well in serious acids.

I wouldn't worry about using oils around your FRN handles.