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Hi guys!
So what do you use to lube your caged ball bearings?
Grease? Oil? Run them dry??
What's your choice?
So what do you use to lube your caged ball bearings?
Grease? Oil? Run them dry??
What's your choice?
Lubing ceramic caged bearings
- Thread starter Bob Denman
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It's the epitome of a "Gentleman's EDC Knife".
It's too close to call between it; and my Mnandi!
It's too close to call between it; and my Mnandi!
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Any lube for knives and their pivots I use basic mineral oil now for cage bearings or any specific type of pivot or pivot mechanism I apply to pretty much any and all of them. I know some people will clean them prior to lubing them and it does make sense to do that.
I am lazy like Pirate and also tend to just use a qtip load of mineral oil to lube mine, it's a bit of a process to get it around and then wiped off but it saves me from fully breaking down my knives every time I want to maintain them a bit. Leave those screws alone until a knife actually needs a spa day.
Chronovore
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I always oil bearings. The old adage is oil for things that roll and grease for things that slide. I sometimes wonder about grease versus oil on washers, but I usually just oil them since I have the oil on my desk and it never seems to cause a problem.
I keep regular, non-toxic mineral oil on hand for after cleaning blade surfaces, etc. However, I use Lubriplate FMO-350 AW for actions. The viscosity is "just right". It's also non-toxic and that's a plus for EDC stuff. It's considerably less expensive than specialty knife lubes like KPL. Here is a link.
EDIT: I don't know if Lubrikit is still in business. So I'm not sure the best place to buy this oil in small quantities now. It is widely available in a spray formulation but I'm not keen on that for knives. The smallest size for the straight liquid seems to be a gallon jug now.
I keep regular, non-toxic mineral oil on hand for after cleaning blade surfaces, etc. However, I use Lubriplate FMO-350 AW for actions. The viscosity is "just right". It's also non-toxic and that's a plus for EDC stuff. It's considerably less expensive than specialty knife lubes like KPL. Here is a link.
EDIT: I don't know if Lubrikit is still in business. So I'm not sure the best place to buy this oil in small quantities now. It is widely available in a spray formulation but I'm not keen on that for knives. The smallest size for the straight liquid seems to be a gallon jug now.
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Chronovore
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Disassembly is part of my "new knife" routine. I never know what lube whichever company uses from the factory. Besides not mixing with their mystery lube, I like starting fresh with a known, high quality, and non-toxic oil. I've also found internal inspection to be a fun and informative part of getting to know a new knife.
Spot oiling with a needle dropper is quick and easy. Just put a drop where it needs to go and work the action for a minute. The right weight/viscosity helps the oil get to where it needs to go and stay there. You can get empty needle-droppers bottles on Amazon or at your local hardware or hobby shop.
The following FAQ's are from Boca Bearings and I thought they would be of interest to the members so I posting them directly from the FAQ section of the Boca Bearings website:
Q: What kind of performance enhancement should I expect from ceramic bearings?
A:Unfortunately every operator, setup and operating environment is very different so it is difficult to quantify an exact improvement in performance. But in general ceramic bearings are lighter, stronger and faster. Typically you will see about 2-3 times the life out of a ceramic bearing as compared to a standard bearing. This is because ceramic is harder than steel in ball form; it is 3-4 times the Rockwell hardness of a steel ball. As far as performance is concerned, a ceramic bearing is capable of producing 50% more RPM than a standard bearing. This is due to the fact that the ceramic ball is virtually frictionless because it is non-porous, unlike steel which has pores and generates both heat and friction. Ceramic bearings will also not micro-weld due to insufficient lube or arcing. All of these characteristics add up to a better performing vehicle that can accelerate faster and requires less energy to achieve peak RPM.
Conclusion, ceramic bearings are better than steel and better than washers for speed of deployment.
Q: Do full ceramic bearings need lubrication?
A:No, full ceramic bearings can be run completely dry. They do not need lubrication to run. Ceramic is non-porous, unlike steel, as a result it is virtually frictionless. Ceramic also dissipates heat very quickly, which is the same reason they use it on the underside of the space shuttle. Because there is no heat buildup and virtually no friction, full ceramic bearings can be run completely dry. They can be cleaned out with regular tap water or any cleaner, they are impervious to corrosion and can operate in a vacuum environment.
Conclusion, ceramic bearings probably work best when dry but, I'll probably very lightly lubricate mine anyway mainly because it gives me a convenient excuse to work with my knives.
I hope you found these FAQ's as interesting as I did and thanks for reading them.
^^ Thanks.
I run Skiff ceramic bearings on all my flippers - even if they came with ceramics (CIVIVI/WE).
I have tried running dry, super wet and everywhere in between.
I landed on using a very light lube coating on all moving surfaces anyway. They just run better with a tiny bit of lube. They feel smoother, sound smoother etc. The hard part is sometimes not putting too much oil in there - even with the needle applicators.
Can they run without lube? Yes. Do they run better with a slight bit of lube? Yes, IMO.
I run Skiff ceramic bearings on all my flippers - even if they came with ceramics (CIVIVI/WE).
I have tried running dry, super wet and everywhere in between.
I landed on using a very light lube coating on all moving surfaces anyway. They just run better with a tiny bit of lube. They feel smoother, sound smoother etc. The hard part is sometimes not putting too much oil in there - even with the needle applicators.
Can they run without lube? Yes. Do they run better with a slight bit of lube? Yes, IMO.
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Ceramics can be run dry?
Time to order more Skiffs...
Time to order more Skiffs...
I think (would hope) that’s assumed. Thus “any moving part”.Well the bearings maybe- but oil on the pivot is a must (steel on steel). How one can oil the pivot and miss the bearings is a miracle to me
Thus reinforcing my point of a light coating on all of it, regardless of bearing type.
I also run Skiff bearings on all my knives except my ZT 0562ti for which I use Taco's. I think they run better with a little bit of lube as well but, I have tried it both ways and when dry they run really well and do not attract dirt. So, if you are using your knife in a dirty environment or the knife gets dirty easily I would have no qualms about running it dry. My knives don't get dirty at all for the most part so I use Gunny Glide (GG) on all my bearings and washers and Pivot Lube Heavy on my detent balls whether they are steel or ceramic.
How do you like the Gunny Glide vs KPL? Can you actually tell a difference?
Anybody ever use the lightweight KPL? I wonder how runny it is…
I think I like the Gunny Glide the best of all lubricants at the moment and I have at least 20 different kinds of knife lubricants ( including dry lubricants) as I am going to do a video comparing them all at some point. Breakthrough Clean Technologies has a new lubricant called HP100 Knife Oil with SMT which is also very good but, I think the action of my knives using Gunny is a smidge better than the HP100.
Chronovore
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I prefer a lighter oil in most cases. It gets to where it needs to go and leaves what needs to be left: a light coat.
Check out this article from 2006. It was written for the gun community, which has long suffered a similar "snake oil" situation. Some of the same stuff applies to knives and the article covers basic principles of lubrication that are worth understanding.
I switched over to that Lubruplate FMO 350-AW for my wheel guns a decade ago and haven't looked back. I started using it on knives and multi-tools shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, the availability issue applies again. It is available in a spray can or a gallon jug. A company called Lubrikit was selling it in 4oz. bottles but they seem to have gone under during the pandemic. Even at their 4oz size, the price was a tiny fraction of what KPL costs per volume. I still have about an ounce left from my last order a few years ago. If I can't find a better source, I may just pick up a gallon jug. If I do, I'd have a lifetime supply with plenty to spare. I'm curious to know if anyone would be interested in a share if I do.
I forgot to mention that I also like the GG on my knives w washers. I tried fluorinated grease and it was pretty good but, the action was better with GG. One good thing about the grease is that it doesn't run. If you put too much oil on like I tend to do it creeps out onto the blade some and also the pivot screws. With the grease you don't have that issue. The reality is that dry, wet, or grease they all work well. Some better than others but, it comes down to what environment you will be using your knife in and what you can put up with and what you can't. I want the best action and I don't mind oil creep. Also, my knives stay very clean so Gunny is my go to lubricant along with Pivot Lube Heavy for the detent ball and the lock where it touches the blade when locked in the open position. But, I also use the grease where the lock meets the blade and I think that works very well too.
I read the article and liked it a lot. So, if I understood correctly the author is saying indirectly that you should use grease on knives with washers and oil on bearings. This is what I have also heard from other sources and Chris Reeves uses grease on his knives with washers. I have also used grease on my SHF's and they worked very well in spite of the fact that I used way too much. Maybe if I used a lot less the action would be as good as GG. I might try that as an experiment and see if using a thin film makes a difference in the action. I also packed the bearings (Skiff bearings) of a couple of my Ultramar Street knives (Redencion and Liberation) as an experiment and they also worked ok in spite of the fact that I again used way too much. I stuck with the GG as the action of the knife using the grease was not as good as the GG. But, if you are not as concerned with the action as much as I am the grease work well enough and it won't creep like the oil will if you use too much. One more thing, I have not been impressed with the dry lubricants at all. I tried a number of them including curing Militec in the oven and was not overly impressed with the results. Even so, if I chose to run my bearings dry I would use a dry lubricant just in case it did actually help reduce the wear. Otherwise, I would not use a dry lubricant unless the environment dictated using it. And finally, the only lubricants that I found that worked to my satisfaction on OTF's was iNox MX3FG and iNox Plus with PTFE and Heretic OTF lubricant. They were the only lubricants where after I cleaned and lubricated the knife (Heretic Manticore E) it would deploy and lock up the first time and every time thereafter. With every other lubricant the OTF would not lock up after lubricating it and you had to deploy and redeploy the blade over and over until it finally would start locking up consistently. No doubt I was using too much oil but, it was telling that even using too much oil when I used the three lubricants I mentioned the blade would lock up the first time and every time thereafter. Wow, this ended up being a lot longer than I intended but, I thought the members might find my little experiments with lubricants useful in some small way.