Lubrication for 2018

B

bmblades

Joined
Dec 27, 2015
Messages
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Ok, so I have been using the nano-oil 10w for the last couple of years and been happy with it (i guess). Been using it for all knife pivot systems (bearings, ikbs, washers...).

Anyway... after using the nano-lube for soo long my conclusion is that it makes your knives smooth for a while but dries fast and knife immediately looses smoothness. I did not experimented with other stuff but would like to try new things in the nano-lube price range. I'm tired of using this stuff!

Thanks for looking!
 
Nano lube is snake oil. Way to much $ for mineral oil.

I have been using quick release and sofar so very good. Still need more testing but it's far better than Nano.

It's not food safe tho. Not a problem for me. As the knife I use for food prep is just using mineral oil or grease.

I do notice very little goes a long way. Putting a drop in makes that drop go all over, so it's best to disassemble apply then wipe and assemble. Any type of lube you use should work better sparingly as the more you use will cause more friction.

I recently got some aerosol graphite but have not used it yet. I forgot where I left it lulz. But it should work even better for the detent track.

I also use crk and finish line grease on an assortment of pivots without issues.
 
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For lubing folders: 1 drop of norton honing oil (refined food grade mineral oil) in the pivot.

I tried food grade Super Lube synthetic spray, didn't work any better than the mineral oil, and cost more. Tried WD40 Specialist Silicon dry lube spray. Same thing. Both work, but don't seem to add a unique value to lubing a knife. :cool:

CorrosionX, which is partly based on mineral oil but has additives, works better than mineral oil as a lube and protectant, but is not food safe. So I quit using CorrosionX except to coat knives and tools that are not used for food prep and are stored in the garage, car, or elsewhere that's not heated.
 
Froglube paste for knives that could have a possibility around food. Smells like mint. Stays like grease does and sticking the knife in the sun or warming it up with a hair dryer allows the frog lube to melt and turn into liquid for easy application like an oil. And it’s a cleaner and removes gunk out of older knives.

For knives that don’t see food use it’s red Chrysler grease. Same stuff that’s in the ball joints, and anything that needs greased on my truck. The way I figure it is that stuff goes thru a lot worse after one week being used on my truck than a lifetime use of my pocket knife. If I need something thinner 10W-30 synthetic works, and once again it’s what goes in my truck.
 
Krytox 205. 203 is you want something less viscous. Mix them to find your sweet spot. 203/205 represent my personal gold standards.
 
I have been using finishline dry lube. It is meant for bike chains but works well in knife pivots. I like that it is a dry lube and doesn't collect a bunch of debris.
 
I have a full line of nano oil/grease, Finish line fluoro grease, Daiwa reel oil and some other brands. I personally don't see much difference between nano oil 10W and Daiwa. Daiwa is a tiny bit thinner than 10w.
I would say Daiwa oil has best price/quality ratio. Works really well.
 
razor-edge-knives said:
I have E-tec 501 ordered and heading my way... I wanted a true water displacing oil that has some serious rust preventative capabilities, and also functions as a lubricant. We'll see how it performs... Looks like they have at least done some testing to this effect...

https://www.epi.com/rust-preventatives/water-displacing-oils/
Click to expand...

Well I got it in... it looks like a very light weight oil, dark in color, and smelly. Anyway, first thing I did was check the water displacement by putting some water in a glass cup and some drops of oil in that, then checked if the oil would sink. Nope, just sat on the top of the water, as does WD40 btw. Then I checked Eezox, which about half of each drop falls like a rock through the water to the bottom of the cup.

This piked my interest so I looked up the mil spec test that EPI stated their oil passed, and sure enough it's different that what I would have imagined (click here to read about the test, page 16). As best as I can tell, basically it consists of them submerging a sandblasted carbon steel rod in the oil, then submerging it in water and taking it out then letting it sit to see if rust forms.

Ah well I wanted something that sinks below the surface of the water and clings to the metal.
 
A few things I wish I would've learned about lubes, after spending WAY too much time, too many firearm forum threads, and too many $$ on investigating too many snake oil lubes :rolleyes::

  • For most ordinary home and non-industrial lube uses, plenty of outstanding, affordable lube options already exist. In my experience the high $$ lube options, even if they actually worked better than the established (a number of the ones I tried didn't), were just marginally better, not epic game-changing better, so not worth the $$ and hassle. And in some cases, the high $$ lube industry really IS just pushing snake oil. Anyone who has not read up on the "Fireclean" gun cleaner fiasco, really should.
  • I always specify and prioritize what attributes I'm looking for in the lube. Do you need it to work up to a certain flash point, or down to a certain pour point? Do you need it to also provide corrosion protection? Does it need to be non-toxic, food safe, or bio-degradable? Should it displace water? Does it need to work in salt water/marine environments? Should it migrate/penetrate or stay in one place? Etc. Because not all lubes are good at all things, but you only need the lube you buy to be good at certain things, it's good enough. Any lube that claims to be good at everything, is certainly going to be charging you a lot for it, and oh yeah, they're probably exaggerating too. :)
  • I try to find lubes that have a lot of common useful attributes (see previous bullet) that I can use for many types of lube tasks. Then I can buy one or a few lube types in bulk, which usually lowers the unit cost, and don't have to have so many different things to stock on my garage shelf. I've gotten it down to where for home use, I only have 4 lube types that cover every single thing I do from knives, to firearms, to hinges/locks, small appliances, etc.: WD40, food safe mineral oil (I use the Norton honing oil brand), CorrosionX (awesome as a general purpose lube, rust protection, water displacement, multi-purpose CLP type of solution), and Super Lube synthetic grease (white lithium grease here is practically as good in my experience, and costs less).
    • I did recently try the EWL/SLIP gun grease for my 1911 slides and AR15 bolts because a friend pushed it on me. And it does work great, no question. But as above, super high cost per ounce, just ridiculously priced, and it doesn't measurably work one iota better than the Super Lube. Although on paper, it does claim to have a lower freezing/gumming point at which the grease would actually impede the performance of a moving part. But since I don't live in the Arctic, Siberia, or Norway, that particular attribute is not one I'm willing to pay extra for.
 
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