3 in one oil?

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3 in 1 oil is good
so is the remington oil
so is mineral oil (espcecially if the knife/blade is goona be used on food )
 
My dad used to use 3 in 1 on guns and I thought it goo-ed them up. Break-free CLP is my main lube these days, metal, plastic etc. Doesn't turn to goo or attract dust.
 
As a standard grade machine oil, it should be fine. For protecting against rust and corrosion, it is not adequate. You can get much better lubricants and much better rust inhibitors. Break*Free, which contains teflon particles suspended in the fluid, is used by the military and is designated CLP, for Cleans, Lubricates and Protects. Unfortunately, it also attracts dust and lint, which is fine if you use only a small drop. A "dry" lubricant that comes highly recommended is Militec-1. It goes on wet, then you take a hair dryer and blast the part that was lubricated. It's supposed to condition the metal to bond with the oil and the result is a "dry" lubricant that doesn't attract grit. It's used by many soldiers in Iraq, who find that CLP just doesn't work well for them.

I'm sometimes amazed how sticky and gritty my CLP bottles are downstairs. If I wanted to have good lube without attracting pocket lint, I'd use Militec-1.
 
I use 3-in-1 around the house but use Militec-1 on my folders.
I love the smell of that stuff :)
 
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3in1 is ok, but when ya can get rem-0il at walmart for $1.39 i see no reason to use 3in1 when rem-oil does work better,
 
SIFU1A said:
3in1 is ok, but when ya can get rem-0il at walmart for $1.39 i see no reason to use 3in1 when rem-oil does work better,
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I don't like using Rem-Oil anymore. It works well at first, but it leaves a wax which I don't like. It's also very thin (at first, of course). I use Hoppe's 9 now, and it lasts very long and doesn't leave that waxiness behind. And doesn't smell flammable lol
 
I've never lubed any of my knives yet - I just keep them clean. Not that I'm against it but so far they have all worked well just staying clean . . . The action is smooth and seems to be just as good as when new.
 
That is smart because the more you lube them the more dust you will attract. If you can get away with no lube all the better.
 
3 in 1 worked well in my BB gun in the 50's. The 3 in 1 smell still reminds me of those days hunting sparrows. :)
An interesting note is that the WD-40 company bought out 3 in 1 in 1995.

Another unusual lube, recommended to me by a gunsmith, is automotive refrigeration oil. It's used in auto AC compressors and is very stable at high temps and pressures, thus it's very stable at knife temperatures. It's about the same viscosity as mineral oil, maybe somewhat higher, but has much better film strength, so it lubes better and longer. Available at auto parts stores.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
WD40 IS a lubricant, but not a good one. It is also a solvent, and an excellent cutting fluid. It does NOT gum up in normal use-this is a myth. I have used it for 35+ years, for many things. I have seen no evidence of gumming yet.
3 in one oil is fine for knives.
Bill
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IIRC WD-40 was originally designed as a Rust preventive/degreaser for the Aerospace industry. The WD stands for water displacement and the 40 stands for how many tries it took the to get the formula to what we are now using. I agree with Bill D. , it leaves no gummy residue and is fine for knives, as is 3-in-1 oil......which incidentally is made by the same people.

I personally have used it about as long as bill has, for just about everything.

Quoted from WD-40.com:

"In 1953, a fledgling company called Rocket Chemical Company and its staff of three set out to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry, in a small lab in San Diego, California.

It took them 40 attempts to get the water displacing formula worked out. But they must have been really good, because the original secret formula for WD-40®—which stands for Water Displacement perfected on the 40th try—is still in use today.

Convair, an aerospace contractor, first used WD-40 to protect the outer skin of the Atlas Missile from rust and corrosion. The product actually worked so well that several employees snuck some WD-40 cans out of the plant to use at home."

A few years following WD-40's first industrial use, Rocket Chemical Company founder Norm Larsen experimented with putting WD-40 into aerosol cans, reasoning that consumers might find a use for the product at home as some of the employees had. The product made its first appearance on store shelves in San Diego in 1958
 
I have had great results with Break-Free. I use it on my guns and knives. Just remember, a little of that goes a long way though!
 
I probably have used WD 40 on everything-OTFs and even musical instruments!
If you flush with WD 40, and wipe-each time you use the WD 40 it cleans any old crud off and replaces it with fresh lube. WD 40 should be great for OTFs.
 
OTF= out the front automatic. And I wouldn't get wd40 anywhere near one personally.
 
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