Best Lube for Bearing Flippers

Wet lube attracts dirt.

In places where I want added smoothness without oil or lube, I've successfully used #2 pencil to draw or flake apart right where I need it. Graphite in pencil lead smooths it all out. Works great on keys to lube lock mechanisms and outdoor gate latches. Limitations are probably low stress and no heat from friction.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mo2
Daniel said:
I use Nano Oil 10W in all of my knives including Sebenzas. I find it to be the smoothest lube and I have tried ALL of them at one time or another. It is some expensive stuff, though, but you only need a couple of drops. Less is more.
Click to expand...
Same here, man. I've juggled between dry (tuff-glide) and wet lubes (i.e. EVERYTHING) and I've found 10 weight Nano to be the most consistent throughout. Regardless of pivot orientation (bronze washers, steel/ ceramic, caged/uncaged bearings, bushings, nothing (i.e. cold steel tuff lite)). A little goes a long ways.
 
Nano oil is snake oil. Mineral oil for a high price. Don't do it if you don't have any.

New stuff called knife pivot lube is converting those who say nanooil is great. Might be worth checking out cause it's cheaper and doesn't have snake oil advertising all over the website.



 
Thin-Slice said:
Ever since my first Shirogorov 95T I have become addicted to simply flipping. My flippers get more flipping use then actual cutting. Consequently, I want the smoothest flipper that I can get out of the product I have. I also understand that ceramic bearings probably give the smoothest action but cannot always find the right size for each brand so I am stuck with improving the flipping action by using best lube out there.

Have read on a bit and found several but the one that stood out was the Nano-Oil brand. I also know it comes in 5W, 10W and 85W. As per the manufacturer the say that the 10W is probably used most for folding knives around the pivot. However, I have done some reading/searching and found some use 85W instead on their folders. So my questions is:

What is the best weight for caged bearing flippers?
Click to expand...

85 is quite abit thicker so it holds the bbs in place abit better during reassembly. It also means you have to service your bb knife less. However I honestly find the 10 weight still gives the best action overall.

The only place I use 85 is I put a drop of it on the detent ball or better yet if the hole isn’t drilled clean through the blade into the hole the detent ball sits in to hold the knife shut. That way every time the detent ball dips into the hole it gets some oil.

Also for the best action it is important to use as little lube as possible. Too much lube actually creates friction and attracts gunk. Sadly this means for the best possible action you will be servicing your knives quite often.

in reality I tend to run my bb knives dry with no lube except on the detent.
 
What's wrong with Super Lube? Cheap, great for knives, firearms and around home and workshop.

Like Lapedog, I don't lube the bearings on my flippers either.
 
Mo2 said:
Nano oil is snake oil. Mineral oil for a high price. Don't do it if you don't have any.

New stuff called knife pivot lube is converting those who say nanooil is great. Might be worth checking out cause it's cheaper and doesn't have snake oil advertising all over the website.



Click to expand...

KPL lube is apparently winning alot of people over.

I agree nano oil has snake oil advertising however it still works quite well. Alot better than plain mineral oil in my experience. All that bs about microscopic diamond bbs is just that, bs.
 
I just use whatever gun oil I have on my bench at the time. Usually Birchwood Casey or Wilson combat light red.
 
This is what I personally use. Some are better some are worse. For ball bearings, I use Nano 10 and Daiwa. In my eyes, I see no difference between them. You just can't feel any difference. But you need reoil with Daiwa more often since it is very thin. There are many good oils and greases. All of them will do a great job. The only important factor is the viscosity of the oil. For a shiro, go nano 10 or Daiwa or any other brand that is in similar viscosity.

42622671_242256123138686_5055945817639092224_n.jpg
 
I usually use a drop of Slip 2000 EWL just because that's what's at hand.
 
I got a small bottle of cherrybalmz lube for my guns and found it to be amazing for making the action feel super silky, the advantage it has is the formulation and mayo like consistency allows it to not flow around or dry out and work much better then light oils in tool and machines that do not have a closed system. I recently tried it in my knife pivots and it feels amazing in them as well. Honestly never tried this nano oil stuff but based on my experience with gun lube and what ive tried in knives I dont see how some overpriced runny light oil could be that great on knives
 
ribeyemediumrare said:
I got a small bottle of cherrybalmz lube for my guns and found it to be amazing for making the action feel super silky, the advantage it has is the formulation and mayo like consistency allows it to not flow around or dry out and work much better then light oils in tool and machines that do not have a closed system. I recently tried it in my knife pivots and it feels amazing in them as well. Honestly never tried this nano oil stuff but based on my experience with gun lube and what ive tried in knives I dont see how some overpriced runny light oil could be that great on knives
Click to expand...

In my experience the lighter oils allow for freer actions but require more common reapplication.
 
Whatever lube you get if it is an oil I really do recommend getting a needle point applicator like what the nano oil comes in. You can just google needle tip bottle and put whatever oil you want in there.

It really helps prevent over oiling and lets yku put just a drop of oil where it’s needed. Over-oiling actually leads to friction and attracts gunk.

Watch this video in this thread where the guy tests different quantities of oil and see the different results.

Ignore the videos where the guy uses the machine where he presses a lever bar on a spinning wheel. This machine is a common tool used to make crappy lube appear better than it actually is. There is tons of
articles debunking this machine.

The videos you want are in post #5.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/has-anyone-done-a-any-lubrication-friction-testing.1510135/
 
I used Breakfree Mil spec CLP for very many years on all my firearms and precision mechanical assemblies. But it has become too expensive for me (yes, I am a tightwad). Five years ago I switched to Marvel Air Tool oil for everything and it makes a very good lube for guns and knives and locksets. It's the perfect weight (about SAE 5W) And it's cheap compared to CLP and available in just about every auto parts store. Dexron Auto Transmission Fluid is also a very good lube. Snake oil is one of the biggest scams in the oil industry.
 
Yar, nothing wrong with Mobil 1 syn either, lots of guys running it in their firearms where oil is called for.

I have no doubt that white lithium grease would work fine as well. I don't run Mobil 1 for oil (Slip 2k, what can I say?), but regular ol lithium grease seems to work just as well as anything else (grease) I've tried on a firearm.
 
I just want to add that these are lubes for pivots that rotate ~180° at low velocity and force, it is entirely possible to over think the subject ;)
 
I have used many lubes on knives over the last 20 years. Had been a fan of Tri Flo and Rem oil. The very best IMO is M-Pro 7 gun oil.
 
Lots of good suggestions but the OP
Asked for what the best lube would be, not what would “work fine.”

Best is obviously subjective but he appears to mean contributes to the freest action.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top