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Bike lube for knives?

jill jackson

jill jackson

Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
20,593
Because I'm riding a bike a lot I have this, dirt shedding chain lube and I was thinking it should be great for pivots on my folders? What do you think?

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Perhaps. From what I recall of my bike and its chain is that it gets very filthy, very quickly :D Perhaps yours actaully holds up when it comes to "dirt shedding". As long as it doesn't attract lint etc like WD-40 does it should be decent. I'm waiting on a deliver of FrogLube to test out on my Sage.
 
I've used it before back when there were a few bottles kicking around the bench. It's good stuff. Like the bike chain instructions, the key is to start with a clean surface.
 
That's curious to me. I've got a bottle (two, actually) of 'WHITE LIGHTNING Folding Knife & Multi-Tool Wax Lubricant'. The bottle and label are identical, save for the re-worded description. I'd bet it's the same exact product, but re-labelled to a different market niche. (Edit: see pics below)

Having said that, the biggest downside I've seen to the stuff I have is, if you open the bottle and use it very sparingly, the solvent in it will dry up over time. Leaves solidified 'wax' at the bottom of the bottle, and essentially unusable. I attempted to add some isopropyl alcohol back into the bottle, as I believe it's originally alcohol-suspended. Had to use a small screwdriver or something to break up the hardened wax, and then shake it up a lot, to make it somewhat 'liquid' again. Even though I was able to re-use some of it, the wax lubricant wouldn't stay uniformly liquid (in the bottle) for very long. Tended to re-congeal into loose particles floating in the alcohol suspension, which also clogged the nozzle, BTW. I decided it wasn't worth the trouble, eventually.

(Jill, I'm noticing in your pic, it's labelled as 'NEW & IMPROVED'. Hopefully, they've solved or eliminated the drying up issue.)

Here's a couple pics of my 2nd (unopened) bottle of it, in the original packaging. This one's also dried up, BTW.
 
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Ive used it before.Didnt Buckknives brand it for awhile?I had the same problem as David.
 
Mine probably won't be around long enough to dry up. I buy it at Walmart every 2 months or so. It's 4.99 a bottle. Do they charge more when it's labeled for knives?
 
Seals said:
Ive used it before.Didnt Buckknives brand it for awhile?I had the same problem as David.
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I didn't mention it specifically in my reply, but you can see the Buck Knives endorsement on the package in my photo. Not sure if Buck had anything to do with 'creating' the application for knives specifically, but it made me wonder.
 
Go to a music store and buy valve oil, it's extremely fine and very cheap. Also can be used for rust prevention oil.
 
jill jackson said:
Mine probably won't be around long enough to dry up. I buy it at Walmart every 2 months or so. It's 4.99 a bottle. Do they charge more when it's labeled for knives?
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Sounds like you might not have any issues with it drying up. I hope it works out better for you. My stuff is pretty old, and I hadn't used much of it anyway. So I'm sure that played into mine going bad.

I was Googling for this 'knife-specific' version today, and I don't see it anywhere. Maybe they decided it wasn't a good fit (profit-wise) for the labelled application. I'd think using it for bike chains might go through more bottles in shorter time, so maybe the shelf-life isn't an issue for that application.
 
Funny this should come up, I've asked this before but never got an answer.

Has anyone ever tried using a teflon based lubricant? its also wax based but it comes in an aerosol can so it wont get dried up. I use it on my mountain bike with great results

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Doesn't tri-flo have teflon particles in it? The best lube I've found is Slick 50 motor oil.
 
i am a bike mechanic . that stuff is great, just gets gritty, and is a dirt magnet. your best bet is some triflow. there's 3 different types of white lightning, but the one you picked, or the purple one "wet ride" is grade.
 
I started with 3-in-1 back in the 50's, switched to Marvel Mystery Oil in the 60's, Buck's Oil in the 70's, Tri-Flon in the 80's, White Lightning in the 90's (discovered I preferred the white lightning that came in Mason Jars) Tuf-Glide or SuperLube in 2000, but for the last 5 years have been using ordinary urea grease. When just a pinhead amount is used it lasts about a year or two and doesn't attract dust. Think I'll stick with this for the next decade or so unless something better comes along.


Stitchawl
 
pialia said:
Perhaps. From what I recall of my bike and its chain is that it gets very filthy, very quickly :D Perhaps yours actaully holds up when it comes to "dirt shedding". As long as it doesn't attract lint etc like WD-40 does it should be decent. I'm waiting on a delivery of FrogLube to test out on my Sage.
Click to expand...

This FrogLube stuff is amazing. I had used Ballistol on my Spyderco Sage just as a stand-in until my package arrived. Just used the new stuff and not only did I tighten the pivot slightly more, but now the blade falls free when I disengage the lock. I'm happily surprised! :D
 
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