Did I ruin my knife with the wrong lube??

V

v_roomy

Joined
Sep 22, 2006
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6
:eek: OK... I thought I would try lubing one of my cheaper stockman knives - a Chinese one, inexpensive. I wanted to see whether the lube made any difference to the already silky-smooth opening, and was also trying to get myself into the habit of cleaning my knives, oiling the joints and protecting the blades with the wipe of an oily rag.

I'm sure you guys will scream when I tell you this - but I used regular 3-in-one on the blade joints. To my horror, what started off as a smooth-opening action now feels rough and grating! :eek:

Have I ruined my knife? Surely not... I'm hoping it's just a case of flushing the knife through with a solvent (WD40?), then applying the CORRECT lube?

If I haven't ruined the knife, what is the best lube to use for the *very* smooth action - can I even get it back to how it was?

Any advice much appreciated - and I'm humble enough to accept / listen to all the criticism you can throw at me at the same time :p

Thanks in advance, guys.

Regds

Mike
 
I would hit the joint with some Gun Scrubb or maybe WD40 to clean it up. Personally, I think Gun Scrub would be better because its job is to clean gunky surfaces. Going forward, I would try Miltech lubricant in a very small quantity. I believe Miltech's claim to fame, is that it will not attract dust and dirt. It may be dust and dirt are what clogged up the works by sticking to the 3in1.

An anecdote about 3-in-one oil is that I used to use my dad's 3-in-one on my baseball glove when I was a kid. 3 in one oil also gave the family dog a nice shiny coat!

Hope this helps.

Bill
 
3 in 1 is fine for your knives. What you have done is dislodged dirt, and it has gotten into the pivot joint. A WD 40 flush and a lot of opening cycles will get the dirt out. Clean the entire knife out with toothpicks, Q tips, WD 40, etc., then use the 3 in 1 again.
Bill
 
Thanks to both Bills for your quick replies...

Bill DeShivs said:
3 in 1 is fine for your knives. What you have done is dislodged dirt, and it has gotten into the pivot joint. A WD 40 flush and a lot of opening cycles will get the dirt out. Clean the entire knife out with toothpicks, Q tips, WD 40, etc., then use the 3 in 1 again.
Bill
Click to expand...

OK, I've now done this. Whenever I flush it out with WD40, it gets rid of the grittiness as you suggest. I've found it gets even better if I then rinse it under hot water for a minute, then dry it off with a hair-drier. *Almost* back to normal - no grittiness, but not *quite* so silky smooth (because there is now no lubricant)? The tiniest little dribble of 3-in-one, though, and - while it feels like it is now lubricated, some of that grittiness comes back. I've now flushed, dried and re-lubed three times with the same effect. Can there really be this much dirt and/or debris in a brand-new knife??

Thanks again for your help!

Regds

Mike
 
This just doesn't seem to make sense... I thought I would try a fourth time, but on this occasion I used grease instead of 3-in-one oil - figuring that it would be less likely to dislodge more dirt and get it into the joint. It worked fine for half a dozen opens, then started to get really graunchy :( Had to flush it out with WD40 and rinse it off again. As it is right now, the knife *almost* feels as good as new - but I'm concerned that the lack of lubricant may cause faster wear...

:( :( :( :( :( :( :(

Mike
 
Is it possible that your imagining the "gritty" feeling at this point ? Honestly I would'nt worry about it too much ruining your knife because
but I'm concerned that the lack of lubricant may cause faster wear...
Click to expand...
you're going to have to open and close that knife hundreds of times before it begins to wear.
This would be even more so on a higher end knife of better material.
 
The good news is that you will be wearing it in before you wear it out. :) Less than a drop should be enough for most stockman.
 
The grit is actually in between the blade and liners. It will come out, or wear itself out eventually. There is a lot of crud and buffing compound in new knives.
Bill
 
Thanks for the responses, guys. After flushing it through one last time before bed, I left it to dry overnight and it seems fine this morning. I'll leave it un-lubed for now, and visit the task again if it every feels like it really needs it! :)

Thanks

Mike
 
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