Lubricating liner locks

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sk8bored_j

Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
11
Is it bad to lubricate the part of the blade that locks up to the liner lock? Will the lubrication make the lockup slippery and prone to close accidentally?
 
It could and does if Ti, always keep clean, no reason to lube the lock.
 
I've never heard of that being a problem. In fact, when a liner lock starts to become gritty, people often recommend lubricating the ball bearing to make it smooth again. As long as the knife is well-designed, lubrication shouldn't effect the performance of the lock.
 
I would be willing to bet that anyone who lubricates their pivot with an oil also gets some on the blade tang. The oil spreads as it is pulled into the microscopic pores of the metal and will end up there eventually even if not applied there. While I'm not a fan of linerlocks I don't think some lube will effect the lockup. If the lock tends to slip it will do it with or without lube.
 
clockman said:
WHY would you want to do that. There is NO REASON to lube it!!:confused:
Click to expand...

Some liner and frame locks are sticky when unlocking especially when new. It is common for people to use a pencil to apply graphite to the lock bar face which is just a different type of lubricant. There is a reason for some knives.
 
Yeah sometimes it takes quite a bit of force to unlock so I thought lubricating the contact point would help. It has helped a lot, but now I'm just worried about the strength of the lock. It is a new knife so I don't know if it just needed time to wear.
 
Is it hard to unlock because the lock acts 'sticky' and gets stuck a little or because the lock bar is just hard to push over? If it is hard to push over lubricating it won't help. You can take the knife apart and put less of a bend in the lock but you need to go in small steps and I wouldn't recommend it unless you are comfortable with that type of thing. Plus there is always the very small chance something will go wrong when trying to make a modification. If it seems like the lock gets stuck and once it breaks free it is easy then a lube would probably help. If this is the case you might want to try what I mentioned earlier and use a pencil and put a layer of graphite on the blade tang and lock bar until it wears in and smooths out.
 
lubricate all of mine, no issues.

i think if it slips when lubed, its a bad lock anyways
 
I would use some dry lube (graphite or moly) if I did it. Keeps you from getting small oil slicks on your clothes.
 
Lubing the ramp might save a little wear over time and it probably wouldn't matter performance-wise if it was a quality knife.
 
I will agree that it makes little difference on a steel liner lock but if your talking Ti it is not a good idea to have lube in the lock area. I've seen it with mine and many others that have excessive lube, the lock will be able to be pushed further into engagement causing wear you DO NOT WANT. Go ahead a lube'em if you want but there is NO reason to.
 
Don't worry about it. I've lubed a few liner locks with no problems. it's not going to make it like ice, it just makes it a bit easier to close, when you mean to, and keeps stuff smooth.
 
I put a little bit of tuf-glide on it and now it's very smooth and doesn't get stuck anymore. By the way the knife is a lone wolf blackfoot, I decided not to use my green manix 2 as an edc anymore since I find it a bit larger than I want for an edc.
 
I never put oil on the lock of my frame-locks (I don't buy liner-locks) & I check periodically the locking area of the blade-frame and clean it with qtips or paper, to keep it clean & dry.
They are never been sticky, if they are sticky when new, just a normal break in period (a little bit of normal wear) will naturally solve the problem, without the use of oil.

I want smoothness on the washers (proper lubrication, with micro drops of a good oil) but maximum safety-reliability on the lock (clean & dry).

Just my 2 cents;)
 
sk8bored_j said:
Is it bad to lubricate the part of the blade that locks up to the liner lock? Will the lubrication make the lockup slippery and prone to close accidentally?
Click to expand...

On some designs of liner/frame lock, lubricating the blade to lock interface does cause lock failure via slipping to become a real big issue. These locks are primarily functioning on friction and metal-to-metal friction is higher than lubricated metal friction.

On knives with these locks that I carry (not that often, as I have issues with the designs), I keep the blade to lock interface as clean as I can.
 
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