Quick release, Benchmade blue lube, Daiwa reel oil, graphite, mineral oil, crk grease, finish line grease. These are all great. There's alot more good choices too.
I would disassemble. But if you don't have any problems then just add a drop of lube on each side. Disassembly can be disastrous. So I can understand why you would not want too. But a fair amount of good knives are easy to maintain.
Avoid Nano oil. It's expensive label on mineral oil.
Avoid anything that will go rancid.
Haven't hear good things about Frog lube for the pivot, but its basically coconut oil and it's great corrosion inhibitor.
Some folks like wd40 but I'm not. When it evaporates it's just a gewey mineral oil.
Most people put too much lube of any type on. Less is better. should be very light oil along detent track for best action... And light oil in bearings, just enough to coat the bearings but not swim in it. Just enough to prevent corrosion.
Too much and then it collects dust and debris as well as creating friction. (do an experiment. Get a fidget spinner, clean the bearings with brake cleaner or acetone. See how long it spins. Then put a very very tiny pin drop of oil in the bearings and see it spin shorter).
Grease is great for knives, particularly washers. It's a barrier from debris, fluids etc and when applied the carrier in it evaporates and it dries making itself a Teflon washer in a way. When the blade rotates across it, there is very little friction. Nice and smooth. Only apply to blade side. You don't want the washer to rotate, so scale side should be dry. That goes for oil too on washers.
Both types, grease and oil work great with less lube than you would think. Action is heavily dependent on many factors but generally not by adding lots of oil. Action revolves more with the detent along the blade, lockbar tension and so on and so on. But most folks assume it's just the bearings in the pivot.
All knives are different and all owners are different. One knife may work the way you want it to depending on the oil or grease used. It may just depend on the environment or its use.
Lastly decide if you want food safe or not. Then read the label. If it's not food safe probably not a good idea to use a lot and then eat with that knife. I use both
When cleaning old lube or factory lube off, alcohol will not be strong enough to remove completely. This could cause issues. Also if your having gritty action and alcohol does not work... Acetone, Zippo Lighter fluid aka napatha and brake cleaner all work great. Use either of them with caution of course. Also don't use these on g10 or micarta as it could discolor. Just adding oil to remedy an issue isn't fixing the issue.
Recently been using quick release and its a great oil, very little is needed, as if you put too much on it will go all over the place. The half of drop can spread all over the place. I generally apply a drop on a qtip and spread it on the metal I want to apply it too. Add drops if necessary but angle the metal in the light and you can see it there. That's more than enough. It's not food safe. But the lubricity is crazy good. Puts Nano oil to shame (try and compare I dare you).
I'm really nerdy about my knives. Most people don't care.
Weird. It's mainly a degreaser afaik and great for loosening caked machine parts.
