Protect your fingers: oil the joints daily.

Macchina

Macchina

Joined
Apr 7, 2006
Messages
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I am a habitual joint oiler. I oil the joint of the slippie I carried each day before I put it away (a small drop of mineral oil). This however was not enough so I recently bought a small container of oil for my desk drawer so I can oil the joints at work. I have thought about this habit and determined the following: if a knife's pivot is not oiled then the spring will surely and immediately wear through the tang of the knife and slap me in my finger!

I "know" I don't need to do this, but I do it anyway. Perhaps I have a problem: but my springs aren't sinking!

How often do you oil the joints?
 
I gave up smoking them a long time ago. I do use Glucosamine everyday for my joints and that helps a lot.

Oh wait a minute...your talking about knives! [emoji15] I am not big on a lot of oil on my knives. Seldom oil up them joints.

Mike
 
EyeDog said:
I gave up smoking them a long time ago. I do use Glucosamine everyday for my joints and that helps a lot.

Oh wait a minute...your talking about knives! [emoji15] I am not big on a lot of oil on my knives. Seldom oil up them joints.

Mike
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Lol I oil mine when they need it hardly ever.
 
I oil my slipjoints when blades get noticeably hard to pull.

I've had my Huntsman for 20+ years and I've oiled it once, maybe twice in that time.
 
Get some Nano Oil. It bonds to the steel on a molecular level, and very seldom needs reapplying. Great stuff.
 
I will stop oiling when the steel gets soggy. Until then I will keep my auto-ship subscription for medical-grade Mineral Oil set to 55 gallons/year. You save money when you buy in bulk.


aeroshell-120w-sae-60-aircraft-oil-45-55-gallon-drum-12.jpg
 
That's why they call them slipjoints. The knives are so greasy from excessive oiling that they slip out of your hand.

Though I have hoarded many brands of lube, I almost never oil the pivots unless its starting to look like they need it. And that is rare. I probably need to add a drop or two more often.
 
Definitely over oiling. All you ever need to do is a drop of oil maybe every 6 months, depending on heavy or light use. Obviously if you get your knife dirty, in the joints, this may need more attention but other than that, I oil the joints only when I start to feel difficulty in pulls.
 
My honest answer to this thread - usually only if they seem to need it. If I am carrying a carbon steel knife I give it a little more care because I don't like the dark patina that some prefer. So when it's time to sharpen or put it back into the drawer for a while, I use some WD-40 Silicone Spray on the joints and rub it onto the blades. It doesn't have a lot of oil in it, mostly propellant, and leaves a non-oily silicone coating after it dries.

I don't know if it is food safe or not. I bought some food-grade mineral oil but it seems too viscous and leaves an oily streaky coating on the knives. Probably need to seek out some low-viscosity mineral oil for that.

I don't much use carbon knives for food anyway. I don't often oil the SS blades but I use the same WD-40 Silicone Spray (what can I say, it's a big can and I want to get my $$ worth from it) for removing tape residue from my SS blades, which it does a great job of.
 
In my line of work my pockets constantly get dirt/ grit in them, so I end up flushing and reoiling them constantly. I know pocket slips would solve this problem, but then they wouldn't look nearly as pocket worn. I do however, have one knife that I always carry in a slip and I hardly ever oil the joints.
If the worst thing you do all day is over oil a pocket knife I'd think you're doing all right.
 
jc57 said:
I bought some food-grade mineral oil but it seems too viscous and leaves an oily streaky coating on the knives. Probably need to seek out some low-viscosity mineral oil for that.
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Unscented food-grade mineral oil is curiously hard to obtain here these days (used to be that every pharmacy stocked it). I've been giving camellia oil a try over the past year or so (recommended by BRL no less), but I've been disappointed. It streaks patina and dries sticky on the blades/joints of stored knives :(
 
What I used was "Mineral Oil USP", the kind you are supposed to actually drink to help out with certain digestive tract problems. It was unscented and clear. Seemed a bit thick for knife purposes. I bet it would help with the other intended use of getting things moving, though.
 
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