Protect your fingers: oil the joints daily.

stezann said:
"whale spit" had good reviews, but i can say that the singer sewing machine oil is very effective for lubricating joints and pivots, and readily available.
When i oil the joints i also rub the blade and handle wiping the excess singer oil.

If you use wd40 to oil the joints you'll gall the spring/tang interface in the not so long run...it is not a lubricating oil.
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I used WD-40 for 20+ years to lube the joints in my knives (dozens), with no such issues. It's definitely a lighter lube than many (oil IS part of the WD-40 mix, up to 25% of it's volume and listed as 'petroleum base oil' in the MSDS), but it can work just fine, used with common sense. Keeping joints relatively clean is 99% of the battle; most anything will work then, even dry.


David
 
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Macchina said:
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?
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I thought you might appreciate the message on the pen blade of this buck creek coal miner knife.

64p30p.jpg
 
I am not looking forward to going through hundreds of knives removing all the gunked up and dried on carmelia oil, wish I'd never heard of the stuff :grumpy:
 
As others have said, WD 40 is a solvent, not a lubricant. It may keep rust at bay but it wont make the knife action slick like an oil will.
 
In the early days of WD40 I sprayed it all over my great granddad's 1886 and set the gun aside. Some time later it was all stuck together and I had to clean it out with something else.
They might be making a penetrating oil now, as well as their original product.
 
Camillus said:
As others have said, WD 40 is a solvent, not a lubricant. It may keep rust at bay but it wont make the knife action slick like an oil will.
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A quick look at the MSDS will prove it's a MIX of solvent (listed as 'Aliphatic Hydrocarbon') AND oil (listed as 'petroleum base oil' which is produced for and used as a lubricant). The solvent thins it for penetration, then evaporates, leaving the light coat of oil behind. As previously mentioned, the oil coverage is fairly light as compared to some other lubricant products, but it's still there.

http://wd40.com/files/pdf/msds-wd482671453.pdf


David
 
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Foe what it is worth I oil my knives when I sharpen them. I use either Rem oil or Hoppes oil. I keep both on hand due to my firearm habit.
 
I usually give my EDC slipjoints a drop of mineral oil from an end of a toothpick once a month or so.
 
I use Daiwa oil with the needle oiler.
It's a fairly thin oil so I apply once a week.
 
The same CAS # covers most viscosities of oil. I agree that WD-40 contains oil, but it's like 40 wt oil. For lubrication of fine mechanisms, one normally wants something on the order of 5 wt.
 
Keeping the joint clean from grit and debris is the first step, i agree.
I agree also that wd40 is somewhat lubricant, but trust me, i can guarantee it won't prevent galling.
A proper specific lubricant oil won't but to certain extent. The best is if the 2 metals have similar hardness (high, one of the reason i prefer carbon: i can have the walk harder then the spring portion); a proper oil will help developing an uniform burnishing, leads to a nice action.
The first days of break-in are the most important, and if it's not a nailbreaker after the break-in almost any oil will do.
 
Doesn't take much to oil a custom slipjoint. If I don't use a needle oiler I put way too much on.
 
I usually oil the pivots of all of my knives at once just to make it simple. I do this every month or two and have never had any issues! I always brush out the pivot area and blade channel with an old paintbrush and apply the oil with a pipette.
 
Jack Black said:
I am not looking forward to going through hundreds of knives removing all the gunked up and dried on carmelia oil, wish I'd never heard of the stuff :grumpy:
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Jack : thank you for the tip about camelia oil. I was considering giving it a try as I have a very stiff joint on a Smith & Wesson knife.
You can try Böker oil, it sells for £5 at H*** H*** and is FDA approved.
 
Jolipapa said:
Jack : thank you for the tip about camelia oil. I was considering giving it a try as I have a very stiff joint on a Smith & Wesson knife.
You can try Böker oil, it sells for £5 at H*** H*** and is FDA approved.
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The camelia oil came highly recommended, but I very much regret using it :( I picked up one of the Boker oil pens the other day, and like it :thumbup: So far, the only place I've found stocking Norton Honing Oil, only sold it as part of a package with a set of stones, but I'm sure I'll be able to pick some up at some point :thumbup:
 
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