Rust protection - joint lubrication

A

A. G. Russell

Joined
Mar 10, 2001
Messages
2,033
Posted last night on a thread that went into the archives. Thought I would repost it here


Topic: WD40...your thoughts?
Sproles
Member

Posts: 226
From: Murfreesboro, TN
USA
Registered: Jan 99
posted 04-16-2001 09:36 PM

OK-- I know that there are plenty of good lubricants out there,and plenty of cleaners as well. But what about WD40? It is cheap...it is EVERYWHERE you go, and it gets the "gunk" of my knife really well.

During the day, I cut open alot of boxes that are taped shut. The tape "gunk" gets on my blade nd WD40 cuts right through it.

My EDC is either a small Sebbie or a BM 722S. Advice and thoughts on this stuff?

Hey, it also smells pretty!

------------------
David P. Sproles
Eagle Scout Class of 1988
dps2970@hotmail.com

I took out the posts that followed. I disagreed with most of them and I would like to avoid having all those people pissed at me. Someone suggested the use of acetone for cleaning and 3-in-1 oil for rust proofing. I decided that I would offer to give away the materials that I think are best for these purposes rather than have people use crap and harm themselves or their knives.

I did not mean to give anyone an unlimited supply of these materials, In fact I was offended by people trying to order large quanitys at no cost.

This offer is only available on the net and only to those who read it here or on KnifeForums.

here is the offer: http://www.agrussell.com/invred/indexf.html


When I was in the Arkansas Stone business I always reccomended that 3-in-1 oil be avoided when sharpening, something in the fromula leads to gumming. If it will gum the surface of a stone it will also gum the joint of your knife. Use a light machine oil, Singer, Phillips 66, etc. or use our honing oil, it is a light machine oil with a minimium of contaminates, sulfer, etc..

I don't want to offend anyone, especially friends of mine that have posted here, BUT, using acetone inside a building is not just a bad idea, it is hazardous to your health, it can damage your lungs as well as being a major fire hazard.

WD-40 is both safer and with the high-pressure tube better than acetone for cleaning the joint of a pocket knife, it is NOT a long term lubericant (sic?). It is mostly kerosene and propelent, you cannot beat it for driving moisture out of tight places but I would not use it to cook with.

If you will pay the shipping I will send samples of the A. G. Russell's Honing Oil, good for lubricating your knifes as well as the best honing oil you can buy. and of RustFree, our rust preventive.

The items show .01 because the Cart will not charge shipping if there is no price, just ignore the .01

You can send a check for $5.95 to cover shipping, a savings of $10.90
 
VERY generous offer!

Did some people REALLY try to get a ton of free stuff?
eek.gif
Man that's not good...
frown.gif


Glad I did not lower myself to that.

------------------
Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
A.G., you are quite the gentleman indeed. I am disappointed to hear that we have freeloaders here. I will pay full price for your products, and will smile while doing it. No freeloading welfare recipiant here, thank you
wink.gif
. Your generousity is noted, but not needed. If you sell it, then I know it works. You are a man of great character. Thanks for being here, ready to give advice.
 
Really sorry that people tried to take advantage. Thanks for the generous offer to BF members.


Dave
 
AG
Your are a class act all the way. It also offends me that people here would try and take advantage of your generous offer.
Bob
 
Yes, a class act and a generous offer.

However, I had previously read that WD40 was mineral oil and propellant with a very small percentage of surficant(?) to ease surface tension.

And using a knife treated with WD40 (and the excess drained and wiped off) was safe to eat with.

Can someone please clear this this up?

Regards,
Ron
 
I bet not too mant people know what the WD40 stands for.WD means water dispersole,the 40 I do'nt know.
 
Thanks, AG! I placed an order with you yesterday and had seen your post in the archive with the free offer. I emailed later with my order # and let them know that I wanted to take you up on it. Anyway, thanks. I'm new to knives and can't wait to try these products.
 
Yes, WD40 is good for dispersing water and
degreasing, but it is not a lubricant. WD40 will evaporate, leaving a surface that will still require lubrication. I'm not sure if any residue remains that might inhibit rust, though. Anybody know?

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by ROBB:
I bet not too mant people know what the WD40 stands for.WD means water dispersole,the 40 I do'nt know.</font>
Click to expand...

 
Thank you very much for your generous offer, Mr. Russell. Your catalog was my introduction to the world of quality cutlery and I've always enjoyed doing business with you over the years. Your offer has reaffirmed my conviction that you are one of the true gentlemen of the knife world (and like the others, I'm a little ticked off that some jerks tried to take advantage of your generosity). I just placed an order for these products, and I also used the opportunity to pick up a couple of blades I've had my eye on
smile.gif
. Thanks again!

[This message has been edited by UglyJim (edited 04-19-2001).]
 
I have heard from a reliable guy, an engineer who worked in lubrication for 20+ years at General Motors, and now in retirement has developed a specialty bicycle chain lube that is probably the best stuff available in the bike industry (ATB), that WD-40 is about 25% mineral oil, 50% mineral spirits (common paint thinner), and 25% propellant (CO2?).

They add a trace of something to make it smell "good"... have heard everything from coconut oil (doesn't smell like it) to banana oil (could be, again, doesn't smell like it) to orange oil.

WD-40 is pretty cheap if you buy the big cans. Benefit is you get a propellent.

Mineral spirits (paint thinner) is even cheaper, about $1.80/gallon at Home Depot, plus a squirt bottle and you have, arguably, something similar (I use this setup for my mountain bike chain cleaning).

WD-40 will leave behind, over time and repeated use, a varnish like material. I.e., they don't refine the mineral spirits to remove the varnish molecules. Varnishes are sticky and gummy on moving parts, but they may actually form a film that has some corrosion protection benefits (not sure how good that would work). That is why you don't want to use WD-40 or Mineral Spirits on anything with close tolerances... like sewing machines, old typewriters and other machines with fine parts or close tolerances (watches). I'll leave the experimentation to you on folding knives. But I do use WD-40 or mineral spirits as a quick lube and simple rust protectant (a mediocre one but good enough) for my Ontario machetes (cheap, around $20 each) after I wash off the organic materials ... just a quick coat, don't wipe off, into the sheath, they stay in the garage and don't rust. cheap, convenient.

For my bike chain, mineral spirits/WD-40 is a good cheap cleaner, and unlike solvents it doesn't strip off the high quality lube inside the chain links, so I can clean, blow off excess mineral spirits with air compressor, and relube with the good stuff. (I use Acetone and MEK and/or Brake Cleaner when the chain needs a real good bath once in a while).

This lubes engineer did a bunch of lube testing on a rather research oriented machine. Tested over 20 common lubes. Machine used a rotating, spherical bearing with a known load/weight on a load plate. You lube the setup, run the machine until it locks up, and the time to lockup and mechanical scoring of the bearing indicates how good the lubes are, on a relative basis.

Other than his own product stuff (hard to find, I order from him directly, it's called ATB for bike chains), TriFlow came in second place.

Only complaint this guy had about TriFlow was that it was just a bit gummy and tended to attract dirt due to the carrier they use to get Teflon to the moving parts. For bike chains, this means dust & dirt are attracted and make a black sludge. That sludge is essentially a grinding compound. So his lube uses an oxygenated solvent as a carrier to deliver some expensive metal friction reducing agents to the bike chain internals. The solvent flashes off, leaves lube behind, no oils to attract dirt.

Some people swear by Militec, but you have to heat the metal surface past 120F, higher if possible. I have not experimented with this stuff.

I will tell you that anything containing wax is, over time, a lousy lube, in my experience with knives & bikes. It feels pretty good at first. But, on my BM Axis 710, White Lightning collected pocket debris and gave the knife a gritty, sandy feel over time. You have to clean thoroughly, and then reapply very often.

No company, anywhere in any industry, uses wax for a lubricant on machinery, that I know of (now that I wrote that, someone probably will pop up and give me the exception that proves the rule). Wax simply does not hold a candle to oils and greases... otherwise don't you think the automotive industry would use wax based lubes and wax based greases? (greases are soaps/surfactants based on calcium or lithium, mixed with oils and in some products with a teflon adder. A sort of solid form of lube oil basically).

Wax is good for maybe lubing wooden drawers or closet doors that run in tracks... that's about it. Terrible for bike chains and not good on my folders. (Anybody want to buy a 2/3 full bottle of White Lightning or Pedro's Ice Wax? Cheap?)

A number of products beat regular oil for general rust protection....Sentry Tuf Cloth, Break Free, BoeShield. No substitute for regular application of any of these.


[This message has been edited by rdangerer (edited 04-19-2001).]
 
Although the fumes of acetone aka nail polish remover smell bad and are toxic, acetone is not flammable. It sure smells like it ought to be flammable, but it isn't.

Alcohol is about the only solvent that doesn't give off more or less toxic fumes, one reason I use it. Another reason is it's handy ... I keep a little squeeze-bottle of 91% isopropyl alcohol on my desk to clean the mouse....

Mineral oil is quite good at preventing rust -- it has to be renewed more often than the high-tech stuff like the Sentry products, but it's much better than things like WD-40 and 3-in-1.

The toxicity and the main ingredients of WD-40 are plainly marked on the label ... what can I add to that?


------------------
-Cougar :{)
Use of Weapons
 
P.S. Honing oil is great for Arkansas stones. I haven't tried the brand A. G. has, but my experience is anything made for honing is a great improvement over using an Arkansas stone dry and an immense improvement over using any kind of oil made for lubricating purposes.


------------------
-Cougar :{)
Use of Weapons
 
One of my friends is a locksmith...he hates WD-40, says it leaves a film that attracts dust and dirt. Another friend runs competition Jeeps, he loves the stuff.

The layer that WD-40 leaves (after drying)is not really sticky but it IS hydrophobic. It does attract other stuff though. Whatever it has in it is well suited for cleaning/flushing tight areas...not for lubrication.

Steve-O
 
Try Kroil,It has been used in gunsmithing for years. They have some new products out with different formulas such as graphite.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top