Tuf Glide - a couple questions

Fred Sanford

Fred Sanford

Joined
Sep 3, 2006
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3,131
Hey folks,

I recently wanted to use something different than mineral oil so I bought some Tuf-Glide. I bought just the small container with the needle applicator tip.

It seems as if when I put a drop or two onto the pivot of one of my Spydies (like a Delica 4), it makes it less lubricated. It seems to be more difficult to open and close.

Anyone else have this experience? Is it just the fact that the mineral oil I'm used to is a very good lubricant?

Do I need to apply it and use it like 3-4 times before it works right or what?

Thanks folks! :)
 
Kinda sorta have experienced what you are talking about. I use Tuf-Glide on most of my knives and it works very well. I use a drop on each side of the blade and work it in opening and closing several times and go on.
My slip joint knives usually get Rem Oil or something similar. The mineral oil is probably hard to beat though.
 
Mineral oil is pretty slick stuff in my opinion, but it tends to get gummy after awhile. But, yeah. I think you're just used to how slick it feels with the mineral oil right after application. Regarding Tuf-Glide, it is a great product for some knives, not all knives. Perhaps the Delica's parts, construction and tolerances simply do not call for the kind of lubrication Tuf provides.
 
Alright. So I washed the knife off (a SS Delica 4) with hot water and dawn dishwashing soap and cleaned it up really well with a tooth brush. After that I towel dried it and then blew it all out with compressed air. Then I put on the Tuf-Glide. Just a small drop on each side of the pivot and one on the rounded part of the tang where it glides against the lockbar. After opening and closing it about 30 times I let it sit over night. Next day I got up and tried it out and it's perfect. Today I put another 2 drops on it, let it dry for a few hours and then opened and closed it a few times. I like it. Seems like it's pretty good stuff. Seems to leave a kind of residue on the lubed parts of the knife. I did wipe off the excess but the parts that I can see close to the pivot look kinda dry but shiny.

So I would say I like it. I just don't like the smell. :)
 
OK, so more experience after a week and a half....

Even after cleaning the knives (two different Delica's now) with hot water and dishwashing soap (Dawn) with a toothbrush and drying them very well it still doesn't work as I would expect. Even after the knife has been shaken to get all the water out of it, dried with a towel, and then blown out with compressed air, and then had Tuf-Glide applied it still doesn't feel like any big deal at all. It has only made my knives less smooth and feel less lubricated. I put it on a perfectly normal Alox Farmer and the thing just about bound up the blade. I had to clean the crap out of this Farmer and then reapply regular old mineral oil for it to be back working properly.

I have tried Benchmade Blue Lube also and have not been impressed. About the only thing that seems to work well is 3-in-1 Oil and Mineral Oil.

I just don't get it.

I wonder if some 5w-30 Synthetic Mobile 1 motor oil would work well?

Hmmm.....
 
What I discovered when I had a similar problem with a knife and its lubrication, I found that washing with soap and water did not do the trick.

I put on some rubber gloves, (A requirement) and hit the pivot point with a blast of brake cleaner (available at your local automotive parts store) and then blew it out with compressed air. I let things settle down for about a half hour, then lubed it with Tuf-Glide and it had the desired effect. A lot of hassle. Best not to change lubes in the first case.
 
I like Tuf-Glide as a protection for a blade. I think it works better than most others to protect the metal. But I don't particularly like it as a lubricant.

For a folder, I clean the pivot with break cleaner or carb cleaner. I really use a lot of the stuff and use it under pressure to clean the pivot. (Works even better on knives that I can take apart and get at the washers too.) Then after it dries I apply ONLY one or two drops of some stuff called "Super-Lube" that I found in a DIY shop. Comes in a crayon-sized gray tube but is liquid and has a thin nozzle for application. After putting the knife back together and working the pivot a bit, I squirt some 'Tuf-Glide' on the exposed surfaces of the blade and wipe down so it's just a very thin film. Pivot stays well lubed, blade stays well protected. I use this same system on all my folders, including ones I cut my apples with. Eating a bit of it all hasn't slowed me down any. Obviously, for fixed blades I just give them a thin film and let dry. When I tried using a thicker film (not wiping it down after application) it left a very easily discernible residue that I didn't care for.

Stitchawl
 
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