Vaseline as lubricant?

T

triz neena

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Aug 4, 2007
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Looking around the house I only found vaseline and silicone spray to lubricate the pivot on my knife. Which one? or if not, what (something I can get at home depot)?

Thanks for looking.
 
I don't like vaseline. It is thick, and would attract dust and dirt. I have been using mineral oil. It seems to lubricate well, and is food safe.
 
Whenever I had trouble getting my knife into it's sheath a little Vaseline on the tip sure helped it slide in better.
 
Vaseline (petroleum jelly) is simply thick mineral oil. It seems unlikely to attract dust any better than any other liquid lube. It functions a bit like grease simply because it's thicker. Unlike a real lubricating grease, it has no "soap" base, so it will thin out in fairly low heat. Assuming there are no perfumes added, it's food safe.

There's no reason to believe it would not suffice as a knife lube. It would likely perform like a light grease in moderate temperatures.
 
Vaseline will work OK. Just warm the knife using a hair dryer, etc, so the Vase. will flow properly, then wipe off the excess afterwards.

If you have some lighter fluid (Zippo, Ronson, etc...not propane), it will dilute the Vase. also, leting it penetrate better...then the ZIppo will evaporate, leaving the Vaseline.

Silicone sprays are crap for metal-to-metal lube, in my experience...your mileage may vary. Most silicones are OK for plastics, etc but don't have the film-strength for metal-to-metal contact.

Any non-vegetable oil will work OK for a knife lube. Veggie oils tend to oxidize and will eventually gum up.
 
Teague said:
Whenever I had trouble getting my knife into it's sheath a little Vaseline on the tip sure helped it slide in better.
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Keep in mind that it may degrade the integrity of the "sheath" if it is latex based.


:D
couldn't help myself
 
flashlife said:
If you have some lighter fluid (Zippo, Ronson, etc...not propane), it will dilute the Vase. also, leting it penetrate better...then the ZIppo will evaporate, leaving the Vaseline.
Click to expand...

Heh... Congratualtions! You kinda just reinvented WD40!

flashlife said:
Silicone sprays are crap for metal-to-metal lube, in my experience...your mileage may vary. Most silicones are OK for plastics, etc but don't have the film-strength for metal-to-metal contact.
Click to expand...

Silicones are often meant for use on some types of plastic and rubber. Many also commonly have significant amounts of mineral oil in them, which is a bit of a mystery to me, kind of negating the purpose. However, I would venture to guess that knives generally don't exhibit particularly strenuous wear surfaces, and just about any, or even no lube will often suffice.

flashlife said:
Any non-vegetable oil will work OK for a knife lube. Veggie oils tend to oxidize and will eventually gum up.
Click to expand...

Vegetable oils may particularly prone to thickening in relatively short amounts of time, and going rancid. Which can be, well, kind of rancid.
 
shecky said:
Heh... Congratualtions! You kinda just reinvented WD40!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess :)

Things a guy needs to have on hand:
1. A pocketknife or other cutting tool
2. A flashlight
3. matches or a lighter
4. WD-40
5. Duct tape
6. Zippo lighter fluid.

(WD-40 will often serve to replace Zippo as a solvent, but the Zippo will later evaporate totally.)


shecky said:
Silicones are often meant for use on some types of plastic and rubber. Many also commonly have significant amounts of mineral oil in them, which is a bit of a mystery to me, kind of negating the purpose. However, I would venture to guess that knives generally don't exhibit particularly strenuous wear surfaces, and just about any, or even no lube will often suffice.
Click to expand...
Correct, I think.
The mineral oil is probably there to add film-strength, while the silicone adds water resistance. Either are ok (just) on a knife, but silicone lubing aluminum-to-aluminum contact surfaces has an annoying tendency to cause galling and lock-up.

If you want even more film strength, melt together 50:50 beeswax and vaseline...a little stiff for a blade pivot, but works great for pliers, gate hinges, bicycle chains, any low-speed, high-pressure joint. I've used this concoction for decades. (Warm up the object with a torch, hair-dryer, etc first, to get the pooky to flow into the crevices, etc...OR stir in a little Zippo [or WD-40] to liquify the goo.) :)


shecky said:
Vegetable oils may particularly prone to thickening in relatively short amounts of time, and going rancid. Which can be, well, kind of rancid.
Click to expand...
Yep, the 'going rancid' is the chemistry of the hydroxyl groups in the oil oxidizing to acids...if you've ever smelled rancid butter, you'll see/smell the result for sure ! :)
 
Eezox for Knives - it's made for the job and leaves a thin dry film that protects and lubricates - doesn't cost that much and a little bit goes a looooong way.
 
mineral oil does a great job and costs nothing. +1 :thumbup:

That being said, vaseline works great for spring recesses (like for omega springs in axis locks, or the recess that kershaw torsion bars ride in). A lot of folks forget to lube those areas in addition to the pivots.
 
Sewing machine oil (sold at Wally World, for example) is good, but probably no better than mineral oil. By the way, extra virgin olive oil is also a good lubricant, and it doesn't seem to dry out or get sticky and rancid like other vegetable oils. Also it's good on salads and has great cardiovascular benefits. :D
 
L. Richard said:
Sewing machine oil (sold at Wally World, for example) is good, but probably no better than mineral oil. By the way, extra virgin olive oil is also a good lubricant, and it doesn't seem to dry out or get sticky and rancid like other vegetable oils. Also it's good on salads and has great cardiovascular benefits. :D
Click to expand...

Don´t use olive oil. I did that once, when my Balisong developped a ridiculous squeek and I had nothing else at hand. It solved the squeeking but it did gum up pretty nastily. It didn´t smell, fortunately.
 
thanks for the replies, I thought this topic was dead and havent checked in a few days. I'm using vaseline as I don't have a substitute and I've carefully cleaned off all the old grease or lube and put the vaseline in thin films and cleaned off the excess, it works fine.
Cheers

p.s. I almost shot soup out my nose with solidsoldiers comment, as I didn't get it right away lol
 
Bill DeShivs said:
This is very wrong! I have seen thousands of folders' tangs worn out from not being oiled.
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I've seen folders worn out with oil. I don't think oil helps a knife with nicely fitted properly hardened parts. And it doesn't help a knife that's prone to galling and wear. Those things are built into the knife. Oil only masks it for a while.

Furthermore, oil always attracts dirt, with increases wear. Oily dirt is still abrasive. Prophylactically oiling a well made knife ends up causing problems rather than preventing them.

Smoothly mating surfaces and decent hardening make oil pretty much unnecessary.
 
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