Wd40

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stolas223

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Is WD40 an ok substitute for the oil made for knives, and is it safe or the coatings like guncoat, and ranger and becker type coats, and Strider stripes and BM black finishes?
 
WD40 is primarily a moisture-displacement product. It will lube a little bit, but in my experience, it doesn't do that very well and what little it does doesn't last long.

You're much better off with a lube that is made for firearms and/or cutlery. BreakFree CLP, Militec, CRK's flourinated grease, Tuff-Glide, MMC... all of these work very well to lube the moving parts and protect the metal.

Some of the folks 'round here that use their knives for food prep will stick to lubes that can be safely ingested, but they'll have to tell you what they are. I don't use mine for any food prep so I lube with stuff out of the first batch I mentioned.
 
Agreed,it's great for cleaning,bad for lube.All the lubes mentioned above are good or plain old 3n1 oil.
 
But the WD40 won't hurt coatings I mean. I've used it to clean rust off old knives and I thought I would spray down my ranger and put it away. since wd40 is all I have right now, Just making sure it won't remove the coating.
 
dalefuller said:
WD40 is primarily a moisture-displacement product. It will lube a little bit, but in my experience, it doesn't do that very well and what little it does doesn't last long.

You're much better off with a lube that is made for firearms and/or cutlery. BreakFree CLP, Militec, CRK's flourinated grease, Tuff-Glide, MMC... all of these work very well to lube the moving parts and protect the metal.
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I agree 100%. I've been reading a lot here lately and have been surprised to see that people use WD40 on their knives as a protectant.

To the OP, sorry I don't know about the coatings thing, I just wanted to give dalefuller a :thumbup:. :D
 
I don't think that WD40 will hurt the coatings, at least not the kind of coatings on BM or Spyderco blades, and I'm pretty sure it won't hurt things like Strider's tiger stripes, I just don't think it will do anything except clean the blade some. I don't think you'll find much long term corrosion protection in it.
 
Let’s see if we can find the right forum …
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Years ago, on advice from a friend, I cleaned a shotgun, wiped it down with wd40 and put it away for about 6 months. When I next looked at the gun, it was liberally peppered with rust spots.

As a protectant, WD40 is about on par with kerosene.

Use a genuine oil or grease for long term protection.
 
I would agree with dalefuller and say that you are better off with some sort of lubricant that is made for knives/guns. I've used WD40 minimally on my folders to help lube it up a bit, but only if nothing else is available. I would say that, in small doses, WD40 isn't the worst thing. But there are better things out there to use. My $.02.
 
WD40 is great for cleaning the gummy crap from packing tape off of your blade if you've been using to open boxes. But I wouldn't use it for a lube. Besides, it smells nasty.
 
WD-40 use and opinions verge on religious. Truth is that it has no magical properties, good or bad. It's mostly a kerosene-like solvent, with some mineral oil added. Pretty much does what it's advertised to do. No, it doesn't cause rust. Yes, it is a reasonable rust inhibitor. Yes, it is a lubricant, good enough for many knife applications. There are some tests.
 
WD40 - WD stands for "Water Displacer", which is what it was invented for.

it is nothing more than kerosene with some fragrance added to it. Kerosene isn't a lube or a protectant.

Over time, WD40 will evaporate leaving a gummy residue behind for your efforts.
 
CWL
Let some WD 40 evaporate and take some pictures of the gummy mess. I have never seen this happen, and I have tried it.
Bill
 
I would never use WD-40 for anything ! There are lots of proper oils that can be used on knives. BTW another loser is 3in1 oil which had no anti oxidants so would quickly form a varnish !! WD-40 bought up 3in1 -what a lovely couple of losers !!
 
i have never understood why more folks dont use rem-oil, $1.49 at walmart, its a great oil for knives (reccomended by microtech for OTF autos FWIW) & guns, and cheap to boot, also works a lot better than WD40.

but WD40 would be ok is uppose and wont hurt anything.
 
3 in 1 oil certainly won't hurt your knives. Where do you guys get this misinformation?
 
I've been using nothing but WD40 for years now and it works just fine.
It cleans well, lubes well enough for knives and does a good job preventing rust.

The only issue is that it doesn't protect for a very long time, however, for me that is overshadowed by the fact that all I have to do is spray and wipe down and I'm down. It evaporates quickly enough from internal knife parts that I don't have to worry about it.

BTW, my main EDC is a framelock in 1095 and no rust, pitting or problems for me there so I couldn't imagine why WD40 would be of any problem on most production folders (stainless).
 
Bill DeShivs said:
3 in 1 oil certainly won't hurt your knives. Where do you guys get this misinformation?
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Agreed! 3-in-1 is a high-grade oil, like a machinists oil. It's great for lubricating. It won't prevent rust in extreme saltwater tests like some of the wonder stuff out there, but in day to day use it's just fine.

I think the stories about WD-40 being gummy came from the first formulations of the stuff, which had laquor in it. That could get gummy, but that was decades ago--before I was born. The current formulation doesn't do that.

In fact, Bob Dozier puts a drop on the working mechanism of his folding hunters. He told me this himself. He does it because it mostly evaporates and leaves behind an extremely light film which protects and lubricates.
 
Perhaps the formula for 3in1 has changed .In the past it had a terrible reputation for oxidizing and forming a varnish. I've worked on many guns and the guns that had 3in1 were obvious a varnish over everything and some would fail to function due to the varnish.When I returned those guns I always asked - " 3in1 oil ?" The answer was always "yes".
 
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