Wet vs Dry lube

T

Thejoyofdriving

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Feb 20, 2010
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For many years I have only used wet lube on my knives. However, ive always found that i need to clean the mechanism(axis lock) every few days because small particles from my pocket would get on the moving surfaces, not a good thing. Recently I researched into dry lubricants. I have found each lubricants have their own advantages, but dry lube seems to be better suited for knives from what i have read. I plan on switching all my folders over to a PTFE and ceramic reinforced fluoropolymer dry lube. I want to hear your thoughts on this subject. I hunted around on the net a bit but couldnt find a real discussion besides use on guns. Thanks!
 
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I do not have any dry lube but have contemplated trying to find some to try out. Miltec seems like a popular choice.

I don't have any suggestions but if you do get some please post back and let us know your impressions and what brand you end up with.

Good luck!
 
Alright, so today was a long day. I did some testing and tore apart my new knife 2 times. Heres what I found.

I bought some Smith and Wesson dry lube. It seemed like a good choice, it has PTFE(teflon) and a ceramic fluoropolymer. I took apart my new knife and proceeded to clean all the existing oil off so that it wouldnt interfere with the dry lube. I used IPA and it took a while. After everything was clean I sprayed down all the parts. Initial impressions were that on my fingers, the dry lube wasnt very slick. I was hoping for better results metal on metal. I re assembled the knife. To tell you the truth I wasnt very happy with it. I could hear friction still occurring. So i spayed more on. Same thing. What i saw was that on all the contact areas the dry lube appeared to be rubbed off. I would bet on a microscopic level it was still doing its job.

Granted the dry lube did its job and seemed to keep dust at bay, i wanted to see how it would compare to wet lube in slipperyness.

I took a flat glass surface and set it at an angle of ~30 degrees. I used 2 identical weights that would slide down the ramp. This is what it resembled from a side view

http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/experiments/images/friction1-3.gif

In the beginning with no lube, the cans would stay in static friction and not move, however, if given a little push into kinetic friction they would slide at the same rate. Now, I sprayed one side with dry lube other with a wet lube. Then i coated each respective weights sliding surface with the matching lube, that way both sides would be coated, with the same lube of course. I let both weights go at the same time and as i thought the wet lube weight slid faster. I ran this a few times with the same result, even switching sides. I pushed the weights up and down with my hands and it was real obvious that the wet lube side was slicker.

Ive always heard from various people, dont bother spending 8-12 dollars for a little bottle of gun/knife lube. Get a quart of a good group 5 motor oil. It is WAY cheaper and preforms better. So, I went ahead and tested some Triflow w/ teflon(what ive been using for my knives for a while) against some of the Motul oil i have left over that I use for my STi. I coated both sides of the ramps, again careful not to cross contaminate. The motor oil is a 5w-40 oil. Its on the medium/light side when it comes to viscosity at room temp for motor oils. The triflow was significantly lighter viscosity. I use different applicators of the same material to coat each side, doing my best to use a fair amount.

The result was as i hoped/expected. The motor oil preformed significantly better in this test. My guess is the motor oil has a much much greater film strength so the weight floated on top better.

Motor oil has all kinds of additives in it which would be good for knife use. First, it has detergents which would clean the surface, Second dispersants which will hold dirt in suspension, naturally motor oil is damn good at preventing rust and is meant to survive in some hellish places. Im going to take a guess that motor oil is safe for everything on a knife, including G10 like on my EDC. I could be wrong, if I am someone please correct me!


After everything I decided to tear my knife apart and use the motul oil on it. The action was significantly smoother. Now i have the same problem as before! every little think in my pocket gets attracted to all those surfaces in my axis mechanism. (I love axis lock but IMO it is not good for dirty conditions because of its complex nature. Im sure it would work fine, but I wouldnt use it and scratch up all those sliding surfaces.) I may very well buy some other type of dry lubricant. There has to be something else better out there. Ive heard good thing about eezox or something like that. I will get a bottle of whatever I decide on based on other people and see how it compares to wet lube. I just can stand the dust attraction of wet lube!
 
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Greetings Thejoyofdriving: Thanks for the time and effort put into the lube testing. My limited personal experience experimenting with different knife lubricants has not disclosed any one overall winner either. Different lock, pivot, steel, metal finishes, blade retention designs and the environment in which the knife is used apparently benefit most from different lubricants utilized on the SAME knife. I have had acceptable results by using a dry lube on the Axis lock bar and it's liner races to reduce the adhesion of foreign material in these open areas of the mechanism. A moisture displacing thin film lube on the Omega springs to prevents corrosion. A Teflon based medium viscosity liquid lube on the blade pivot to smooth overall opening and closing. Ball detents seem to benefit most from a teflon based light grease, especially when the blade contact area is not smooth steel. Wide tolerances in friction areas get thick lube ~ narrow tolerances get thin lube. Sebenza bushings and washers use thin teflon grease. IKBS pivots come packed in a medium weight petroleum based grease. Benchmade uses their proprietary BlueLube. Specific lubricants for specific applications As you undoubtedly know, from your Sti, there is no substitute for FREQUENT maintenance. In this case, keeping both the knife and pockets free of lint and grit. On the other hand many people have successfully maintained their knives using just mineral oil or whatever else was at hand. It apparently depends on your level of obsession. OldDude1
 
Thejoyofdriving-- Did you try Triflow w/ teflon Dry Lube since you have used Triflow w/ teflon before? Thanks for you test results.
 
I prefer Tuff Glide on my folding knives because it goes on wet and then dries. Most folks seem to want to improve the action as well as add some manner of corrosion resistance and at times work out any gritty feelings in the action that are noticed. I can't speak for the corrosion resistance of any of them where one lube may be better than another. The truth is much of that can be controlled by the user if he maintains his knife wiping it dry before properly storing it away. If that means taking a blow dryer to it to dry the pivot and lock areas you can't reach then so be it.

All I know is this. Wet lubes attract pocket lint, hair, and grit. Dry lubes don't once dry. Wet may be great when first applied but its actually more work and more cleaning in the long run and probably counter productive to some degree. Even still there are some grease formulas I like similar to the packing type grease many Emerson knives seem to have in the pivot when I've had them apart while still new as well as other brands out there. I tend to prefer the grease and graphite type packing lubes over liquid. No real reason other than it just seems to last longer to me.

STR
 
For me the real test would be prevention of wear in the long run, not apparent slipperiness when first applied. I wouldn't want to risk using dry lube in in 10 years or so the pivots wore out. I hope some older knifemakers with lots of years of experience can weigh in here one way or the other on the wear issue.

In the meantime, I turn my pockets inside out when washing. It keeps my slipjoint pivots clean. I also use needle applicators so I get just a fraction of a drop of oil in the pivot. That really improves using the original bottle applicator.
 
rpttrsn said:
Thejoyofdriving-- Did you try Triflow w/ teflon Dry Lube since you have used Triflow w/ teflon before? Thanks for you test results.
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No. It wasnt in the area when I was shopping, i went to the range and they had some stuff there, so i basically just got a bottle that looked good there so i wouldnt have to drive around.That would have made for a much better test though! I used the other brand dry lube as stated
 
Thank you for all the great insight guys! If someone here could comment on how eezox works as a main lubricant as well as protectant that would be great!
 
I have used most of the Lubes dry and wet on the market. My preference is Mil-tec and Benchmade Blue Lube which are both dry lubes. I have heard a lot of good comments on Ezzox but I have not tried it but it may be my next lube. i will say BM Blue Lube made my knives fly open especially my Axis lock knives.

RKH
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
I do not have any dry lube but have contemplated trying to find some to try out. Miltec seems like a popular choice.
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RKH said:
My preference is Mil-tec and Benchmade Blue Lube which are both dry lubes.
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I must be doing something wrong, because the Militec-1 I have is not a dry lube. But I haven't actually heated cycled it like recommended. When you do that, does it become dry? Even if it does become dry, don't they recommend that the last application in the cycle/process be left wet? Again, I haven't used or read up about the stuff in while, so I'm probably way off here. Oooops... nevermind... just looked at the bottle... "Dry Impregnated Lubrication".:o

Regarding the OP and his hopes for ceramic reinforced lube. Been there, done that. What a bomb, eh? Mine isn't dry, though. It is Finish Line brand Pro Road Ceramically Reinforced bicycle chain lube. Gritty stuff. Not good for flat surface use. And it smells like the most evil of poisons.

After having spent maybe a couple hundred dollars on every lube I've happened upon over the last year, I'm both sad and happy to announce that quality motor oil is the clear overall winner for folders. Yes, dry lubes, thick lubes, medium weight lubes, thin lubes, PTFE lubes, etc. all have their places, but for downright slickness (which granted isn't very scientific or objective) motor oil is tops.
 
RKH said:
I have used most of the Lubes dry and wet on the market. My preference is Mil-tec and Benchmade Blue Lube which are both dry lubes. I have heard a lot of good comments on Ezzox but I have not tried it but it may be my next lube. i will say BM Blue Lube made my knives fly open especially my Axis lock knives.

RKH
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I thought BM blue lube was a wet lube:confused:
 
Just a little note on Tri-Flow is readily available at most bicycle stores, and is one of the products I turn to for lubricating the moving parts on my knives.
I am no scientist, but it is my understanding that the load placed between two moving objects affects the lubricating properties of what you are using, hence the different viscositys that are available. A knife pivot and lock mechanism will not see the loads that an engine will so a motor oil will not see the loads needed to achieve it's full potential. Tri-Flow is a semi penetrating oil that will eat out rust and other contaminates, but it has a low viscosity so works better under lower loads.
I have tried many bicycle related lubes on my knives and found that Tri-Flow works the best of all of them.
Other Bike lubes I have used:
  1. White Lightening: A dry wax based lube works ok but doesn't last long.
  2. Finish line Cross Country: a wet lube, just to thick and gums up quickly strong smell
  3. Tri-Flow: Mentioned above, works well
  4. Motorex 2.5 wt Fork oil: works real good but stinks to high heaven.
  5. Phil Woods Tenacious Oil: to thinks and will gum up in no time unless under load.
I have found that Tri-Flow works best for me, has reasonable staying power in my usage, and the smell reminds me of those marshmallow bananas I use to buy as a kid :D. I use it very sparingly, just a small drop in the pivot and one the axis lock bar. I apply once every 2-3 weeks and have little to no pocket dust build up. I would like to try some of the knife specific lubes out there some day just to compare to what I get for free. I work in a bike shop and we have the 4 L bottles of Tri-Flow for shop use, so I clean my knives at work and use the lube that is there, being that I just my knives at work they are a work tool and I am allowed to perform maintenance on them on shop time and use shop supplies so it's not stealing. If fact the owner allows us to maintain our bikes with shop supplies too because it looks better for the shop if the employees bikes are in top running condition, its sort of like a moble add for the store.
 
I read that Benchmade Blue Lube was a dry lube. I checked with Benchmade and they said it was a wet lube. My mistake. Either way I really like the Blue Lube but I want to try Ezzox.

RKH
 
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