white lightening??

RescueRiley

RescueRiley

Joined
Mar 22, 2006
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its designed for bike parts but I believe some folks use it on folders as well..Does anyone have any experience with it?? does anyone know if it is safe to use if using you knife for food prep? Thanks
 
Yep, they used to market it for knives and other sorts of things a few years back. I don't really like it that much, it works fine but the wax based lubes have never really impressed me as far as folders go, great on other stuff around the house though as they dry and seal out/don't attract dust. Now I know that sounds appealing but it just didn't seem to work very well on knives compared to a decent oil or tuf-glide that I was using at the time.

One issue I had with it is that it can be really messy, it's so thin that what you meant as one drop comes out as half a dozen and gets everywhere, the large wide applicator tip didn't help matters much. I did love the smell though, sort of clean and refreshing :) I think it should be fairly safe on food, take the precautions you would with any other lube and keep it in the pivot and not on the blade, and at least wipe the blade off before you cut food with it if has a heavy coat.
 
H1 Lubricants are OK for incidental food contact. H2 are not. IMO I don't think that a bicycle chain lubricant mfg. would have much concern about making it an H1 Class Lube. Could not find anything on their web site regarding this. There are many food grade oils (H1) or a drug store mineral oil for blades that I feel would be better if you have a concern with food prep.
 
I've used the Clean Ride before; they make several different types. Personally, I think it really sucks as a bicycle chain lube, but it's not bad on a knife that can easily attract dirt/debris. I use it on my work knife because I have to cut a lot of plastic wrap around pallets of sand, concrete mix, and other dusty dirty things. I'm not saying it's the best dry lube, but it works. I only use it because I had some laying around after I tried it on my bike. Not sure how safe it would be on food though. +1 on the mineral oil for food prep!
 
For my knives and guns I have been using Action Magic II for some time. This is a two part moly lube that leaves a zero moisture lubricant for moving parts. an application lasts forever on moving parts and it is easy to apply. The needle like tips make precise application easy and it will not attract moisture or dry particles like dust and sand. I don't know it it is food safe or not but I seldom use anything but my kitchen knifes for food prep.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=1151&title=ACTION MAGIC II~
 
I used White Lightning on my Case Whittlers way back when I was collecting them. Very messy stuff and a pain in the @$$ to get it off where you don't want it. I now use the MiliTec and have been very happy with it.
 
Your supposed to drink moonshine, not lube your knives with it. You might want to try graphite as a dry lubricant, you can find it at auto parts stores for around $2.
 
I use it and am very happy with it. Maybe there is other stuff that is better, I don't know and haven't had reason to look for it. Many people will say it is messy and gunks up. It doesn't do that for me, though. I am careful and try to use the minimal amount and maybe that has helped. I also wipe excess immediately and reapply very rarely. It can leave a white residue that is hard to remove from a dark textured surface like black FRN, but alcohol would probably dissolve it. It doesn't seem to work at all until the next day after it has dried. This probably puts many users off. But my knives stay very clean and are very low-maintenance for me. I have not tried Tuff-glide, but I expect that is also very good, although probably toxic. The WL applicator tip is definitely larger than the needle applicator tip of the Tuff-glide, and the needle applicator style seems preferable to me.

Regarding it being food safe: I would expect that the carrier is toxic. Once it dries, I think it leaves nothing but carnuba wax, which is food safe. I am not a chemist, so don't quote me on that, though. This is just what I think I heard about it years ago when I first researched it. And I suppose it is possible that their formula has changed or is slightly different for the bike lube vs. the one they marketed for knives. But in general, I would assume that a wax-based lube is potentially less toxic than many of the alternatives.

It seems to work fine for me. My knives definitely stay cleaner than with an oil for lube. I will never go back to oil, although I would probably try other dry lubes. One of the characteristics of WL is that it is "supposed" to encapsulate dirt and let it crumble away out of the knife as a sort of cleaning process. I don't know if that is true or hype, but if so, it may be cleaner than other dry lubes.
 
White Lightening is gross in knives. I've tried using it before, and found that often times it would gum up the knife rather than lubricate it. I use brass instrument valve oil that you can get at any music store. Not really food safe, though, so I don't tend to use my knives to eat with unless they're pretty dry.
 
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