- Joined
- Nov 20, 2016
- Messages
- 144
I have been using 10w nano oil on all of the bearing surfaces, the pivot, the detent hole and the path of the detent ball on the knife tang. That just seemed to be the smart thing to do and I see a lot of people doing it.
I got a couple of fidget spinners for my b-day a few days ago and thought.... why don't I put some of that nano oil on those bearings. Well I did. And it was a quieter and smoother spin but the duration of the spin was less than 1/4 of the duration without any oil. And I had to do some serious cleanup to get back to the original non lubricated spin.
That made me think about the flippers. The bearing mechanisim is about the same. So by using oil I am making the bearing action smoother and quieter. I am probably increasing the life of the bearings (although I cannot ever see that being an issue). But I may be slowing the action a bit.
I think that I have determined that the ease and speed of action, given a constant opening force and ignoring the detent preload addition to that force, is really determined more by the the drag of the detent ball on the knife tang.
So some lubrication should help with that. However if the detent ball gets lube on it.... and it will.... then it will lessen the preload (detent ball comes out of the detent hole easier with less force) during the flip reducing the flipping force.
I am over thinking this aren't I. I know that many of the new knives that I get have no visible lubrication anywhere. While others.... like Grimsmo Rask, will pack a tube of nano oil in the knife box. (in my dreams I have a Rask... but I have seen the videos)
I am going to try some no lube experiments and report back.
I would love to hear other experiences on this.
I got a couple of fidget spinners for my b-day a few days ago and thought.... why don't I put some of that nano oil on those bearings. Well I did. And it was a quieter and smoother spin but the duration of the spin was less than 1/4 of the duration without any oil. And I had to do some serious cleanup to get back to the original non lubricated spin.
That made me think about the flippers. The bearing mechanisim is about the same. So by using oil I am making the bearing action smoother and quieter. I am probably increasing the life of the bearings (although I cannot ever see that being an issue). But I may be slowing the action a bit.
I think that I have determined that the ease and speed of action, given a constant opening force and ignoring the detent preload addition to that force, is really determined more by the the drag of the detent ball on the knife tang.
So some lubrication should help with that. However if the detent ball gets lube on it.... and it will.... then it will lessen the preload (detent ball comes out of the detent hole easier with less force) during the flip reducing the flipping force.
I am over thinking this aren't I. I know that many of the new knives that I get have no visible lubrication anywhere. While others.... like Grimsmo Rask, will pack a tube of nano oil in the knife box. (in my dreams I have a Rask... but I have seen the videos)
I am going to try some no lube experiments and report back.
I would love to hear other experiences on this.