Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

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Bloke
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#81

Post by Bloke »

Evil D wrote:
Mon Jul 15, 2019 7:34 pm
Well surprise surprise it showed up today ...
Cool write up D, many thanks for sharing. :)

I’m thinking of buying some to try myself now. Which oil weight did you buy?
Last edited by Bloke on Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Evil D
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#82

Post by Evil D »

Bloke wrote:
Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:33 am
Evil D wrote:
Mon Jul 15, 2019 7:34 pm
Well surprise surprise it showed up today ...
Cool write up D, many thanks for sharing. :)

I’m thinking now of buying some to try myself now. Which oil weight did you buy?

I went with the 10. I'm curious how long it lasts or how long it takes for lint and crud to effect it. It seems like the major gain may just be that you don't have to take a knife apart to apply this stuff vs grease. If you're the type that's ok with rinsing a pivot out to clean it and then drop lube in then this seems like a great alternative to grease.
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#83

Post by Pelagic »

While I firmly believe there will be no perceivable difference in a knife from one motor oil to the next, I just thought I'd mention that an excellent youtube channel "Project Farm" has recently tested numerous motor oils in a controlled and unbiased fashion. So while in a knife, only the lubricity test would matter (and even then I highly doubt any differences would be detectable to the user), some will undoubtedly work better than others. I was surprised to find out that Mobil 1 wasn't one of the best oils tested. Admittedly, this is extremely trivial, but this is partially why I was curious about Lucas oil stabilizer. I am also curious about gear oil (85-90 weight) and other thick lubricants that seemingly bridge the gap between oil and grease.

Evil D, or anyone: which lubricants seem to collect the least amount of lint and gunk?
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#84

Post by Evil D »

Pelagic wrote:
Tue Jul 16, 2019 6:48 am
While I firmly believe there will be no perceivable difference in a knife from one motor oil to the next, I just thought I'd mention that an excellent youtube channel "Project Farm" has recently tested numerous motor oils in a controlled and unbiased fashion. So while in a knife, only the lubricity test would matter (and even then I highly doubt any differences would be detectable to the user), some will undoubtedly work better than others. I was surprised to find out that Mobil 1 wasn't one of the best oils tested. Admittedly, this is extremely trivial, but this is partially why I was curious about Lucas oil stabilizer. I am also curious about gear oil (85-90 weight) and other thick lubricants that seemingly bridge the gap between oil and grease.

Evil D, or anyone: which lubricants seem to collect the least amount of lint and gunk?
I watched that whole series, I was surprised with the results for sure. I've always believed with oil changes, the most important thing is just that you do it and do it routinely.

With lubes collecting gunk, I've had issues with every lube I've ever used. Even with a dry lube, pocket lint is going to collect in the crevices. Heck my knives have pocket lint on the insides of the liners where there hasn't ever been any lube, it's going to collect no matter what. I like grease because it creates a physical barrier at the edges that crud doesn't get through.

Here's my Caribbean last night before I cleaned it. You can see the grease that squeezes out at the edges of the washers and creates this rim where crud doesn't get past. When I grease a pivot there's a sweet spot with how much is put in, I put in just enough "too much" that it creates this rim around the edge and seals the pivot.

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This sealing of the pivot has been especially helpful on carbon blades like my 52100 Military.
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#85

Post by BigGrove »

Sumdumguy wrote:
Fri Jul 12, 2019 4:23 pm
I use mineral oil. If I'm going to waste money, I'll give it to my wife and enjoy the brownie points. ;)
+1. Food grade mineral oil works great, it's cheap, and has multiple uses (for example on my wood cutting boards). Everything else is hype in my opinion.
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#86

Post by JD Spydo »

Evil D wrote:
Mon Jul 15, 2019 5:24 am
Vivi wrote:
Mon Jul 15, 2019 1:59 am
Mineral oil is something I can buy for pennies from any grocery store ot drug store around and its never felt inadequate for knife pivots. Can't imagine the extra $$ nano lube costs is worth whatever marginal performance gains it may offer.
My problem with mineral oil is it gets gunky after a while. It also seems to attract lint like a magnet. I like that it's cheap and plentiful but there's no way I'd choose it over grease. Maybe for pinned knives I can't take apart but I also think I'd sooner use motor oil unless there's a major concern about food prep. It's easy enough to lube a pivot and not get it everywhere.
That's exactly the results I've had with mineral oil. Also I find it extremely difficult to believe that Mineral Oil has lubricity properties anywhere near what many of these newer high-tech lubes now have.

I've been saying this for the past 5 years>> If I find a lubrication product that beats Militec hands down I'll immediately switch to it. I haven't been shown anything that good as of yet.
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#87

Post by vivi »

I would never argue that mineral oil is the most sophisticated lubricrant available today.

I would argue that the difference between mineral oil and other lubes and their effect on folding knife performance is so miniscule it approaches placebo territory.

From a pure smoothness perspective at least.

Different lubes, like greases, can act in different ways, like the mentioned seal effect.

In terms of how smooth X lube makes the pivot of a knife, I think it's such a simple mechanism subjected to such minimal forces (compared to a race car enginge or industrial machines) that the differences are negligible.
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#88

Post by Evil D »

Vivi wrote:
Wed Jul 17, 2019 8:06 am
I would never argue that mineral oil is the most sophisticated lubricrant available today.

I would argue that the difference between mineral oil and other lubes and their effect on folding knife performance is so miniscule it approaches placebo territory.

From a pure smoothness perspective at least.

Different lubes, like greases, can act in different ways, like the mentioned seal effect.

In terms of how smooth X lube makes the pivot of a knife, I think it's such a simple mechanism subjected to such minimal forces (compared to a race car enginge or industrial machines) that the differences are negligible.

There's definitely something to be said about being able to tighten a pivot more and eliminate blade play while not having a stiff pivot action. That's where these kinds of lubes shine. Those are also miniscule differences but I think as an AFI community it's those kinds of differences that brought us here, otherwise there are plenty of flea market knives that can cut up boxes just fine.
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Evil D
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#89

Post by Evil D »

JD Spydo wrote:
Wed Jul 17, 2019 7:44 am
I've been saying this for the past 5 years>> If I find a lubrication product that beats Militec hands down I'll immediately switch to it. I haven't been shown anything that good as of yet.

What all have you tried? I wouldn't go solely on other people's opinions. This particular lube isn't cheap especially for how much you get but it does seem like a very good lube. I'll probably be using it on knives that I can't take apart.
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#90

Post by Pelagic »

I am probably going to try marine grease soon. I like the thought of a barrier around the pivot and washers that prevents sediment from getting into the pivot. I also prefer a very tight pivot with red loctite (something I need to pick up soon). I'm willing to bet you could even (occasionally) blast out the inevitable gunk surrounding the pivot with brake cleaner and the grease would still be in the pivot washers (tight pivot). But of course this lazy method of cleaning the pivot would eventually make you have to reapply the grease.

Right now I'm trying fluid film on the pivot of my military. It has lanolin in it. Fluid film is a good lubricant that can form a protective barrier around steel. You can spray it on the chassis/frame of a car, and it stays there. Sand and gunk will eventually stick to it from driving, but the protective barrier remains functional. Very good at preventing rust. So far so good (fluid film as knife lube), but I need to clean the pivot, washers, and blade soon.
Pancake wrote:
Wed Aug 14, 2019 10:20 pm
Are you a magician? :eek:
Nate wrote:
Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:32 pm
You're the lone wolf of truth howling into the winds of ignorance
Doeswhateveraspidercan wrote:
Sat Jun 15, 2019 9:17 pm
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Evil D
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#91

Post by Evil D »

Well the Mrs and I just did the Nano vs motor oil challenge aaaaaaaand they're practically identical in my two Sliverax's. Smoothness is indistinguishable, both are silky smooth and the blades swing as freely as they possibly can. I tried to adjust both pivots as closely to the same as I could before any lube was added, and I had her put one drop of oil on each side of the bearings and then one drop on the detent ball, so the amount of lube is about as even as she can make it and the pivots are adjusted as evenly as I can manage.

In fact they're so close in performance that I guessed them backwards....I guessed the motor oil knife was the Nano oil and visa versa. So, as far as bearing pivots go, I gotta say just use whatever motor oil you have and save yourself some cash. Actually now that I think about it, I think a one gallon jug of Mobil 1 is the same price as this little tube of Nano oil, which is kinda ridiculous. You could spend $6 or so on a quart of motor oil and it'll last you 10 lifetimes as a knife lube.

It may be of note that the motor oil is significantly thicker at 5W20 weight, the difference there is huge. I did a run test by putting a drop of each oil on the top of a soda can and the motor oil barely moves at all, so it'll stay put better than the 10 weight Nano if that's a concern. Despite that weight difference I don't feel that the motor oil is any slower in action on bearings, though i will try to do something like this on standard washer pivots too and see how that goes.


And if you're wondering how I got the motor oil in, I used an insulin syringe from my diabetic cat. I snipped the tip off for safety. It was a PITA getting motor oil into that little tube and it comes out of the wee little needle hole super slow but very precise and easy to control the amount you're using.
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I can't even tell them apart by looking at them.
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#92

Post by Woodpuppy »

Thanks for the test and report! So nano oil does no worse than good engine oil, and at least equals it in preliminary testing. It is as I suspected, but had not tested myself. The longer term test may be how often reapplication is required, if it gums up over time, and if one or the other attracts more grunge.

I’m often suspicious of boutique lubes. Look up “fire clean” vs crisco.
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#93

Post by Bloke »

Thanks for the update D! :cool:

It’s basically what I expected and I s’pose the only thing that remains is the longevity of either one.

Lubrication is a science of its own and Oil Companies invest millions of dollars in research and development of there products so it’s fanciful to think that any knife or gun manufacturer is likely to do there own research irrespective of what brand name they use or colour they tint the oil they pedal. You can bet shillings to pence you can buy the same oil or better off the shelf for a fraction of the price they demand, as you’ve already explained. :)
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#94

Post by Evil D »

Woodpuppy wrote:
Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:49 pm
Thanks for the test and report! So nano oil does no worse than good engine oil, and at least equals it in preliminary testing. It is as I suspected, but had not tested myself. The longer term test may be how often reapplication is required, if it gums up over time, and if one or the other attracts more grunge.

I’m often suspicious of boutique lubes. Look up “fire clean” vs crisco.

If you look at the Nano oil Amazon listing someone asked a question, and they (NanoLube/StClaire) answer the question...
Amazon wrote:Will this oil attract dirt in an edc folding knife application?

Answer: "It could if you put too much, but after applicarion and conditioning aka opening and closing a few times you can remove the excess by ringing the knive towards the ground a few times, it will seem dry but the nano will do its job of smooth action. Sorry for short explanation, we are at Shot Show in Las Vegas. Thanks have a great week." see less
By nanolube SELLER on January 17, 2017

I'm not sure about drying out, I just took apart my Caribbean which has been lubed up with Nano oil ever since I got it one week ago to the day, and the insides were still quite wet. I may have over applied it too, it seeped in between the liners and scales and was everywhere. It didn't really seem to have a lot of crud/dust, but it has only been 7 days so that may just take more time.

I did just take the Caribbean apart and put motor oil on it, and I could swear it's smoother now. To say the least, the blade drops more freely (despite being a heavier oil) and I've done my best to adjust the pivot as close to the same as I can. For the record, my method of adjusting pivots is NOT to get the blade free falling, but to get the pivot as snug as possible so it doesn't have any blade play, then I back it off in tiny increments until I induce blade play (we're talking about the smallest turn I can manage on the pivot screw) and then I tighten it back down ever so slightly and try to find a sweet spot where there's no blade play but the pivot is also at that point where it's as loose as it can be while eliminating side play. At this same point of adjustment, the Nano oil required a slight bit of wrist jiggle to get the blade to drop, but the motor oil drops as soon as I press the lock tab....and again this is with a significantly heavier weight oil than Nano, which I would expect would slow down the action similarly to how grease does.

So....while I will say Nano oil does seem to be a very high quality lube (remember I was impressed with it vs. my bearing grease), I have to say first impressions vs motor oil is, at the very least it just isn't worth the cost difference and I'd go so far as to say perhaps the smoothness isn't even as good. I would like to compare the heavier weight Nano against motor oil, but I'm not sure I can justify the cost for another tube of lube that I probably won't use now.
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#95

Post by Evil D »

Bloke wrote:
Mon Jul 22, 2019 5:07 pm
Thanks for the update D! :cool:

It’s basically what I expected and I s’pose the only thing that remains is the longevity of either one.

Lubrication is a science of its own and Oil Companies invest millions of dollars in research and development of there products so it’s fanciful to think that any knife or gun manufacturer is likely to do there own research irrespective of what brand name they use or colour they tint the oil they pedal. You can bet shillings to pence you can buy the same oil or better off the shelf for a fraction of the price they demand, as you’ve already explained. :)

The biggest argument FOR motor oil is that you know companies have tested and engineered this stuff to withstand conditions that are far more severe than a knife pivot will ever see, so it's about as overkill as it can possibly be for this application. If it'll keep my engine alive at 7500RPM then it'll keep my knife pivot alive at 6RPM (or however revolutions per minute my knife sees when I'm watching TV and flipping it lol).
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#96

Post by Pelagic »

Image

If this ever runs out I will be filling it up with motor oil. I'll probably add some Lucas oil stabilizer (completely unnecessary) to improve stickiness and lubricity. Maybe it'll stay in the pivot longer. And I can't remember what I paid for this "liberty oil" years ago, but it does work quite well. Thanks for the update D. I'm still interested in trying marine grease.
Pancake wrote:
Wed Aug 14, 2019 10:20 pm
Are you a magician? :eek:
Nate wrote:
Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:32 pm
You're the lone wolf of truth howling into the winds of ignorance
Doeswhateveraspidercan wrote:
Sat Jun 15, 2019 9:17 pm
You are a nobody got it?
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#97

Post by holeshot »

standy99 wrote:
Fri Jul 12, 2019 1:35 am
Swear by this stuff
Cheaper than Nano and basically the same

A9CF41A5-971A-40EB-9611-493E1ED8E3C7.jpeg
Ditto me on this “Reel” oil. Works for a whole lot less $$ :)
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Evil D
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#98

Post by Evil D »

SOOooooo it's been a month and a halfish, thought I'd touch back on this since I just had my Caribbean apart.

I've been using motor oil (Mobil 1 5W30 full synth) on my Caribbean to see how it collects dust vs other lubes. It actually seems to collect dust a good bit less than some other wet lubes I've tried.

Image


I just had a much too wordy break down of this which nobody is going to read, so lets just break it down to pros and cons:


Nano Oil


Pros:
-Convenient dropper applicator
-Scientifically better on some level, though I can't tell the difference vs motor oil
-Placebo effect if you're into that warm and fuzzy feeling of knowing you bought "the good stuff"


Cons:
-Expensive
-Not readily available (have to order it and pay for shipping vs. going to any store for motor oil or any bike shop for Phil Wood)
-Far less amount for the money than either motor oil or grease

Motor OIl

Pros:
-Cheap, only about $6 quart
-Will last long enough for your great grand kids to use it if you only use it for knife pivots
-Engineered for much more demanding engine applications, so it's literally overkill for a knife pivot
-Readily available in a slew of weights
-Seems to hold crud out of the pivot better than other lubes I've tried (could just be because it's thicker)
-Couldn't tell the difference in a blind test vs Nano
-Improves MPG?

Cons:
-Less convenient/precise application unless you use a syringe or toothpick etc
-Lowers street cred on internet forums

Phil Wood Grease

Pros:
-Waterproof
-Crud barrier
-Tightens up pivot tolerances/less blade play
-Lasts forever, my tube is from the mid '90s
-Bearing grease = bearing pivots, it's literally made for bearing applications
-Improves bunny hopping skillz

Cons:
-Requires disassembly to properly apply
-Thicker viscosity can slow down/dampen pivot action vs thinner lubes
-Only bike nerds know what you're talking about when you mention Phil Wood
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Archimedes
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#99

Post by Archimedes »

Make your own oil.

Half motor oil, half ATF.

1/3 Motor oil, 1/3 ATF, 1/3 Marvels Mystery oil.

Go crazy and use synthetic for your blends.

Save thousands on oil....LOL
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Re: Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

#100

Post by Tucson Tom »

This is a great thread. Both entertaining and educational. Thanks Evil D -- I have enjoyed reading all that you wrote.

I have a case of SAE 20 non detergent I bought for my lathe. It should last beyond the end of civilization. The plastic will probably break down and the oil leak out of the bottles.
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