Using graphite and other dry lubes

[Paraguy]

A friend of mine put graphite in his Manix and boy is it smooth. I think it may be smoother then the sewing machine oil i use, which is very thin. Do any of y'all have any experience with dry lubes what would you recommend. Would you be concerned about it getting wet?

[Dan In MI]

A friend of mine put granite in his Manix and boy is it smooth.

Use of granite as a dry lube is something I've never heard of. Did you mean graphite?

[Paraguy]

A friend of mine put granite in his Manix and boy is it smooth.

Use of granite as a dry lube is something I've never heard of. Did you mean graphite?

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPSSSS!
FIXED IT!

[Pokey]

Graphite?

I don't know if graphite absorbs water.

I've used sheets of graphite we use at work called Grafoil. It comes in rolls 3 feet wide by about 0.10" thick. I also have a bottle of Molybdenum IV. It's a powder that's as fine as cinnamon. One concern I might have is that graphite is abrasive, so I might use it for a while to wear parts in, then switch to grease or oil.

Old fashioned pencils are graphite.

[Dan In MI]

I've never used any sort of dry lube. Without more information and feedback, I'd prefer to follow manufacturers' recommendations. Some feedback from Sal regarding this matter would be great.

[Evil D]

I tried graphite powder years ago, didn't like how it felt. In a Native LW it was more gritty than smooth.

[RustyIron]

Graphite and molybdenum disulfide can be used as a dry lubricant on your knives. The downside to both is that they're gray in color and get get your clothes dirty. You can get both in powdered form, or in an aerosol that uses a liquid carrier that quickly evaporates, leaving behind just the powder, or powder and a thin oil. Neither are impervious to water.

[GarageBoy]

How would dry Teflon lube fare?

[The Mastiff]

Moly powder used to be used by S&W when putting their revolvers together. They would dip the part in powder and put it in place. Most moving parts were behind the sideplates and protected from most stuff so it worked well. Graphite was what we used in our firearms in bad desert sand areas for obvious reasons. Do they work better than oils? It depends on a bunch of stuff. I look at everything as being only good for some situations and not ideal for others.

[ugaarguy]

Graphite is known to create a galvanic corrosion reaction with aluminum. Dr. Google, refreshed my memory from my USAF maintenance days that it needs the presence of chloride ions for that to happen. But that can be as simple as sweat, chlorine bleach, coastal salt air, etc, etc. I'm not sure how it reacts with various steel alloys, titanium, phosphor bronze, and other common knife parts materials. With the plethora of silicone, Teflon, and similar more stable, non abrasive dry and semi-dry lubricants, I wouldn't risk using graphite on a knife.

[JacksonKnives]

On the farm, dry lube is my go-to on exposed chains and anything that's going to be sitting in dust. (Example: seed meter rollers.)

The advantage is that it won't attract and hold grit the way grease does.
The downside is that it's not really doing anything to prevent dirt from getting into a moving part; it only helps stop the dirt from clinging and staying around.

So, on plastic parts and anything that gets dry dirt on it that you can't push grease through from the inside out (all farm implements use pressurized grease to push dirt and water out of critical pivots and joints) it's better than nothing.

But in a knife pivot, with the weight of the blade riding on a washer/bushing/bearing, it's worth having fluid or grease and just being more careful about dirt.

On roller chains and in control cables, in my experience, Teflon protects much better than graphite.

[kobold]

As kids we used bar soap to "lubricate" Rubik's Cubes, it might work on washerless FRN knives, but I didn't test it yet.

[phaust]

I used Teflon lube for bike chains on knives a number of years ago. If you just throw it on and let it dry, it can be too thick in spots, causing bad action and play. You either have to make sure to put it on thin (I still occasionally had problems) or put it back together and start opening and closing the knife before the lube dries (probably don't get good coverage on friction points this way). Maybe certain lube brands are better about this than the one I used.

I still use it occasionally on knives I don't carry a lot but only for the areas of the blade that stay hidden by the handle and aren't areas that rub (under washers, lock faces).

Bar soap is an interesting one. Also works on door hinges to get rid of squeaking.

[z1r]

A friend of mine put granite in his Manix and boy is it smooth.

Use of granite as a dry lube is something I've never heard of. Did you mean graphite?

Oh man, I had to crush the granite to get it small enough to use! Then everything felt really gritty! :eek:

[Dthoma]

How do you get graphite off your knife/scales?

[Michael Janich]

Dear Dthoma:

Welcome to the Spyderco Forum.

Stay safe,

Mike

[derangedhermit]

Is wear, except for the blade edge, an issue for pocket knives? My guess and experience is that it isn't. So that leaves feel as the the reason to lubricate at all.

[ImHereForTheMilitary2]

I picked up some stuff called kpl. I got a combo kit with ultra light, original and heavy. WHenever i get a new knife I put just a drop or two the ultra light in the pivot and call it a day. please let me know if this is bad

[RustyIron]

Is wear, except for the blade edge, an issue for pocket knives? My guess and experience is that it isn't. So that leaves feel as the the reason to lubricate at all.

Corrosion resistance might be a consideration. But you're right, wear isn't a concern.

[jwbnyc]

I’ve used dry Teflon spray before on multitools, but if you read the health warnings it’ll scare the crap out of you. Probably better to spray outside. That may be just California. Everything causes cancer in California, apparently. It worked pretty well, beyond that.