Just ordered some Nano Oil *cough snake oil cough*

[Bloke]

Swear by this stuff
Cheaper than Nano and basically the same

Ah, hahaha! Hey Standy, must be a local thing, ay? :rolleyes:

I used it on my Alveys for thirty years and still have some I’m sure. :)

[Wartstein]

Haven't tried many. For some time now Victorinox (the maker of swiss army knives) multi tool oil. Does all I need for my folders.

[Tims]

I’ve used just about everything over the years from sewing machine oil to engine oil. I’ve never bought a dedicated knife oil and usually use what I have in the shed at the time.
At the moment I’ve somehow wound up using a flower scented sewing machine oil the Mrs bought. Terrible stuff, It smells like a nursing home on mothers day but it does the job.
You blokes using grease in your pivots, how have you found it’s been in terms of collecting and holding gunk? I’ve got some silicone grease here I’ve thought about using but pictured it picking up sand and other crap and developing into what would essentially be a cutting compound- none too handy in a pivot.

[Bloke]

how have you found it’s been in terms of collecting and holding gunk? I’ve got some silicone grease here I’ve thought about using

Hey Tim, it’s like D said mate. Grease stays put and seals grit out but it has to be applied sparingly. I think it’s easy to use too much grease and nearly impossible to use too little.

I haven’t used silicone grease on a pivot. I did use some to service a little 2000 Shimano spinning reel. :eek: ... felt like peddling a treadly uphill. :)

[Bloke]

all I need

[Tims]

how have you found it’s been in terms of collecting and holding gunk? I’ve got some silicone grease here I’ve thought about using

Hey Tim, it’s like D said mate. Grease stays put and seals grit out but it has to be applied sparingly. I think it’s easy to use too much grease and nearly impossible to use too little.

I haven’t used silicone grease on a pivot. I did use some to service a little 2000 Shimano spinning reel. :eek: ... felt like peddling a treadly uphill. :)

I’ll try it out next time I disassemble something but I’m a wash ‘em, blow ‘em out and oil ‘em type.
I love that feeling of a freshly greased reel, like spinning through custard! Doesn’t last long though

[Wartstein]

all I need

Yeah!!! "Bloked" for the second time!!! :D :)

[mb1]

Mineral oil here. I very rarely need to lube a Spyderco though. (I don’t own any ball bearing pivots.) Knife pivots are such a low speed/low load use in the world of mechanical things anyway.

I like your thinking on the grease tho D. That would at least make a difference in terms of shielding and dirt barrier, which is the only real possible differentiator I can see. I’m sure motor oil would *work* but I wouldn’t want it on my clothes or food.

[Evil D]

Mineral oil here. I very rarely need to lube a Spyderco though. (I don’t own any ball bearing pivots.) Knife pivots are such a low speed/low load use in the world of mechanical things anyway.

I like your thinking on the grease tho D. That would at least make a difference in terms of shielding and dirt barrier, which is the only real possible differentiator I can see. I’m sure motor oil would *work* but I wouldn’t want it on my clothes or food.

I have a feeling I'll stick with the grease at least for bearing pivots but we'll see. Next time I have one apart I'll take some pics of the crud ring. You can look at it from two perspectives, it does create a barrier but unless you take it apart for cleaning and regreasing it also holds that crud in place when you try to rinse it out. There are definitely pros and cons with lube vs grease. I definitely like grease in carbon blades like my 52100 Military, I like knowing that my pivot is sealed from moisture and corrosion and being prone to rust I'm more likely to take it apart and be more meticulous with cleaning than with a Caribbean.

[JD Spydo]

Haven't tried many. For some time now Victorinox (the maker of swiss army knives) multi tool oil. Does all I need for my folders.

Where's a good place to get that Victorinox Oil? Preferably here in the USA? I own a couple of Victorinox Multi-tools and have been wanting to try that Victorinox oil. I've heard a lot of good things said about it. It's interesting the the subject of general lubricating oil comes up from time to time. I've been using MILITEC 1 for quite a few years now with excellent results. I've heard talk of these new generation Nano Oil but it's not the only proclaimed synthetic oil from the line up of "nanotechnology" type lubes that have hit the market in the past 5 years or so.
I've said for the past 5 years if I can find anything that beats MILITEC 1 by a significant margin I'll immediately switch to it. Also Militec makes a great synthetic grease as well.

[mb1]

Side note but related...for a science project one year, I helped my son test different lubes on skateboard bearings. I don’t remember what all we tried, but motor oil was in there.

We cleaned/stripped brand new bearings, applied the lube, gave them a max spin installed on a skateboard truck, and timed how long they would spin. Lots of variables, yes, but you could average the spin times and get clear trends.

The winner? Bones Speed Cream (probably mineral oil), the stuff “made for” skateboard bearings. :cool: I still have some and have used it in knife pivots, which of course worked fine.

So anyway, calibrate your stopwatch finger or get a gun range timer that starts/stops by sound and tell how fast you can flip off with nano oil. :spyder:

[blueblur]

I wanted to use grease in my sliverax but just never got around to taking it apart to properly work it in but with the “loose-ness” of the bearing cage, it seems to make the most sense. I’ve been getting very good results with ALG go juice and ALG “very thin grease”. Whenever a friend asks me to sharpen their Spyderco, I’ll put a drop or 2 of the go juice in the pivot and they are always surprised that is all I did as opposed to adjusting the pivot.

[Evil D]

What I really need is a small enough torque wrench/driver so I can set the pivot screws all equally. Then I guess it'll be just how it feels. That doesn't seem very scientific and I feel like I'm already biased towards my grease but I'll do my best.

I think I'll show the Mrs how to lube a pivot and give her two knives and have her drop some Nano in one and motor oil in the other so it's a blind test.

[Wartstein]

Haven't tried many. For some time now Victorinox (the maker of swiss army knives) multi tool oil. Does all I need for my folders.

Where's a good place to get that Victorinox Oil? Preferably here in the USA?

Sorry, I don't know about the US. In Europe It's easily available at several online dealers for 4 or 5 Euros. Should be about the same in Dollars...
I like it, works well!!

[anycal]

For a while I used different types of grease I use in RC hobby. RC branded blue, black, green. The black was the thinnest and worked the best.

When I finally decided to get some knife specific oil, I was looking at the Nano oil. Never heard of it until I saw it on YT. But, at that time it seemed difficult to find. I picked up the BM Blue Lube. It works so I don't need to change. And it has been lasting forever, so haven't had the opportunity to try something else.

[mb1]

What I really need is a small enough torque wrench/driver so I can set the pivot screws all equally. Then I guess it'll be just how it feels. That doesn't seem very scientific and I feel like I'm already biased towards my grease but I'll do my best.

I think I'll show the Mrs how to lube a pivot and give her two knives and have her drop some Nano in one and motor oil in the other so it's a blind test.

There ya go! Blind tests have embarrassed many an expert. :)

[Cscottsss]

Has anyone ever used Benchmade Blue Lube? It's the only thing I've used and seems to work pretty well. Interested in how it stacks up against the others from anybody with experience with it?

I use it on my pivots, the only thing I don't like is the stock applicator. It needs a needle tip IMO.

I use Mineral Oil on my corrosive steel blades.

[Hopweaver]

I've used plain old mineral oil for about a year now. Works pretty good. I have nothing to complain about.

Same here. Works great, and food safe.

[GarageBoy]

Was tuf glide in the vial for pivots or was it a blade protectant?

[standy99]

I’ll try it out next time I disassemble something but I’m a wash ‘em, blow ‘em out and oil ‘em type.
I love that feeling of a freshly greased reel, like spinning through custard! Doesn’t last long though

Buy a shimano Stella it lasts for years