Mini Tip : Knife lubricant / oilHere’s the quick tip for the fellow DMF knife enthusiast.
The first things first.
It is more important to know “
what kind of lube you DON’T want to put on your knife”, than trying to find “what is the best lube for the folders” by searching on the internet.
For example, (as you can tell by the videos) I use my folders for the food (mostly fruits, some veggies) quite often.
So, no gun lube for my knives. (NOT saying they are bad lube for the knives. They CAN BE excellent lube for some, BUT it’s not the right choice FOR MY USE of the knives. You don’t want to ingest that kinda stuff.
Avoid anything that says
TEFLON or PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene), if you use your knife for foods.
PTFE / teflon might be the king of the slippery dry substances, but it should NEVER be ingested.
Examples to avoid(if you use your knives for food)
Remington Rem Oil
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1601496041/remington-rem-oil-gun-oil-aerosolYou may have this thing laying around, and be tempted to use it on the pivot of your folders.
It is actually perfectly OK, IF YOU DON’T EVER USE YOUR KNIFE FOR FOOD PREP.
But, stay away if you think you are going to cut an apple or orange with your knife some day.
Chris Reeve Knives Fluorinated grease
https://chrisreeve.com/products/crk-fluorinated-greaseIf you buy folding knives from Chris Reeves, this nice grease comes with the knives.
Again, this is an excellent for pivot lube, but, unfortunately it also contains PTFE.
So, if you own Sebenza, think again before putting the blade on the food.
(That said, it is GREASE, not thin oil. It won’t run down on the blade in normal circumstance. )
How about petroleum distillates?
No, you don’t want to swallow that thing either.
Most everyone probably has WD-40, 3-in-1, etc laying around somewhere in the house, but they are not food safe.
Then, what about the food grade mineral oil, olive oil, or coconut oil ?
Well, I guess you don’t want to put those on the pivot, as they attract dust (even worse than WD-40).
They can be used on the blade, to prevent corrosion.
But we will talk about it later.
Okay, next.
Another big No-No on the knife pivot,
Tuf-Glide.
Yes, yes, I know, this stuff gets highly regarded on some places in the world of internet / Youtube.
For example,here. ( If you do the google search “best knife lube”, this links comes up at the top.)
https://authorizedboots.com/2016/07/best-folding-knife-lubricant/Despite the fact that Tuf-Glide gets 5-star in the website above, this is NOT something you want to put on your folder’s pivot.
Tuf-Glide is NOT lubricant, it is a glorified silicon-based anti-corrosive BONDING AGENT!Not only this product will “glue” your knife’s pivot, it will destroy phosphorous washers in there permanently, you will NEVER get the nice, smooth action you had before putting this stuff on.
You know, the (sad) truth is, quite a bit of those internet writers / gear reviewers don’t actually have real world experience with the products they write about.
They just search on the net, find something written by someone else, and just repeating it.
(That’s why Youtube knife community is a full of BS.
The guys who don’t even know how to sharpen the knives talking about the edge retention and “what steel is the best”.
Guys who’s only experience with knives is flipping them open / close while sitting on the couch and watching Youtube video, are talking about “using the knife in tactical / defensive situation”, “hard use knife”.
You got to love those internet heroes.)
Err, okay, let’s get back to the subject. Where were we?
Oh, Tuf-Glue ...
Tuf-Glide “myth” was born from the internet talk by some of these guys.
Don’t put that thing on your knives.
So, what do I put on my knives?
For my folder’s pivot, I ...
... don’t put anything, actually.
No, I don’t put oil / grease on my folder’s pivot.
Because I use my knives in the real world, no in the fantasy world of Youtube, I wash the entire knives (including the inside of the handle, pivot, everything. You don’t want food debris getting stuck in there), then wipe the blade dry, use compressed air whenever possible to blow out water from the pivot area / inside of the handle.
Regular wash, keeping it dry & clean is all I need.
(Look at the Spyderco Military & Spydiechef video I posted a little while ago, and see how the blade deploys.
I have never put any special lube on them, I have never tweaked the tension (tightening torque) of the pivot screws on them.)
Modern day folders with phosphor bronze pivot washers (or teflon, nylon, washers) don’t really need any lube/oil.
If you don’t put any oil / grease in there, the pivot area stays a lot cleaner, than having too much oil in there (unfortunately, a lot of people overdo when oiling).
Dry, clean pivot is way better than the pivot covered with oil & dust.
+++++++++++++++++
What about the oil to put on the non-stainless steel blades, to protect them from corrosion?
Well, for the knives that you use on food, you don’t want any gun lube, motor oil, etc. That’s obvious.
Avoid anything with PTFE (teflon).
Food grade mineral oil works (sort of).
Olive oil can be used when you are out in the field. (or, even when you are at home, in a pinch.)
Just, keep in mind that it goes rancid rather quickly.
Coconut oil can be used, too. It hardens below 76°F. You may like it better than olive oil.
Personally, i would use lip balm if I were in that kind of situation. (I’m out in the field, on the road, at someone’ place, etc.)
https://www.burtsbees.com/product/beeswax-lip-balm/VM-11099-00-1.htmlYou can carry lip balm and some alcohol prep pads in your pocket easily. They don’t add that much bulk /weight.
If it’s not possible to thoroughly wash the knife right after using it, wipe the blade with alcohol prep pads, then, apply thin coat of lip balm.
Lip balm is great, because,
It is small & weigh nothing.
It is food safe.
It is far less messy to use on the blade, than something like olive oil (It won’t be running down all over the place.)
It can be used on the knife’s pivot.
You can make emergency candle out of it.
It can be used on minor cuts and scrapes, to stop bleeding,
Its cap can be used to turn a flash light into a makeshift lantern.
(by putting the cap of lip balm over the front of AAA battery size flashlight, as a light difuser. It will make nicely spread out, soft light, especially with Burs’ bees orangish yellow color.)
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7860/46721726782_9600098199_b.jpg)
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7818/46721726132_25756697ab_b.jpg)
Now, there’s a knife specific oil called CITADEL BLACK KNIFE OIL.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M1JGZ3WIt’s getting pretty good review, but take a look at what I have been using before placing an order.
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7923/46721725512_9ed65094ca_b.jpg)
Japanese Tsubaki (Camellia) oil.
https://www.amazon.com/KUROBARA-Tsubaki-Japanese-Maintenance-Camellia/dp/B00362HBPQ![](https://www.qy1.de/img/k310580.jpg)
That’s what I’ve been using on my non-stainless steel blades for all these years.
The black thing in the photo is an applicator. While it is not necessary, it is a pretty handy tool to have.
https://www.amazon.com/Sakai-Takayuki-applicator-Maintenance-Aburatsubo/dp/B00U3PLGWI/I usually buy stuff like these from here. (They are local, to me.)
http://www.hidatool.com/miscellaneous/camellia-oil-and-tool-maintenanceNow, compare CITADEL BLACK knife oil to Kurobara brand Tsubaki oil.
CITADEL BLACK knife oil is $13.97 for 50 ml (1.69 fl oz.), and it’s a mixture of white mineral oil and camellia oil.
Japanese Tsubaki oil is $8.99 for100 ml (3.38 fl oz.), and it’s 100% pure camellia oil.
CITADEL BLACK’s product description says “The perfect blend of White Mineral oil and cold-pressed Camellia seed oil also known as Tsubaki Oil”, but doesn’t tell you the ratio. And, mixing mineral oil (with camellia oil) has no effect on the function of the oil, but greatly reduces the production cost. (You have no idea how many % of CITADEL BLACK oil is camellia oil and how many % is just a plane mineral oil.)
If you want to pay extra $ for fancy packaging and advertisement, go ahead, jump to Amazon link and order it.
It’s not a bad product. It’s just massively over priced product.
And, they send free sample to famous Youtube knife reviewer, and they put out a product review video like this.