Was poking around Lowe’s the other day looking for a good lubricant for the ball jointed arms that wasn’t a wet lubricant like oil and ran across a product that works fantastically…IMHO…on not only the ball joints, but also worked very well applied to the actual rods you slide the sharpening paddles on…it made the paddles slide silky smooth on the rods with hardly any friction or sticking.
It is a product made by DuPont called Teflon, non-stick dry film lubricant…it goes on wet, but then dries to a slightly white film that seals whatever it’s put on, providing a super slick finish. It cost about $6 a bottle here in Georgia, and that bottle should last a very long time as it’s 4 full ounces.
Give it a try, I don’t think y’all will be disappointed, and if you don’t like it, you can always use it around the house for other things like squeeky shower doors, the door locks, etc… :woohoo:
PTFE (teflon) dry film lubricant is great for a lot of uses, it’s a pretty popular item in the gun world as well. The oil I use has teflon in it too, though I’m told you should generally avoid putting anything with teflon in contact with very hot surfaces since teflon burns off by releasing a noxious gas. For the WEPS it’s perfect though!
I’ve noticed that after a lot of use my rods get some gunk on them and need cleaned off, especially if I’ve been using honing oil or something on the stones to keep them from loading up too much. Somehow that stuff always works its way into everything and eventually needs cleaned out and properly oiled!
I use Gunzilla gun oil to clean off my stones and prevent loading up. It’s not a great gun oil to be quite honest so I repurposed it for use on stones. Usually I’ll drip some on and work it in a bit with my fingertip to loosen up the crud on the stone, then just mop it up with a paper towel pressing firmly down on it. This is a stop gap while I’m out doing something or just don’t feel like thoroughly cleaning the stones.
I’ve found that a light oil like Gunzilla, Rem Oil etc can float particles out of the nooks and crannies pretty well so that a full cleaning isn’t absolutely necessary for a lot longer. Really helps when I’m at flea markets and things like that!
Sometimes I’ll lightly oil my stones as I work, sort of similar in nature to Clay’s suggestion to use slightly soapy water. It does well capturing particles if you want to keep grit out of a work area, and might give a little smoother cutting action but I can’t be sure of that
Mark wondered at “what stones”.. I do too.
Are you talking about the diamond “stones”?
I wouldn’t think you would do that to water stones… right?
Ceramics …??
Oh yeah I didn’t mention that in my other reply, whoops! I only have the Pro Pack 1 stones, so they are all diamond stones… 100/200, 400/600, 800/1000 paddles. I don’t have any waterstones or ceramics, though I suspect honing oil or any light oil would not be detrimental to ceramics. Clay would know more than I do on that though.
I can say from experience that using a little oil on the 1000 stone works well, and does seem to make a smoother cutting action. That’s the one grit I prefer to use oil on pretty regularly, but of course being diamond stones they work just as well dry
Darrell;
Thank you for the recommendation of that dry lube. It works great on the paddles and I also pit some in a precision dropper to lube the pivot points on the pocket knives I sharpen. This lube works great and works its way down quickly and dries quickly. If you do put it on heavy it will leave a white film as stated on the back of the bottle.
Here is the link for the dropper bottles I use. They come with 3 tips and a cap for when you remove the needle tips. http://www.precisionoilerplus.com/applicators-amp-dispensers.html
[quote quote=“JedBowen” post=12303]Darrell;
Thank you for the recommendation of that dry lube. It works great on the paddles and I also pit some in a precision dropper to lube the pivot points on the pocket knives I sharpen. This lube works great and works its way down quickly and dries quickly. If you do put it on heavy it will leave a white film as stated on the back of the bottle.
Here is the link for the dropper bottles I use. They come with 3 tips and a cap for when you remove the needle tips. http://www.precisionoilerplus.com/applicators-amp-dispensers.html[/quote]
I just got my lube in today. None of the hardware stores in my area had it? So I did a Google search and ordered it. Then sent away for the precision oilers. I have to say it is FANTASTIC! :woohoo: I sonic cleaned a Swiss Army knife of a friends, which always leaves them gritty and sticky. :S I then blew it out with aerosol brake cleaner (makes a great gun cleaner) and then lubed up. The knife is like brand new!
I really like the little oiler bottle/tips for application! They really make a difference on getting the stuff to the right spot. I have to say that I have followed up on several items off this forum and have been very pleased with them all! :woohoo: There is so much more to this forum then meets the eye? I continue to learn on so many different levels. Thank you all!
I get these in three-packs for a little over $5 at Brownells. I use many different oil and lube products in the shop so I have a bunch with different things in them, and grab whichever works best for a given purpose. I think the dry film is definitely one of the best for knife use though
@EamonMcGowan - I can’t count the number of great tips and tricks I’ve picked up around here. Hopefully I’ve shared a few as well. That’s what makes this forum awesome!
So glad some of you are finding out the lube I located really works for you as well as it did me…it sounds like I am going to have to get me some of the applicator bottles that Jed posted the link on because the tip on the Teflon bottle is way to big and open for precision application…I’ll hopefully be getting to meet Jed here in town on the 27th and really looking forward to that and chatting about knives and the WEPS. :woohoo:
I got my precision bottles in and tried them with the lube. They work great! I put the smallest of the needles on and went to work on a Swiss Army knife with way to many gizmos. I was able to drop the smallest amounts on exactly the joints I wanted. This has turned out to be a winning combo! :woohoo:
Would still like to understand how you are using this oil? I have not used oil at all, on any stones.
These dry lubes use a wax to hold the lube, would think the wax will build up. Bike chains uses this oil/wax to hold the lube and keep it from spinning off.
How did you come up with that statement Johnny? I must have missed that part somehow. ApexGS said he put a gun oil on his diamond paddles, not teflon!!
James,
Although it has been mentioned here recently for specific cases (was it ApexGS to keep things from “gunking” up??), I have never used any kind of lubricant other than water (for my WATER stones) on any of the large number of abrasives I have for the WEPS. I have not yet seen any compelling reason to change that.
There is a way of thought ( a hypothesis) that I have subscribed to for lots of years, that is that using oil on stones is counterproductive when sharpening by hand. It suspends the crud and acts as a secondary abrasive that does more harm than good. The original reading that I did was by a guy named John Juranitch, who is the owner of Razor Edge Systems. He did some very convincing studies indicating without question that the use of oil on any stone prevented one from achieving the same level of sharpness as when using the same stone dry.
“The basic problem with using oil for sharpening is that as you sharpen, grit from the hone and steel particles from the blade become suspended in the oil and form slurry. The very fine edge you’re putting on the blade actually runs into the particles of hone suspended in the oil. It’s as though you were trying to sharpen your blade by running it through a sand pile.”
For the diamonds on the WEPS, I would rather just wipe them with a dry rag or tap them on a table top to knock loose metal off of them than to use any kind of oil to clean them.
[/quote]I got my precision bottles in and tried them with the lube. They work great! I put the smallest of the needles on and went to work on a Swiss Army knife with way to many gizmos. I was able to drop the smallest amounts on exactly the joints I wanted. This has turned out to be a winning combo! :woohoo:[/quote]
Sweeeet ! I just ordered me a couple of them yesterday, should have them by Friday or so and can’t wait to try them out. Thanks again Jed for posting that link to them.
How did you come up with that statement Johnny? I must have missed that part somehow.
[/quote]
Look at the very top post on this page and some of the one’s on the other page.[/quote]
Yep, what Johnny said…when I started this thread, there was no mention of oiling stones ? I simply stated that what I found worked very well…at least for me, on the ball joint itself on the paddle arms, and on the actual stainless rods you slide the diamond paddles on…others had said it worked great as well as a lube for knives themselves…not sure how this thread got misinterpreted as using oil ?? :unsure:
[color color=#0000bb]For the diamonds on the WEPS, I would rather just wipe them with a dry rag or tap them on a table top to knock loose metal off of them than to use any kind of oil to clean them.[/quote][/color]
Philip, I use just compressed air to blow away the metal particles from the diamond stones, as well as wiping them dry ( I wipe first then use the air to blow dry and remove metal shavings ) as I also use Clay’s suggestion of the soapy suds to " trap " the metal particles when sharpening…that works great, thanks for that get tip Clay !
I see the confusion.. for me on the knife part. People said it works on the pivots for folders. I get that, and am going to get some to try. I don’t think that this is what I read from Johnny… as in using it on the blade… especially as ApexGS had already brought up oiling his diamond stones.
The written language has it’s limitations… more soo when done in snippets where the assumption is that everyone just KNOWS what the writer means.
So hopefully we can agree, no one has talked about using this Teflon dry lube for sharpening, other than lubing parts of the WEPS.
Darrell… It is pretty amazing how threads wander around here. (actually on most discussion boards).
Also amazing what we end up learning when it is free form.
When I completely clean the diamond paddles, I also blow them off with compressed air, then wash them in soapy hot water and use a stiff nail brush to get any remaining stuff off of them. In between those times I just dry wipe them. If always used dry, on a clean, dry knife blade, there is not much that will not come off with a dry rag.
LOL. I can see how that could be confusing. You are correct, by knife, I meant joints.
I watched a video the other day of a guy using soapy water on his WEPS diamond paddles. He claimed it kept the filing dust down. I’ll see if I can find it again and post it in a new thread.
