Trouble with oil

[hard.times.lures]

I have tried all kinds of oil,,including Victorinox brand, and the Vitorinox knives get extremely hard to open and close after I apply the oil.

 I have tried to give the knives just a small drop of oil, but they still work the same.

Oh, yes I have done the Down soap and hot water trick and it brings the knives back to original condition.  There must be something I have not tried.

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks, Bryan

[NutSAK]

I haven't experienced the issue you're having. I use mineral oil. If it's a particularly tight knife I use Nano-oil. Rarely have I had a particularly tight Victorinox unless it was damaged or very old.

[Chako]

I use Rem Oil. I figure if it is good enough for the firearms, it should be good enough for the SAKs. No complaints yet.

[NutSAK]

I should have mentioned that I default to mineral oil because it's food safe. I like to keep my blades clean and ready for food prep whenever needed.

[Nix]

 

[nate j]

I also use a mineral oil, though not very often.  A drop is too much though; I smear a small amount on the back of the tang with a toothpick, then open and close the blade a couple of times to work it in. 

[dks]

It could be dust or pocket lint mixing with the oil, making the blades hard to open.

Try without any oil and see what happens

[NutSAK]

It could be dust or pocket lint mixing with the oil, making the blades hard to open.

Try without any oil and see what happens

  This is a good point.  I make sure to clean thoroughly before lubricating.  Truth be told, I probably only lubricate most of my users once a year or so.  Most of them just don't need it unless they've gotten especially dirty.

[hard.times.lures]

Thank you for your replies.  Bryan

[Aloha]

Liner could be interfering?  Could be some corrosion?

There was some great advice given in this thread that may help
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,87409.0.html 

I use 3in1 oil, mineral oil, and hoppes #9 with no issues. 

I hope you can figure out whats going on and resolve it.   

[kamakiri]

I have tried all kinds of oil,,including Victorinox brand, and the Vitorinox knives get extremely hard to open and close after I apply the oil.

 I have tried to give the knives just a small drop of oil, but they still work the same.

Oh, yes I have done the Down soap and hot water trick and it brings the knives back to original condition.  There must be something I have not tried.

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks, Bryan

I don’t think it’s the oil. I primarily use the Victorinox oil and never ever had it *cause* a problem on any knife. It’s also never ‘allowed’ a fixed stiff knife to go back to being stiff.

But one thing I would suggest, is to stop using the hot water. I suppose it temporarily helps loosen things up with the heat by expanding things enough to operate...but ultimately increasing the corrosion and oxides which as far as I know do cause knives to get unusable. And I’m guessing that’s what’s happening after the knife cools down and gets oiled.

For what it’s worth, I only use water on individual tools and only rarely for whole knives if too dirty to disassemble without a soaking first.

It’s my opinion that this issue is worse on modern knives that don’t have all anodized liners. Those seem to have lots of other issues when they get corroded.

That aside, I suggest using mechanical means to help stretch the pins where they are worst. In extreme cases I’ve used (old) blades as a wedge between the tight tools and the adjacent liners to create enough loosening to clean the internal corrosion. Another quick trick I use to clean out corrosion is to use a tiny bit of clay to help degrade and displace the oxides. Ironically, that’s one time I do use water...to wash the clay out.

Good luck with a more permanent solution.

[Knerml]

Liner could be interfering?  Could be some corrosion?

There was some great advice given in this thread that may help
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,87409.0.html 

I use 3in1 oil, mineral oil, and hoppes #9 with no issues. 

I hope you can figure out whats going on and resolve it.   

Strongly recommend Hoppes #9.

[Explorer]

used olive oil once in a pinch one time....




 



It was a mistake.

[dks]

Olive oil tends to become sticky and go rancid.

Great for salads 

[GArBa]

Wow, I can't believe how much time has passed... Anyway, I noticed this thread: anyway, hot water alone does nothing. In years of refurbishing gritty knives for me and friends, I developed the following procedure:
First I spray the closed knife with kitchen/home degreaser, that white stuff that goes under a number of brands and you use to clean the oven. Then I open the knife and spray it with the kitchen sink water jet. At this point old tootbrushes, toothpicks and pointed chopsticks are used to remove any contamination. At this stage the knife is completely deprived of any lubrication and it is better not to attempt to close it.
The knife is dried with compressed air and soaked in ballistol: this gives back lubrication an helps removing residual water. The SAK can now be closed. At this point I check for any remaining dirt, then I wrap the knife in a rag (old tennis socks or similar) to expel the excess oil. This phase takes about 15 minutes then the knife is ready for final cleaning with a clean rag & application of food grade oil of your preference. A perfect result requires to leave the knife another 24 hours wrapped in kitchen paper to let any remaining ballistol/water come out.

Hope it helps.

[Aloha]

A tip when using oil, use very little.