I'll confess I don't oil my knives. I never disassemble my knives. If they get dirty I blow them out, wipe the blade off etc. Basically all of the knives I use regularly are coated so I figure it really doesn't need much. I've never had issues opening/closing because of it. Maybe it's not as smooth as if I did oil a bit. I do have a few blades now that are not coated and I figure I should coat them lightly with some oil. I searched via tapatalk or whatever the app is and didn't come up with any oil threads. For my purposes I want a food prep safe oil. There tons out there, mineral oil, Japanese tea seed oil, camellia oil... What do ya'll use? Does it make a difference? And I'll even ask a dumb question because I trust you guys more than google. I believe I did put Rem Oil or some other gun oil on one of my fixed blades after it came in direct contact with dish soap and the blade was discolored until I applied oil. Any way to make it "food safe" again? Even worth worrying about realistically? I've read once you use gun oil or the like that you should never ever use the knife for food prep. May be true in California but not sure how legit that is.
Great question! In my day job I'm a Safety Manager and Certified Safety Professional (CSP) in a chemical plant. I do a lot of work with industrial hygiene and toxicology (the potential health effects of chemicals on the body). All chemicals work on what's called the "Dose-Response" Principle, which means the more you are exposed to, the greater the effect on the body. Example - if you drink a shot of whiskey in 10 minutes, nothing will happen to you. If you drink a glass of whiskey in 10 minutes, you may get quite a buzz. If you drink a gallon of whiskey in 10 minutes you may be dead from acute alcohol poisoning. Make sense? Now look at a standard petroleum-based oil. Realistically, if you put a drop of that oil on the pivot and wipe off any excess, you will only have a slight molecular film left on the steel next to the pivot. How much of that can really transfer to your food? Even if it does, what will a tiny fraction of one drop of oil do to your body? Nothing. The potential dose (even if you did pick it up on your food) is so little your body will never know it's there. It's not Ricin, Cyanide, or BoTox, right? Bottom line, lube away without fear! I keep mine lubed, and I work with chemicals for a living. I'm a lot more concerned with a sticky pivot making it hard to open and cutting myself than I am about potential health effects. I use Chris Reeve Grease myself because I have some, but a light oil will do wonders as well. I've also heard good things about fluorinated grease sold in bike shops and Nano Oil. Hopefully I've eased your mind some. Let me know if I can help more!
I agree with Russ Prechtl and would just use Benchmade Blue Lube based on that. If you still want food safe lube Victorinox makes one that I have used and it works just fine.
Definitely makes sense. Googling this stuff makes it sound like you'll kill yourself and it really matters. Guess I'll take whatever pops up on Amazon so I'll not be stealing my gun oil.
Ballistol is my absolute fav oil for everything that needs a drop of lube..... except stuff that gets into contact with food, there i use plain older food grade mineral oil (but i hardly use anything on food that requires regular lubing).
You can get Mineral Oil USP at your local drug store for a few bucks for a big bottle. It is actually intended for human consumption. There are also food-grade silicone sprays: Kel 110 Pure Silicone Spray from Kellogg's and Weston makes one that is used for food processing machinery. Unless your knives use carbon steel blades that are prone to rust, a small amount of any lubricant on the pivot is all you need. Wipe away any excess. Maybe I am too unconcerned about it but I never gave it much thought. I don't leave my knives slathered in oil and I don't often use a pocket knife for food prep, but if I happen to want to cut an apple and I had used 3-in-1 oil on the knife at some point I'd probably just wipe the blade off with a paper towel before cutting the apple. More that I don't want to taste oil than that I am worried about it killing me.
My first choice for pocket knives, flashlight o-rings, and most any gear that needs to be lubricated is a silicone lube that I got at Radio Shack. It comes in a pen dropper that makes it easy to put in tight spots or to apply on a narrow area, like an o-ring. I figure silicone is relatively inert and it seems to stay in place better than mineral oil. If I were doing food prep, I would use a fixed blade knife. Personally, I'd worry more about how clean I could get a folding knife. Folding knives have nooks and crannies that may be hard to clean. Good kitchen knives are smooth and easily cleaned.
I get the point about a thin film of any oil could be food safe and I'm not very scared about it but if I have it at hands I just use olive oil. It won't get rancid, is food safe and made my Kershaw Chill run smooth like no other flipper I ever tried. And it's great to clean and protect wood handles and brass. Otherwise I just use the sewing machine oil from job or the grease we have for a fabric cutter but to me grease is only good on closed systems like ball bearings or maybe the washers with holes like in CRKs knives because grease likes to catch dust like nothing else.
I use CLP on my guns, and it's always available when I'm working with my knives. So, that's what I grab most of the time to lube my knives. I keep a rag soaked with it to wipe down my carbon blades. I have zero problems with rust. And, I'm still alive with all my limbs intact even though I use my knives for skinning and game processing and food prep. Marty
Are you sure about that? I don't have any knowledge either way, but olive oil is essentially a food, so I can't imagine that it would not get rancid.
Yup. Thank our legal system for that one. All companies are now extra-sensitive to any potential liability from use of their products, even if it's to the level of the ridiculous and not based on science. Remember the OSHA Cowboy?
+1 mineral oil if you have any food prep concerns. It's what we used in a butcher shop I worked in (and what I still use today) for sharpening stones. It's cheap, flavorless, and safe to consume. You find it in the pharmacy department (it's used in larger quantities as a laxative). As to the Rem Oil, if the blade were coated, I might wash the knife immediately before use in soap and water to remove flavor, and then wash and oil it again afterward. I would trust Russ Prechtl's expertise regarding chemical traces.
Never had any issues with that. It's also recommended to oil kitchen desks or tables with olive oil, nothing bad will happen.
Olive oil will go rancid but it will take a very long time and if you only use a little bit like to wipe a blade you won't even notice when it does....
Rice bran oil takes even longer to go rancid than olive oil. i used it on wooden chopping boards to condition the surface. Nut oils work great too but rice bran is cheap, barely smells, food safe, easy to get and works great.
