Only thing I wouldn’t recommend REM oil particularly not WD40, those aren’t going to provide lube longer than a few days those oils will dry out in particular the WD40, it’s great for cleaning out sticky old grease or whatever, but when you’re ready to reassemble all the cleaned parts I’d use some Mobil1 synthetic oil with a toothpick just put a tiny amount on any sliding surfaces it will stay oil a long time and prevent wear.
I've had a benchmade otf for 10 years. I simply spray some light penetrating oil (similar to Rem Oil) into the opening. With the blade retracted, I spray oil for a couple seconds until it is overflowing with oil. I then work the action, opened and closed a few times, turn the knife so the opening is down and let the excess oil run out overnight. I do that every now and then for good measure. Never had any problems with the knife by doing that.
Heretic Lube, White Lithium Grease and that is it. DO NOT SPRAY WD40 in it, that is degreaser. Take it apart and clean, use a very miniscule amount of Heretic Lube/Remington Oil, and just a tad of grease on spring that is it.
My new boker otf was failing in retrieval of the blade very frustrating. I didn't have rem oil but wd40 shot it up there fired it many times. This got it working again flawlessly i was trying to make it fail after this and i couldn't. Good job thank you for advice. It is messy and alot of wiping of the knife will be done.
Is that a piranha rated r? That was my first OTf purchase. Such a piece of (insert vulgar words) came dull 154cm and cost more than a basic Microtech. Piranha makes good side autos with very very good action. But the aluminum scales on all of their knives are so bad. If it’s humid outside it’s a huge safety hazard. Especially with the piranha predator. It’s a cool nice big 4.1 nice blade but the aluminum scales are so so so slippery that if I had to use it in an emergency I would feel like it would probably slip out of my hand at some point. If you don’t believe me buy one and see for yourself. The two or 3 variants of OTF knives are the rated r and rated x. Basically same knife but the x is double edged and then then insanely priced Excalibur which just looks atrocious in all aspects. Huge handle tiny blade. Ugly colors and still those slippery aluminum scales. If you do buy a piranha knife do yourself a favor when you receive it. Step one. Don’t open it just ask for refund and ship it back to them of course with an updated shipping label. Once you get your money back. Buy a Protech or if you want to get like 3 knives get a Boker kalisnakov or however it is spelled. I’ve had three of them. Never once have they failed or deployed unexpectedly. Also the are like 75 bucks after shipping when not on sale. Piranha knives I wanted to like yall but the use of 154cpm on knives in the close to if not more than 500 dollars after taxes and shipping is just plain Jane fucking dumb.
You can actually hear the difference. I would just take it apart. that way you can clean it, dry it , re lube it and then you wouldn't have to deal with it leaking oil for the next 6 months 😆
they need service..... open them up and clean them good every couple of months..... there are several parts inside that require service-maintenance every couple of months ......
If you work in a very dusty/dirty enviornment like I do you have to clean your OTF regularly. I use electronics contact cleaner followed by Dry Silicon lube which doesn't attract dust like oil. Works fantastic!
I take my Lightening apart whether it's giving me issues or not & use WD Silicone Spray, I only use oil on the spring & blade. I polish the track then add the Silicone. The OTF's are so easy to tear apart, polish & clean. It'll make a $20 knife feel like a $400 OTF. extremely smooth. Capt. Dave has a video on this showing exactly what to Silicone & what no too. Same with oiling it 🤟
My method : fwiw: I'd suggest to soak or rinse it out with 91+% isopropyl alcohol that will clean, disinfect and evaporate dry without residue... To be as efficient as possible, cut an old water bottle down the side, so you have a boat shape and set it in the bottom, fill it partially with the alcohol and it will dissolve any old oil, or gummed up parts with time, and it's not corrosive or hazardous like acetone or other agents might be. Rinse and repeat as necessary until the alcohol stays clean. to oil, use a small needle dropper, an old eye-dropper, a toothpick, or an old straw cut in half to a point lengthwise to dip the tip into a bit of ATF (automatic transmission fluid), or synthetic oil (mobile 1 or similar) from previous car maintenance. (even after emptying all the oil in my car, the jug still has a few teaspoons of oil left inside, that would be a lifetime supply in this case. .. one drop is more than enough to add a tiny bit on each side of the rails top and bottom. it's cheaper to use alcohol than oil, and also (imo) ATF is ideal as it's super slick for metal on metal and isn't as sticky as oil or ever gum up. Or, graphite (lock lube) might be acceptable, yet I haven't tried that at all, it would stay dry and not attract any dust.
I'm not sure if I have the same problem. I got the Bushmaster Black Mamba and the blade seems to pop off the track when closing the blade, causing it to flop loosely around inside the handle. Every time I close the knife. I can pull it to get it back on the track but it seems to close too hard. Is this a common problem or did I just get a defective knife?
Works in a pinch . They do come apart but I would take out the small pieces thst hold it open or closed because I of the little spring underneath is a pain
You are so right about those little springs being a PITA when reassembling the knife. I just spent 2 hrs cleaning my OTF and 1.5hrs of that time was trying to get those danged springs back in place. lol
Every time I've tried the rem oil on my mircotechs, it makes it nearly impossible to fire. I have use compressed air to get as much out as possible and they never seem quite right. I just deal with it to avoid the long wait time to send it back to microtech.
As you can see it can be a laborious process. Really soaking the internals, turning the knife upside down (over a towel) and letting the oil run out is another option.
OTF’s are more of a pocket toy than a functional knife. I use my knives as a tool. Even pocket lent makes my Microtech knives unreliable much less dirt.
fwiw: I'd suggest to soak or rinse it out with 90% isopropyl alcohol that will clean, disinfect and evaporate dry without residue... To be as efficient as possible, cut an old water bottle down the side, so you have a boat shape and set it in the bottom, fill it partially with the alcohol and it will dissolve any old oil, or gummed up parts with time, and it's not corrosive or hazardous like acetone or other agents might be. Rinse and repeat as necessary. to oil, use a small needle dropper, or; use an old eye-dropper or use a toothpick, or an old straw cut in half to a point lengthwise to dip the tip into a bit of ATF, or synthetic oil from previous car maintenance. (even after emptying all the oil in my car, the jug still has a few teaspoons of oil left inside, that would be a lifetime supply in this case. .. one drop is more than enough to add a tiny bit on each side of the rails top and bottom of the blade base. it's cheaper to use alcohol than oil, and also (imo) ATF is ideal as it's super slick for metal on metal and isn't as sticky as oil or ever gum up.
