doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Three in One Bottle

I just looked up the MSDS sheet on 3in1. It no longer seems to have a vegetable oil component unless that's the unspecified ingredient at less than 3 percent. It isn't bad stuff for some purposes but I don't clean guns with it like my grandfather did.

I can only say this old Lufkin micrometer has had nothing on or in it for the last 20+ years except 3-in-one & it "IS NOT GUMMED". It runs just as free & smooth as the Slocomb which for the same period has had nothing but Starrett Tool & Instrument oil. I do not recall the color of the can I used 20 years ago, but don't recall a picture of a V-8 engine, was just standard multi-purpose oil. The can I am using on it now has a black top with a narrow red band below it, then white & again a narrow black band at the bottom. On the front is a picture of a house with the words multi-purpose OIL inside. below that, it says Lubricates, Cleans & Prevents Rust (CLP). On one side is pictured what appears to be a saw blade, a wrench on a nut, a pair of shears, a sewing machine, a bicycle & a hinge.

Other than this one micrometer I actually no longer use it, but not because it ever caused me any problem with anything I ever used it on. For the most part now anything calling for a lightweight oil I use Mobil 1 0W20 engine oil.

I think that one would find the "Drippings" from "ANY" petroleum distillate based oil on the rim of a can sitting near a lathe will pick up all manner of Gook from the surrounding air & Gum up. I don't know yet if the synthetics will or not, time will tell.

2-piper,
I agree that all petroleum oils will gum up. The trick is not to use it to excess and clean it off when appropriate. The Machinist's Bedside Reader shows Hoppe's #9 as a solvent for cleaning the gunk off lathes-it should also work on guns. I used WD 40 for years, but use Ballistol more and more now.
Mike

I have one also with the cork stopper !

I prefer another �old school� oil....Nyoil. I�ve used the super refined mineral oil for many years (red label), and now I exclusively use the blue label Nyoil 2 synthetic. When I do a strip and clean, that�s what goes on the guts & bits. The stuff is about as good as it gets when it comes to a light lubricant oil. I believe very refined, high quality mineral oils are just as good, if they�re changed out often enough, thing is...most people don�t.
I still use WD-40 to clean barrels and for polishing metal.