Silicon Grease ?s

[Crisco]

So...there are lots of great fountain pen shops that sell their own versions of silicon grease. I'm sure many of them, if not all of them, work very well.

 

Being that I have a couple of hardware stores, I also have these small canisters of silicon grease that we sell in our plumbing department for lubricating o-rings to prevent them from drying out and leaking. I also always suggest putting it on synthetic threads to my customers when putting a faucet back together as it seems to extend the life quite a bit.

 

I am a newb to the fountain pen world, so I am wondering if these are the same silicon grease?

 

Somewhere I read that one FP silicon grease was almost liquid. The silicon grease I sell is definitely closer to an actual grease consistency, although very light.

Any help? Anyone tried it?

[LizEF]

I use this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000DZFUPC/

 

Same stuff as sold by pen stores, as far as I can tell.

[Kelly G]

The grease should be fine as long as it is 100% silicon; the additives are potentially harmful, emphasis on potentially. If your pens are vintage, the plastics can be a bit dodgey.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Plumbing stuff is not 100% pure.

Buy the real stuff...don't cheap out, and a small tube/tub will last you decades.

 

O rings belong on an Ahab or a Twsbi....not on other piston pens. Twsbi comes with a five year supply from what I read.

 

Use plastic gasket or cork, in those Piston pens like Pelikan, Geha, Osmia or MB are not made to be yanked apart daily or weekly like an Ahab or Twsbi. The others are designed to be taken apart every 70 or more. The less the better.

[Ron Z]

I tend to be conservative with what I use in or on pens. What you sell have in the store may be OK. You can easily pull up the MSDS and see what is in the stuff at your hardware store. Compare it to Molykote 111 and you'll have your answer. I prefer the high grade stuff from scuba shops, or the Molymote. A good silicone grease will be resistant to washing off, which is what you want.

[Seele]

I bought an Indian-made ebonite eyedropper pen by a long defunct maker, never opened before. It took me a fair few tries to unscrew the section from the barrel, and discovered that they used something like Vaseline to lube the thread: that dissolved some of the ebonite material and turned it into a messy goo. Thankfully, after cleaning it all off, the threads were still in good order, so I replaced the grease with pure silicone grease from my local scuba shop to avoid further problems down the line.

[voltron]

I use silicone grease exclusively for lubricating the pistons of pens which have become stiff over the years. So recently when I realized that piston of one of pens needs to be greased, instead of getting one of the makes from local store I ordered it from Goulet Pens as you do expect someone who is selling fountain pens & related tuning accessories for years to have taken the pain to research & experiment on this to make sure it contains nothing harmful before offering it to the customers. And I must say that I was not disappointed with quality of 1/8 oz (roughly 3.54 grams) container that I got from them.

 

AFAIK the liquid silicone grease which one East Asian manufacturer of demonstrator piston fillers ships with their pens can potentially clog the feed affecting the flow of ink into it.

[bizhe]

AFAIK the liquid silicone grease which one East Asian manufacturer of demonstrator piston fillers ships with their pens can potentially clog the feed affecting the flow of ink into it.

 

I have used this in a popular german brand of piston filler (just a tiny half drop applied with a toothpick) and later had problems with flow which I suspect were attributable to the liquid grease.

 

Said liquid grease however was very useful in lubricating a noisy plastic kitchen cabinet hinge.

[Crisco]

This is all very good information and thank you to everyone. Just to clarify (and mostly for vanity, I can't stand the thought of being considered cheap), this wasn't to save a nickel or two. Instead, I am looking at some future possible opportunities for myself. It would also be very convenient if it were the same stuff. I'm glad I asked though and I will shortly be ordering the good stuff from one of our regulars here!

 

Thanks again!

[FarmBoy]

So...there are lots of great fountain pen shops that sell their own versions of silicon grease. I'm sure many of them, if not all of them, work very well.

 

Being that I have a couple of hardware stores, I also have these small canisters of silicon grease that we sell in our plumbing department for lubricating o-rings to prevent them from drying out and leaking. I also always suggest putting it on synthetic threads to my customers when putting a faucet back together as it seems to extend the life quite a bit.

 

I am a newb to the fountain pen world, so I am wondering if these are the same silicon grease?

 

Somewhere I read that one FP silicon grease was almost liquid. The silicon grease I sell is definitely closer to an actual grease consistency, although very light.

 

Any help? Anyone tried it?

I'm a little confused. You sell silicone grease but you are not sure it is the correct material for the application for which you sell it and you are buying the good stuff for your self?

[Crisco]

I'm a little confused. You sell silicone grease but you are not sure it is the correct material for the application for which you sell it and you are buying the good stuff for your self?

😂😂😂😂

 

No, no, no. That would be terrible and I would be a terrible person for doing that!

 

I have hardware stores where we sell silicon grease for plumbing parts. I was trying to see if it would also work for fountain pens.

[FarmBoy]

 

No, no, no. That would be terrible and I would be a terrible person for doing that!

 

I have hardware stores where we sell silicon grease for plumbing parts. I was trying to see if it would also work for fountain pens.

Missed that part about owning a hardware store. You should talk to Marv, he owns a few as well.

[ReadyFireAim]

Available here...

 

https://www.gouletpens.com/goulet-silicone-grease/p/GP-10004

[Ron Z]

Don't confuse the liquid silicone for silicone grease. Liquid silicone is often dimethecone, that washes off much more easily than silicone grease. I don't recommend using it. Molykote 111 is designed for 0-rings, and is designed to resist washing off, which means that it is not likely to wash off and contaminate feeds. I've been using it for several years now, and use it in any of my own pens that have pistons/rods that need to be lubricated. I have yet to have a problem with the product.

 

I can't tell you how many times I see silicone grease glopped onto rods and seals, piled up on the edges where it does not good. More is not better when it comes to lubricating with silicone grease. You need only a very small amount, to the point where I say that if you can see it, you have too much.

[aeba]

I have to say that price of Molykote 111 is quite high on EU side of the "Pond".

[Sasha Royale]

TWSBI supplies a "liquid" silicone that is very easy to use. Applying very sparingly, I lubricated two dozen Reform pistons. They are so smooooooth, one worries whether the pen is broken. Nope. Not broken, just smooth. I don't believe that the liquid is suitable for "sealing" use.

 

Pure silicone is totally chemical non-reactive. It also does not expand. Both could be devastating to a fountain pen.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Half a rice corn is as Ron says too much...for lubing a piston pen.

Rick thinks one should think about lubing a Pelikan every three years or so . So a little does go a long, long way.

 

I was given an inch's worth in a little plastic container some 6 years ago and still have 1/3 an inch.

[Jamesbeat]

I use silicone grease exclusively for lubricating the pistons of pens which have become stiff over the years. So recently when I realized that piston of one of pens needs to be greased, instead of getting one of the makes from local store I ordered it from Goulet Pens as you do expect someone who is selling fountain pens & related tuning accessories for years to have taken the pain to research & experiment on this to make sure it contains nothing harmful before offering it to the customers. And I must say that I was not disappointed with quality of 1/8 oz (roughly 3.54 grams) container that I got from them.

 

AFAIK the liquid silicone grease which one East Asian manufacturer of demonstrator piston fillers ships with their pens can potentially clog the feed affecting the flow of ink into it.

Hmm. I'm always very cynical when it comes to repackaging stuff, marking it up a couple of hundred percent and slapping the words 'fountain pen' on it.

I guess I understand ink samples, but grease is going a bit far.

 

It's like gun oils and greases.

You will always get some smug guy saying 'call me weird, but I put motor oil in my car and gun oil on my guns', but they are just paying through the nose for plain mineral oil with the word 'gun' on the bottle.

 

Look up the msds sheet - it can tell you a lot.

 

Plumbing silicone grease is fine for pens. The 'impurity' is an inert thickener.

 

ANY silicone grease will mess up your pen if it gets somewhere it shouldn't.

 

I have a nasty feeling that silicone grease is going to be the bugbear of pen collectors in 20 years time.

 

Use it with caution.

[aeba]

Hmm. I'm always very cynical when it comes to repackaging stuff, marking it up a couple of hundred percent and slapping the words 'fountain pen' on it.

I guess I understand ink samples, but grease is going a bit far.

 

It's like gun oils and greases.

You will always get some smug guy saying 'call me weird, but I put motor oil in my car and gun oil on my guns', but they are just paying through the nose for plain mineral oil with the word 'gun' on the bottle.

 

Look up the msds sheet - it can tell you a lot.

 

Plumbing silicone grease is fine for pens. The 'impurity' is an inert thickener.

 

ANY silicone grease will mess up your pen if it gets somewhere it shouldn't.

 

I have a nasty feeling that silicone grease is going to be the bugbear of pen collectors in 20 years time.

 

Use it with caution.

I get what you are saying, but it isn't that straightforward. What are most people going to do with rest of the ~100 ml / gram tube? Lube a fountain pen piston for next few thousand years, if the grease is inert enough to stand that long? With heavy espresso intake, that time frame should get down to, I don't know, hundred(s) year(s).

 

Wading through MSDS-sheets is a chore, if there even is a MSDS-sheet somewhere. For example Oras grease sold for greasing O-rings in water taps. Oras should have MSDS somewhere, but I haven't found one on the internet. Even the vendor who I bought it from, didn't know what the grease contains, just that it is "pure silicone grease". Seeing its brownish white colour, somehow I am not that sure that it would be "pure" silicone grease, or possibly silicone grease at all.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Well, took a quick look and dive shop silicon costs some $7-8.00 not counting postage. Considering how long mine has lasted....with lots of piston pens...you are $0.50 a year.

 

So the liquid silicon grease.....can it be diluted and sucked into piston pens with out screw out nibs....like MB? Or would one of Noodler's Eel inks best?

Edited March 14, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson