andr0id

The only way to be legit making your own grease is to go harpoon your own whale. Otherwise you're just a wannabe.

AnkleWork

And the hits just keep on coming!


Because optimally useful products don't abound, right?


And that is why you'll never emerge from the cave. Harpoon indeed!

KLiNCK

Not trying to hijack the thread... but this has given me an idea.
I'm going to make some "aero" spokes out of linguini and (some sort of really strong) shellac!
I'm thinking of calling them "Carbo-Blades"®.
They're gonna be super light and awesome!

AnkleWork

Breakfast cereals use a "non-nutritive shellac" to stay crisp in milk. Use that and if you ever get stranded on the side of the road, cook 'em up and enjoy!

KLiNCK

I hadn't really thought about the "cannibalization" aspect but hey, that might be a win for the touring crowd.
"Carbo-Blades® deliciously efficient!"

andr0id

As you loose weight from your lengthy tour, you need fewer spokes, so you just eat the extras.
*PROFIT*!!!!

rmfnla

At least when someone calls your wheels "noodley" we will know what they are talking about...

Darth Lefty 

But I used the best butter

dcsix

Castor oil will prompt rapid evacuation of your bicycle's bowels. I'd stick with conventional.

dcsix

Yeah might as well wreck the most expensive part you can find..

noglider 

If you really want to do it yourself, you ought to be drilling your own oil well.

Homebrew01

Doesn't everybody ??
Good skills for the coming apocalypse.

rmfnla

No wonder people roll their eyes when they hear I'm a cyclist...

Thumpic

Use these rubber toy gun pellets and skip the grease altogether........

dstlr

Oil and glue didn't work at all for me. In my case, wood glue; I'm sure some glues out there would work.

My solution was to use paraffin candle wax, mixed with mineral oil. As far as I know paraffin is petrol-derived so it should be inorganic and stable. I've often used oil to dissolve spilled wax on surfaces, so it made sense to mix them instead for the purpose of making an extremely viscous oil - or (what I believe to be) grease.

I didn't measure, but I think between 5:1 or 10:1 oil:wax, depending on ambient temperature. And I assume you could use motor oil instead of mineral oil. In any case, a little bit of old (inorganic) candle wax, melted and mixed into a liter of oil should make a pretty cheap pot of grease that I guess would last a long time and never degrade.

I came here looking for DIY grease for guitar tuning machines. But I'm also a biker. Thanks for the ideas.

Darth Lefty 

We were having some fun with the original poster at the time. But since you mention wax, know that some people use hot wax on bicycle chains. The basic process is to degrease the chain, heat it up with the wax in a crock pot on high, and hang it to drip and cool. Because it's not liquid, once it's cool it does not allow in contamination. There are special formulas that add moly or teflon or a little oil or kerosene to make it soft when cool, but some people do it with just canning wax. This is primarily for people who are training high mileage on road bikes, to the tune of ten thousand miles a year, and using more expensive chains. For an average recreational rider it seems like a bit too much work. There are a few products that have wax in a solvent or an emulsion but they don't really work great by comparison. https://cyclingtips.com/2018/03/fast...ves-you-money/

A commercial chain wax product: https://moltenspeedwax.com/

Some stuff about chain wear: https://cyclingtips.com/2019/12/the-...ciency-tested/ Maybe not all that relevant to musical instruments but there are a few good take-aways. Tight tolerances make things slower but more durable. Hard plating is good because it wears harder but various repellent coatings that are supposed to keep the chain clean also repel lube

Wanderer

Use the white juice from the common dandelion!