Another person's older wheel hasn't been trued in 10 years, good high tension build that needs minor tweaking. Try turning a nipple without lubrication and you get a shriek to wake the dead, so some kind of penetrating oil is suggested. But how do you apply it a drop at a time to avoid making a mess and how do you get it to penetrate down into the threads of nipple/spoke connection when crud/corrosion blocks ingress? Thank you.

Perhaps you could take the tire, tube, and rim strip off and try applying it from the nipple end,I think the corrosion would be lighter there. I would use a applicator with a thin tube like the one found on Triflo bottles.

Ha--another interesting idea I would never have thought of!

But the rim strips are Velox (in good shape). If I remove them can they be replaced? I'm thinking the adhesive will be gone and I'd have to supply new ones, or am I wrong on that?

We use TriFlow all the time on old spoke nipples. A drop at the both ends of the nips and one at the rim/nip contact. let sit for as long as you can wait. The hope your Karma is positive. The Velox strips can be stripped off (bad pun) and reinstalled with a splat of sew up glue to hold them together. Andy.

Uh . . . what happens if my karma is not positive--worst case scenario?

Quote:

what happens if my karma is not positive--worst case scenario?

something will break before the threads, stuck, yield.

I also use TriFlow, one drop at spoke/nipple junction and one drop at nipple/eyelet junction. Then use a good spoke wrench, preferably a four sided one if the nipple is frozen. Holding the spoke w/ pliers/special spoke holding tool can also help.

When I service one of my bikes, I always apply TriFlow to the nipples. My hope is that a semi-annual drop of TriFlow will keep the nipples unfrozen for the lifetime of the wheel.

Mix up a small batch of mineral spirits or naphtha and oil. You don't need much oil so mix about 9:1 (mostly solvent). You can apply with a fine dropper, syringe or whatever you improvise. Apply a small drop to the spoke just above the nipple and let it run in (it doesn't need any help besides gravity to start).

I've bought small syringes at the drug store for penetrating oil & chain lube.
Something like $.25 ea.

I Own an old 'rollfast' made adjustable spoke wrench , too . it grips the nipple flats solidly .. you turn a thumb screw to tighten the grip.
Park tools tried to copy it , but looks like they gave up making it, (Just-looked)

R&K Spokey Rixen & Kaul, KLICKfix Adaptersysteme Fahrradzubehör, Solingen, Taschen, Körbe, Werkzeug is one of the 3 sided, 3 corner spoke wrenches
that may help turn a resistant spoke nip without stripping out the flats..

This. I use a mixture of odorless mineral spirits and 5W-20 Mobil Synthetic oil in ratio like 7:1 as lube for my spoke/nipple interfaces.

No need to waste expensive bicycle chain lube as spoke/nipple lube.

This suggestions is spot on! Booyah! +1

Well, it's called penetrating oil because that's what it does.

Corrosion tends to be quite porous so the PO will soak in and penetrate through the joint if you give it enough time. Like apply one day and it should be fine the next.

The cans of PO I've got have openings that are way too large. I fixed that by drilling out the flip cap and down into the can with a number drill that provides for a snug push fit with a piece of WD40 or brake cleaner can tubing. The tighter it fits the better the seal and the more it'll squeeze smaller when you insert the tube. And that means you get more control over the application of the PO. So start with too small a drill and work up. Look for about a .003 to .004 interference fit.

If you don't have a drill that will work like this then dribble some out into a little container and use a small brush or Q tip to apply dabs of the PO to the nipple/spoke joint and to the nipple/rim joint. Sometimes the nipple to rim is the squealing issue. So it pays to do both.

You could just let the mess happen and then clean up later. But it pays to try to find a tool that works moderately well at applying the lubricant precisely.

50:50 marvel mystery oil and automatic transmission fluid.

Liquid Wrench has worked for me as I've rehabbed quite a few 20+ year old wheels. +1 on removing the tire, tube and rim strip then applying a drop at both ends of the nipple. Let it sit a day then do it again. The nipples should loosen up nicely. If one is really stuck and you really want to save it. Hold a soldering iron to the nipple to get it hot then take the nipple wrench or driver to it before it cools. I've only done this with brass. I don't know if it would be effective with aluminum alloy nipples.

So many good ideas--Thanks very much!

I just ask the pharmacist for a child's liquid medicine syringe. Free. The petro products destroy them and they don't last but a month or so. Now, the pharmacist gives them to me a half dozen at a time.

Jeez, I just bought a 10-pack of the 25-cent syringes at Long's yesterday. . . I'm interested in seeing how the needle works, since I've not used a syringe before . . .

Wow... I feel so lazy.

I just dab a bit of non-petroleum lubricant on the spoke, let it run down into the nipple, let the whole thing sit for a bit, and go to town with a properly sized spoke wrench. I'm not even that careful about applying the lube -- just so long as some runs down into the nipple, I'm happy. This usually works out pretty well for me.

Oh... non-petroleum because "like dissolves like," so petroleum products will likely eat rim strips and tubes over time.

So here it is on Amazon. Is it worth $41.40?

from the Amazon reviews:
" . . .I have been hitting old wheel sets for practice. Some seem to have not been adjusted since the Reagan administration. Several of the spokes I have encountered were set on their ways and require a more robust tool such as this one. On several nipples, this tool failed no matter how hard I would tighten the adjustment knob; it would eventually slip off the nipple even when the tool was used as intended, with the spoke looped through the tail end part. The small vice grip locking wrench I keep on my tool box outperformed this tool; properly adjusted it would grip the nipple the best, causing it to turn with minimal damage. To summarize; on the super stuck ones it would either be this tool, no success but some nipple damage, or the vice-grip, success, some nipple damage."

This guy's application is exactly what I'm anticipating--stuck spokes on old wheels--so I'm thinking a small pair of vise-grips is the way to go. Agree? Disagree?

There's also an old Rollfast on Ebay for $49. The description says "this is a nice old rollfast perfect 3 3/4 inch adjustable nipple spokeV wrench ...this wrench open's and closes easily....the mouth shows very light to almost no wear ".
Antique Tool 3 3 4 034 Rollfast Perfect Spoke Wrench Nipple Wrench Bicycle Wrench | eBay
But in the picture the mouth looks quite worn and the gripping edges are not parallel, as they should be . . . What do you think?

A friend's review in comparison ranks the rollfast 1, by a small margin, the park 2nd ; FWIW.