The Sewing Place

oil

jk1066

oil
« on: January 12, 2020, 10:10:35 AM »
Hi All Where is the best place to buy sewing machine oil in larger quantity than the very small little bottles in sewing shops.? oil for cars seems to have special numbers and grades. Is this the same for sewing machine oil? I have several old singer machines and even modern ones need some degree of oiling. Any ideas please for buying in the uk?

HenriettaMaria

Re: oil
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2020, 11:28:40 AM »
It's really important to use the correct grade of oil for the machine (whatever it is) in question so don't be tempted to use Castrol GTX on your sewing machines.

I googled 'large bottles of sewing machine oil' and found this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sewing-Machine-Oil-Litre-Bottle/dp/B009WNQWJ4

If you google it too you'll see you can buy it in what looks like full-size oil drums too, but I imagine that's aimed at major clothing manufacturers!

snoozi soozi

Re: oil
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2020, 11:30:32 AM »
A good alternative is the oil that you get with hair clippers  ;)
Let it sew, let it sew, let it sew

Ohsewsimple

Re: oil
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2020, 11:54:12 AM »
You could always ask at your local sewing shop to see if they can get it for you.  We used to get large tins of it for customers. 

arrow

Re: oil
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2020, 12:08:27 PM »
Sewing machine oil is a pure, acid free mineral oil, around SAE10, so quite light. The bottles I have had over the years have varied a bit in thickness, not  much, and it has never been a problem.

It's the same oil used for bicycle chains, but be carefull when buyting these days. Most oils are something else than the basic oil, optimised for particular conditions, with additives that might make a mess in a sewing machine. Motor oils are too heavy to be ideal, and the various additives can be less than an advantage in a sewing machine.

I have  never needed lubricants in large quantities, 120 ml last a year at least and I use it for more than sewing machines.

If you want to venture into different oils, Finish Line Ceramic Wet Lube, and TriFlow are the only ones that have tured out well in the long run. There's too many brands out there to have a comprehensive view of the situation and the additives varies a lot.

HenriettaMaria

Re: oil
« Reply #5 on: January 12, 2020, 20:35:48 PM »
I should add that I got my first sewing machine in 1979.  At the same time I bought a bottle of Singer oil.  That oil still hasn't run out although it's now decanted into an old-fashioned conical oil can.  You don't need very much unless you're sewing day in day out (chance would be a fine thing....)