oils for felt washers

[kenwahoo]

Felt washers remain the common material for drag in reels up to medium quality. Being felt they need to be oiled. I've done a search but there's very little info on what ought to be the oil used for these washers. I think most people will use reel oil or sewing machine oil as that's the easiest obtainable and thin in viscosity. Not every reel requires upgrade to carbon fibre washers. So any pros and cons for various oils in this application?

[Bryan Young]

Sorry, none here.  I've upgrade all of my felt washers to greased carbon drag washers.

[alantani]

yeah, same here......

[Keta]

X3  From my small Camlcutta 51s up to my 70s, 100% carbon fiber drags.  Toss the felt washers.

[redsetta]

x4 - every reel will benefit from the upgrade.
Be wary though - I've cut a lot in recent months and, while CF's not particularly toxic, I find the dust really irritating on the skin.
Cheers, Justin

[Alto Mare]

I agree Justin. Try not to create any dust.
I use these
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leather-hole-punch-7-16-/200751563032?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ebdb9c118
They work great , all you do is place the CF sheet on a piece of wood and hit them once with these cutters. They do a great job, I picked up a nice used set for $20 a while back, best money I ever spent. New, these cutters are expensive. If you keep looking you can get lucky, I paid $2 a piece on ebay. For the larger washers, I just mark and cut them with scissors.

[Keta]

Somewhere in my stuff from when I was gainfully employed I have a set of those punches and a gasket cutter, I never thought to use them.  I do have a shop vac that sucks the carbon particles when I'm Dremeling out the ID and sanding the OD.