Frog Lube is Coconut Oil - You heard it here first

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schnips

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I read something a couple months ago where someone was speculating that FrogLube was nothing more than scented coconut oil, based solely on the fact that ants had infested his Beretta M92 that he had lubed with FrogLube. Well, as it happens, my brother is working on his Chemistry PHD at UConn and has access to all manner of analytical equipment, so when I asked him about testing it, using the Vuurwapen Blog Fireclean analysis as an example, he said, "Oh yeah, that'd be easy."

Well, he couldn't get the IR Spectrometer running for a while. He needed the drivers for the machine and the company took forever to get back to him. In the mean time, Andrew Tuohy at Vurrwapen Blog released another analysis focusing on the similarities between Froglube, Tracklube, and Seal 1. I ended up showing my brother this as well. Today he told me that the IR Spectrometer was up and running and asked for a link to the more recent analysis. A few minutes later he sent me, "Wow, this is a real thorough analysis! There is really not much else I can add to it. This already has all the data for the FrogLube, so I won't worry about. I will run a couple of tests on the coconut oil, and get back to you."

Earlier this evening, he sent me this:
"Hi Cameron,

Alright, so I have an IR and an NMR spectrum for both the FrogLube and the coconut oil. As you can probably surmise, the two are almost completely identical in both methods. The only real difference can be seen in the NMR, where the FrogLube (top) has evidence of small amount of additive in what we call the "aromatic region" of the spectrum ( >6.5 on the x-axis). This matches the analysis discussed in the Vuurwapen Blog article. You can check there for more details, but basically, that may be responsible for either the green color or the smell. Regardless, the amount of additive is miniscule, and your FrogLube is overwhelmingly just coconut oil.

The good news is, when SHTF, it's probably safe to eat."

FrogLube_v_CoconutOil.jpg NMR_FrogLube_v_CoconutOil.jpg

A few more tid bits he added after I told him this put a shit-eating grin on my face:

"Also, there is an additional peak at around 2.0. It is present in both samples, but much more pronounced in the FrogLube. It is a fairly substantial addition, all things considered, but it is still a small part of the whole.

My point still stands. Your gun oil is edible."

"Also, I should add that my NMR solvent was deuterated chloroform (CDCl3), the same used in the other more extensive analysis."

"There are one or two other small extra peaks in the FrogLube NMR that I forgot to mention. Feel free to point them out in your post. It won't change your final conclusion."

So the good news is that if you ever get stranded on Gilligan's Island or in the produce department at Market Basket you can still find a way to lube your gun. The bad news is that it is a product of the same hyped up marketing and markup that is all too common in the gun industry.

It does smell nice though.
 
Lol...and people actually believed that it sinks into the metal and allows you to run your AR with a dry bolt...

[rofl]

Running an extremely thin layer was the only way they could sell it to people without it gumming up everyone's guns.
 
The dumbest gimmick to come stumbling into the firearms arena in the past 20 years.
 
OK secrets, out but I have no complaints I use it on some and LUCAS on others. No complaints with FROG should I keep using it ?
 
This is great news. I have lots of coconut oil lol. Wife feeds it to the dogs.
 
Hey, you need something to fill all those pores in the metal. Wait, if metal has pores, does it get acne?
 
If that is all correct and it is basically coconut oil, then the extra additives would need to be something that keeps it liquid below ~65 degrees or so. And maybe that is why there are reports of frog lube turning in to gunk after long periods of storage - maybe the additives dissipate/deteriorate/whatever, and then you're left with coconut oil which turns solid somewhere around the lower range of room temperature.
 
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They advertise it as being USDA approved.
 
Vuurwappen sounds like a sausage. Did you try the edibility of the frog lube out? Also really cool info lol
 
I knew it was some sort of vegetable oil.

I don't care though...

Frog Lube smells great!!!

I will continue to buy this product.

If it was not for that darn mint I think that Frog Lube would make great massage oil.

The natives have been using Coconut oil for centuries!

Haters Gunna Hate!
 
I thought it was the byproduct of frogs rubbing one out.
 
I never bought in. I opted to stick to mobile 1.
If you prefer a grease the Mobil 1 synthetic grease is very similar to Enos slide glide. Even the same pretty red color.

The key to selling a new gun lube is find something you can buy in bulk cheap, come up with some fancy packaging and make it look hi-tech (ArchOil's literature with the atom diagrams is a example), and sell it dollars per ounce rather than ounces per dollar.
 
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its funny to see this come full circle from the days of the early "discovery" to the final debunking and dismissal. they are only so many oils in the world
 
I will continue to buy this product.

Haters Gunna Hate!

After the first few uses in my G34 i knew this stuff had no place in any gun that needs to run wet.

It got sticky, so there was no way in hell it was going in my carry guns or ARs.

At that point i decided i'd use the rest of the bottle in pistols i shoot regularly, but that's it.

Now that i've had the bottle sitting around unused for awhile (i keep a needle-oiler for application in pistols), i decided to open the cap.

It has a thin skin over the top of it, with a completely sticky gelled up inside of the cap. It was never stored upside down, hasn't been upside down in 6+ months, and my cleaning/reloading room in the basement is about 60 degrees. There's no reason for it to solidify...o yeah their is, it's trying to turn back into a freakin' coconut.

This crap has no place in guns. The only firearm product i've used that is worse than the CLP is their solvent. I think it's water, doesn't clean a damn thing. I threw it away after the first use.

I still plan to use up the rest of the bottle, but it's going to last forever because i don't use it in guns that actually need lube.
 

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I wonder how frog lube will respond now that we know the truth about their product?

They won't. This is very old news.

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If you prefer a grease the Mobil 1 synthetic grease is very similar to Enos slide glide. Even the same pretty red color.

The key to selling a new gun lube is find something you can buy in bulk cheap, come up with some fancy packaging and make it look hi-tech (ArchOil's literature with the atom diagrams is a example), and sell it dollars per ounce rather than ounces per dollar.

You also need the retired operator with the tactical beard to say that he tested this stuff in Afghanistan and/or Iraq and/or someplace he can't tell you and it is the best. Then you create a bunch of suck puppet accounts on social media to say how wonderful the stuff is.
 
CLP has been used by the military since the 1980s if not earlier and is still used today.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. I use CLP on my firearms.
 
gun lubes are pure bunk there is no materials science behind them it is all about hoodwinking for profit
 
I prefer peanut oil.
Just drop the whole gun in the turkey fryer then hang it up for a day to drip out the excess, all done.
 
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