Lubrication fundamentals: graphite, water-based, synthetics, and what's actually in the drum

Read a forge lube SDS instead of the marketing sheet, tell carrier from active solid, and know which lube families fight nitrided surfaces.

7 min readLesson 5 of 13

Knowledge check

A maintenance buyer hands you two drums quoted as graphite-in-water hot-forge lubes from different suppliers. Drum A's TDS lists 18% graphite and a non-ionic surfactant package. Drum B's TDS lists 6% graphite, a boron nitride co-solid, and an alkyl-amine surfactant blend. The dies are nitrided H13 forge inserts. What does the SDS tell you that the TDS does not, and which drum is the safer call for nitrided tooling?