Getting those knobs to work correctly is a long term commitment. It took me about a year to get the first one right. You have to get every little bit of dried up oil cleaned off it. 3 in 1 oil will really dry gummy and people do like to use it. Some times kerosene will take it some times something else but you want to keep anything you use off the machine's finish. Even then go back in a few days and you may have to clean it again - just a little bit will dry back and you start over.