Even the best oil will leave a staining film on machines. It often takes 10 or 40 years before they appear and is cause by over oiling. It should be relatively easy to clean off and should not gum up gears. Some oils and greases have left a major mess on some machines, all lubricants are definitely not the same. Some leave less problems behind than others.

So so if I use the wrong product today in 40 years someone will be cussing me because I used the oil that was on hand? Any oil is better than no oil

I was reading a blog by an OSMG and he said he has used Hoppe’s No 9’gun oil in his machines with good success. I ordered it on amazon and it comes with a dispenser that drops a tiny drop of oil. So far it has been working great in my machine which is a Brother PQ1500. Not vintage but metal inside with instructions to oil frequently.

Bad (or more like wrong oil) for the machine can cause trouble in a few days. Most thin spray can oils will dry up too fast and not lessen friction nearly as good as the basic sewing machine oil. They will however clean and flush out grime faster. I know some have used vegetable oil on machines, and I it will cause trouble sooner than later. (Just don't!). Many motor oils will likely be heavy enough to cause trouble too. What we think of as usable has to be withing reason. The sewing machines with staining I have seen, have had a very clean inside, nearly squeaky clean gears but very dry. When I said 40 years, I was thinking of the staining of the exterior, and someone who use a pure clean oil. It leaves very little problem even decades later, you can't say the same thing for the cases where it goes wrong a few days later. Sticky oils and grime happen now and then, and sometimes before 12 months have passed. There's a lot of factors involved when cleaning up a machine, so it's hard to say what is caused by old grime, and what is cause by the random product we use.

Yes vegetable oil will probably produce bad results. I’m just saying get the slides slippery real oil any oil is better than no oil

Sorry about the somewhat incoherent sentences Dougstermd. I should stop posting anything with out rereading it, and stop doing stuff from my phone too :-|

The lubriplate that I have is: Marine Lube "A" that we used on the boat. The other one is Lubriplate "105" is general lube. I have some special grease that I got at a featherweight shop for the motor, but don't think it should be used on the gears.

The Featherweight shio grease is a bit pricey, but should be ideal for the gears. They main reason some go for Triflow or another grease, is they have teflon added. It's a very stable synthetic grease just right for the purpose and the teflon probably adds a bit of extra smoothness.