Interflon: Fin Super Synthetic Lubricant

I was sent some Fin Super synthetic lubricant by Interflon. I believe they are working to push their product more aggressively to the firearms industry, but it applies as an all purpose product for many applications as well.

The product is generally available in a 300 ml (10.14 oz) aerosol spray can for around $28 USD (from Amazon). That comes down to aprox. $2.76/oz, a price that is pretty middle of the road for a firearms lubrication solution, but really expensive when you compare it to things like WD-40 with PTFE. Here is a break down of some of the costs that I was able to dig up on Amazon for some common products.

Interflon Fin Super is now available, as of April 2020, in a 50 ml Squeeze Bottle for aprox $14 USD.

Product	Weight (oz)	Price (USD)	Price/oz
Break Free CLP	4.00	$11.08	$2.77
FireClean	4.00	$29.90	$7.48
Frog Lube CLP	4.00	$9.95	$2.49
Frog Lube Liquid CLP	8.00	$27.13	$3.39
Interflon Fin Super	10.14	$28.00	$2.76
Rem Oil	10.00	$10.75	$1.08
Slip2000 EWL	4.00	$13.73	$3.43
WD-40	11.00	$8.91	$0.81
WD-40 with PTFE	10.00	$5.98	$0.60

 

Cleaning

Fin Super is a CLP (cleaner, lubricant, and preservative), so it’s an all-in-one product. As with many other CLP products, before you apply Fin Super, you should use a real cleaner, not a CLP or other lubricant to thoroughly clean whatever you plan to apply it to. Interflon sells a cleaner, Interflon Metal Cleaner (Amazon). I would be a little weary of just spraying down anything plastic (polymer framed things) with the cleaner. The cleaner says “may affect lacquer, rubber and plastics”. I sprayed a little on my Glock 17 Gen3 and it didn’t seem to melt anything, but it does leave a little discoloration at first, but it seems to wipe off/go away. Also, this cleaner is toxic smelling, so make sure to use it in a well ventilated area. It’s not the stuff you want to use if you like to clean your guns sitting on the couch watching TV.

How does the cleaner work? It works pretty well. Definitely a good option for removing old oils and grease. Just remember, anything you clean with it, you need to lubricate afterwards. But it’s a good degreaser, and thus makes it a good option for a “cleaning” before a lubrication application. And when you’re not using it on guns, it’s a good all-purpose grease remover for the shop, garage or around the house. Just remember, as you should with all industrial cleaners, make sure to test them out to make sure they don’t melt or damage what you’re spraying them on.

 

Application & Testing

For application, you can pretty much just shake the can and spray away. The spray is pretty heavy so watch out for over spray. And, as mentioned before, before you lubricate anything with Fin Super you should clean off existing dirt, oils, etc.

Fin Super is not totally colorless, it has a light yellow tint to it and it’s not odorless. It smells a lot like lighter fluid at first. So, as with the cleaner, definitely spray in a well ventilated area.

For initial applications, simply spray on, give it a few minutes to dry and then wipe off excess spray. A thin coat is all you need, excess here is just a waste.

Once you’ve applied Fin Super, the smell seems to linger. It took about 40 minutes for the smell to really die down, and if you really get your nose in there you can still kind of smell it. After a few hours, the smell seemed to totally go away. This isn’t a big issue to me, but it’s something that could be a concern if plan to lube and then carry something right away. But probably not a big deal and I imagine the smell would dissipate even faster in warmer environments. It was about 78°F when I was doing my testing.

Other than that, there isn’t much else to applying it… just spray it on, give it a wipe down, then go, go, go.

In some basic friction tests, using my trigger pull gauge on a rigged up contraption with a static load on it, Fin Super gave me a consistent 44% reduction in friction over non-lubricated metal. Using some other various items I had laying around the house (Slip2000 EWL, BreakFree, etc.), I was only getting a 7-10% reduction in friction, on average. The testing is not perfect because a lot of the other oils generally do not dry and are more viscous. Fin Super creates a dry film layer, and is a much thinner coating so other products create some level of suction between larger flat surfaces. So, it’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. Though, that being said, I don’t think that the suction effect is something that is too relevant in many real world situations (especially with firearms, except maybe in a magazine well), but it definitely does have an effect on the testing.

Laboratory testing on the Interflon Fin Super has also been done (in 2019). Confirming that it removes 98.7% of firing residue on firearms (using the MIL-PRF-63460F testing methods). Basically meaning it’s an awesome CLP. Clean the heck out of your firearms, use Fin Super, and then standard maintenance should be that much easier.

 

Final Thoughts

I’ll be quite honest, the first thing I sprayed Fin Super on was a pair of slightly rusty pliers that were pretty stiff… and it worked to loosen them up, but WD-40 would probably do the same thing. So, that being said, from a lubrication, penetration, and overall general use perspective, this stuff works really well. It has better lubrication properties than a lot of other things I’ve used, though, I think it and WD-40 are pretty close chemically except for one thing, Fin Super contains processed PTFE particles (a special patented version of PTFE that is 0.1-0.3 microns), this is what makes Fin Super stick to materials so well; so if you plan to do any sort of comparison, make sure you compare to something with PTFE in it.

As mentioned, Fin Super’s PTFE gives it the edge is on staying around power. It seems to stay adhered to what you spray it on pretty well and it continues to lubricate over a reasonably long period of time with a dry film lubricant layer. There is still a layer on everything I sprayed and tested on.

For firearms and other things that you want to lubricate with something that is a dry film lubricant, I don’t think you can go wrong with Fin Super, and in many cases I think it will out perform other products.

I know I have a few applications that I will be continuing to use Fin Super on, things like my 12ga shotgun and the bolts on a few of my rifles. And, I’ll definitely be using it around the garage.

So, if you’re in the market for a good lubricant for guns or just around the shop, I’d definitely check Fin Super out.

 

 

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