There's Money In Oil ! (Who would've figured?)

Pictured on the left are two containers of lubricant.  Unless you have a very old machine, like maybe a treadle, Do NOT use WD-40.  The light oil in the bottle on the right, oil that comes with Berninas s or perhaps with your machine is, of course, ok to use. Also, do not use 3-in-1 oil in your machine

WD40 and 3-in-1  ha have their uses and we use them at home for various thingys, but not in a sewing machine.

Now, let's discuss why...

First, the 3-in-1 oil.  This is a very heavy and gummy oil.  It will, over time, slow down your machine and will quite quickly start to effect the tension settings.  Many are the times that we have to spend a great deal of effort in the task of removing this oil from machines which have been brought to us for repair.  Yeah, we know, there are husbands out there who swear by 3-in-1 and they think "oil is oil" so it can't matter.  But it does, drastically, and they are just pain wrong, except for very old models of machines.  Go ahead and use it but be prepared to pay a repair bill somewhere down the road (hey we told you there was money in oil !)

WD-40 is the opposite problem.  It evaporates and it thins the proper oils out until they are are of no use.  Matter of fact when we have to de-oil a machine the first step is to squirt a healthy dose of WD-40 on it so that the old stuff loosens up and can be removed.

When you spray it on, it seems that things are better but it will be gone shortly and so will your proper oils.

Speaking of proper oil, if your machine came with a particular oil, even 3-in-one, then that is what your manufacturer recommends and that's what you should use. 

But as a general rule, and in our case with any sewing machine we work on, the oil in the plastic bottle above is what we almost always use.  It is a light oil "Spindle oil" and is good.

Where to oil?  On modern machines, get your instruction book out, it will tell you.  There are places where oil will hurt, become familiar with that.  For really old machines, oil where ever metal rubs metal. But if you still have your book, read it.

By the way, husbands who say "I can fix anything" and grandchildren who sneak up to the sewing room to play bring us a lot of repair business.