Who are these Bozo's at your lawnmower shop? You don't want to oil the reel and bed knife surfaces. First of all, a properly set up reel and bar should be making only minimal contact. Secondly, any oil will combine with dirt and sand to form a "poor man's" Clover Compound. Clover is the grinding compound for backlapping reels to the bed knife. You'll be continuously grinding away your expensive reel and bed knife. Not smart IMHO.

Hedge trimmers are a different animal. The blades operate with a sliding action and lubricant reduces that friction. Also hedge trimmers will bind up due to build up of sap, and the oil helps keep some of the sap from sticking. Lastly, you shouldn't be down in the ground, so you won't pick up dirt and grit.

As for dry film lubes, whether Teflon or Moly based, they won't hurt, but don't offer much advantage on a reel mower. I say give it a try, but keep you expectations in check. With a hedge trimmer, I still think a liquid lube is better, and don't forget about the sap issue.

I'm concerned that teflon coated dry based lubricant might be very hard to remove from the reel surface possibly building up. Plus friction between the reel and the bedknife might create excessive heat releasing Teflon fumes.

Anyone ever heard that oil on the reel could extend its sharpened life?
I will check reel to bedknife contact, but I was told by the shop they keep it tighter to extend the time between sharpenings needed for customers.

I'm really surprised because this shop has been around for 3 generations and all they do is reel mowers.

What??? Running it tighter makes the machine work harder and accelerates the wear on the reel and bed knife. I would give it a light coat of WD40 or something similar after use to keep it from rusting but that is all.
The best lubricant I have seen for hedge clipper blades is PWD by Kleen Flo in aerosol. It really helps keep the gum from building up, especially in cedar, and makes clean up a whole bunch easier. The larger automotive jobbers should be able to supply it.

yeah your right, running tighter does accelerate wear according to some toro pdf reel theory doc.

heat build up between the reel and bedknife also causes the reel and bedknife to get tighter thus creating even more wear.

I guess I will not use the teflon stuff I ordered. In theory it sounds good, goes on wet then drys and forms a micro thin white coat that resist dirt, water, etc and reduces heat build up from friction.

If this is not going to extend the life of my sharpened reel then whats the point.

I used WD40 but it too collected dirt and grim on the reel since its oil based.

WD40 should never be used on Carbon Fiber steel from what I have researched.

I don't have a reel mower, but I definitely use spray lube on my hedge trimmer. I just use the cheapest crap I have, like an ancient can of 'Tri-Flo'. Another one is a WD-40 product of years ago called 'TAL-5'. Anything like that works great. If you don't have any old experimental stuff like that to use up, you might pick up a can of Slick 50 'One Lube' aerosol. This is about the best I've ever seen, no kidding. I've used it on a number of very different applications, from guns to squeaky doors. I worked in an engineering office during my so-called 'career'. My last job was seventeen years at the same place. A friend there had a little plastic fan in his cubicle that would always slow down and stop. I kept taking it apart, cleaning it and re-oiling. I tried many things on it and they all eventually gummed-up and stopped the fan within about six weeks. One day I brought in some 'One Lube' I had just bought at lunch to try on a squeaky door that the Buildings and Grounds guys couldn't fix. One application stopped it and that was two years before I retired. They say it's still quiet. Anyway, I tried it on his fan. Bingo. It ran smoother and faster than ever, and I timed it for 'coast-down' regularly to check for gumming. The thing ran for a year, then did slow down some. I figured it still had residues from the old oils in it and treated it again. It ran fine and suffered no decrease in 'coast-down' time during the rest of my tenure there. This was telling me that the colloidal PTFE in it remained in the pores of the bearing long after the carrier oil had dried up, and without gumming. Consequently I started using it on many other things, all with success. I have never found a spray lube to equal it. They also have a pump spray in a slimmer can, but that stuff doesn't even look like the aerosol, and I haven't really tested it. The large aerosol cal with the clear, amber-colored fluid is what you want.

I don't personally service the reel type mowers, but it is my understanding that the purpose of the oiling the blades is not only to lubricate, but slow the formation of rust. If you were to wipe down the blades after every mowing with an oily rag, it seems to me that this would be a good way to protect your mower. As for dirt build up, this isn't a high power rotary mower that kicks up sand and dirt in mass quantities. If your cutting height is set appropriately, i would think that you should have very limited problems with dirt.

Oil on the blades and bed will do two things:
1. Attract ever growing clumps of dirt and grass as the oil spreads.
2. Keep your lawn mower shop fully employed as they rebuild prematurely worn reel mowers.