I just acquired a used ferrari corker which came without instructions. There
seems to be a lubricant on the brass mechanism that compresses the cork.
Does the lubricant need to be cleaned off before using and reapplied after?
Do I have to disassemble it to accomplish this? Also, what type of lubricant
do I use? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Ronald,

Run a spare cork through, and if it picks up any grease, then run a
wadded up paper towel through until no more grease comes off. You
probably won't need to lube it for quite a while under normal usage. For
that purpose you'll need to use "food grade" grease, which for most of
us means petroleum jelly. Just applying it to the upper & lower surfaces
of the brass jaws is probably sufficient, which is a good thing, as the
mechanism is spring loaded and rarely needs to be disassembled.

Luck, Mike MTM