How To Basic care of pocket

[Montoya Phipps-Gallegos]

Hello. My name is Monty, and I've always been interested in blades of various kinds. Swords, knives, etc. However, despite owning several (hand-me-downs from dad) I've never known how to properly take care of them. As a result, they've all become somewhat rusty and very dull. I can give a few specifics, such as a CRKT M16-10KS knife I really like that has a few rusty spots at the base of the blade, or a Japanese ornamental one that has become dirty and very dull, but overall I'd just like to know some basic care tips on how to clean them, sharpen them, and overall maintain them. I rarely use them except to open packages or whatever, and don't put them to any extreme tests or for self defense. Mostly, I just want them looking nice and being maintained.
Tl:dr I'm new to knives and need beginner tips to maintain them.

 

[PirateSeulb]

There are tons of threads on the topic and sharpening will be a more in depth discussion. Care and cleaning is a bit more straight forward.

#1 Care/Maintenance tip is to oil the knives various recommendations from proprietary lubes/oils to generics. My personal choices is simple basic mineral oil it is cheap effective and long lasting. Oiling knives helps with any moving parts but most importantly it will help prevent rusting. You will need to do it every so often maybe every couple of months it varies depending on how rust resistant the steel is.

#2 Cleaning/Maintenance tip is to use warm water & some dish soap and a small brush of some type for hard to reach spots on really dirty knives is all you really need. You must always thoroughly dry knives after cleaning and re-oil/lube the blade as any soaps will typically strip away oils and other protective layers.

#3 Maintenance tip is to keep knives dry water can cause rust and damage dome handle materials particularly wood.

For sharpening you will need to probably stud a bit about understanding the various methods of sharpening and the ease or difficulty various steels have with sharpening. You also need to find out what you are most comfortable with and your limitations. I use a KME guided sharpening system for my pocket knives, it has a limit to size it can work for, as I cannot hold a steady angle to free hand and it offers a variety of sharpening stones for the variety of steel I have on my knives.

You probably should look into more details on the knives you own such as what type of steel is used and if it is hardened as some decorative pieces may not be hardened steel which will never hold an edge.

 

[Montoya Phipps-Gallegos]

There are tons of threads on the topic and sharpening will be a more in depth discussion. Care and cleaning is a bit more straight forward.

#1 Care/Maintenance tip is to oil the knives various recommendations from proprietary lubes/oils to generics. My personal choices is simple basic mineral oil it is cheap effective and long lasting. Oiling knives helps with any moving parts but most importantly it will help prevent rusting. You will need to do it every so often maybe every couple of months it varies depending on how rust resistant the steel is.

#2 Cleaning/Maintenance tip is to use warm water & some dish soap and a small brush of some type for hard to reach spots on really dirty knives is all you really need. You must always thoroughly dry knives after cleaning and re-oil/lube the blade as any soaps will typically strip away oils and other protective layers.

#3 Maintenance tip is to keep knives dry water can cause rust and damage dome handle materials particularly wood.

For sharpening you will need to probably stud a bit about understanding the various methods of sharpening and the ease or difficulty various steels have with sharpening. You also need to find out what you are most comfortable with and your limitations. I use a KME guided sharpening system for my pocket knives, it has a limit to size it can work for, as I cannot hold a steady angle to free hand and it offers a variety of sharpening stones for the variety of steel I have on my knives.

You probably should look into more details on the knives you own such as what type of steel is used and if it is hardened as some decorative pieces may not be hardened steel which will never hold an edge.

Thanks for the tips, I'll start taking a look at some of those products

 

[Fonedork]

I'd recommend getting some Flitz polish to remove rust. I use it a lot. WD40 will also remove rust from your knives and act as a protectant. It might not be food safe like mineral oil is though. Another good product to have is Tuf Glide, a lubricant and rust preventative. Alternatively, another option that basically serves the same function as Tuf Glide is Nano oil, which is what I use. You might want to get some Renaissance Wax too, it is a two step product that first acts as a solvent/polish, and then hardens into a protective wax coating that helps prevent rust. Sometimes I will use it on knives that have a tendency to rust. It does tend to make them shinier cause the wax layer takes a bright polish.

 

[Montoya Phipps-Gallegos]

I'd recommend getting some Flitz polish to remove rust. I use it a lot. WD40 will also remove rust from your knives and act as a protectant. It might not be food safe like mineral oil is though. Another good product to have is Tuf Glide, a lubricant and rust preventative. Alternatively, another option that basically serves the same function as Tuf Glide is Nano oil, which is what I use. You might want to get some Renaissance Wax too, it is a two step product that first acts as a solvent/polish, and then hardens into a protective wax coating that helps prevent rust. Sometimes I will use it on knives that have a tendency to rust. It does tend to make them shinier cause the wax layer takes a bright polish.

Thanks, I'll definitely check those out. None of my knives need to be food safe so those might work well for me