Best way to clean/lube a SAK?

[trout #2]

I just found my old Wenger SAK that was my first or second knife(can't remember where my Boy Scout folder fits the timeline) about 16 years ago. It's in pretty good shape but the joints are pretty gunked up and the blades very slow to open and close. What's the best way to go about cleaning all that out and then properly lubricating everything? I'm still a bit of a newbie and don't want to mess it up since it does have some sentimental value. Thanks for any help.

 

[Alberta Ed]

Dish soap and hot water ought to clean it up. Won't hurt it a bit. I occasionally use BreakFree to lube my slipjoints but even that shouldn't be necessary unless there is crud down in the pivots.

 

[Lobo103]

I usually wash my SAK in the shower every morning. Sometimes before bed too.

 

[underaged!]

It might help if you use a brush, I have a brush I found; I think it came from my brother's hair trimmer. It's small enought to get into tight places, and the bristles are stiff and really help to take out the dust and other crud.

 

[Lavan]

WD40 first, then a GOOD douse in HOT water.

I filed the teeth off my One Hand Trekker and got filings in the works.

The only thing that got em out and got it back to normal was the WD40 and hot water. I think I also added soap but mostly finished with just a heavy HOT water rinse.

 

[allenC]

I don't know.
I've NEVER lubed any of my Swiss Army Knives.
And they all work just fine too.


Allen.

 

[klattman]

A good, stiff toothbrush with dish soap does a great job.
Dish soap can dissolve just about any type of oil and gunk and the brush will get the gunk out of the joints.
Rinse in plenty of water as hot as your hands allow.
Make sure to scrub all joints with the implements both open and closed (be careful), and open and close each while rinsing.

Use a fan or hair dryer to ensure that it gets completely dry.

Lube the pivots with mineral oil or tuff-glide, etc. (not veg. oil, it can go rancid and get gunky).

There is no need to oil blades on a SAK, they are extremely stainless.

Some may see this as overkill, but when you can get ANY old crustly SAK to walk and talk like it was brand new, why hold back?

 

[Josh Feltman]

Good advice so far. I'd start by soaking it in hot water with some dish soap for an hour or so. Rinse the knife out well under hot water. Follow this up with some WD-40 to remove the water and any gunk in the pivots. Moving the blades and tools back and forth a bit will help with this as well. Wipe off the WD-40 with a paper towel, and add a tiny bit of lubricant like Tuf Glide to the pivots--not too much or it will attract lint and dirt.

 

[UnknownVT]

I posted this over at SOSAK -
Refurishing SAKs

I received a number of used Wengers recently, and am starting to clean-up and refurbish them. Since Victorinox and Wengers are similar in the use of polished red cellidor/plastic handles as well as stainless steel tools and aluminum liners - the refurbishing is basically the same.

The cleaning is simply using warm soapy water and a toothbrush to clean out as much debris/dirt as possible.

Put a drop of diswashing detergent into the opened handles and rinse out with hot water from the tap at full pressure.

Work the blades/tools in the soapy water to clean out the pivots. Make sure to brush the pivot/tang areas as thoroughly as possible.

Rinse the fully opened SAK with hot water and shake hard to expel as much water as possible - but be careful since the blades are open - not to stab or cut oneself. Use a towel to wipe off any remaining water. Allow to air dry.

Spray WD-40 into the open handles and use a cotton bud/swab to reach in and clean. Wipe dry then lub the joints lightly (I use 3 in 1) and work the blades/tools.

Now on to the handles - these are bound to be scratched marred for any well used SAK - since those polished cellidor/plastic mark easily.

If the marring is light a quick polish with some good car polish would improve things a lot.

If the handles are (more likely) pretty scratched up, use something with more cutting power/abrasive like (car) polishing compound or since I can't find mine - I just used some metal polish that I had handy.

The Wenger Journeyman was well used and in fair to poor condition - even the metal polish didn't quite do it for me - so I needed to use something even more abrasive/cutting like rubbing compound - again I didn't have any handy - so I just used the green scouring pad backed by sponge that I had in the kitchen (eg: Scotch-Brite) - I used it wet with soapy water and scoured the handles to an even matte finish - graduated back to the metal polish to get the handles to look reasonably shiney - then finished off with car polish to get a high shine.

Before & After, and compared with new condition

Both the knife blades showed some harder work/abuse in that they had kinks in the edge - I did not try to unkink them - just worked on them on a hone to eliminate the kinks from the edge - so the blades still show the evidence of kinking but at least have reasonable working edges -

I find the backsprings on the Wengers tend to be softer/easier to close than Victorinox and this Journeyman's backspring has worn/weakened - so that I can induce some wobble when sharpening the blades on the hone.


--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.Net
http://UnknownVT.cjb.Net