Best way to totally degrease knife parts without taking it apart?

[SBaker34]

Soaked about an hour-hour and a half, knife feels totally bone dry, we will see after it sits in the hot car a few hours. So far so good. Seemed to actually remove rust from the stop pin too.

 

[Sosa]

If it's similar to break cleaner it would take most the bottle to blast a pivot out

With a pivot that bad you may need this haha

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[SBaker34]

So I decided to open up my millie to see, and there was a good bit of oil under the washers and the scales. I suspect its just such a tight fit that oil given days can creep in just fine, but water cannot instantly gain access. Simple green definitely cuts oil, and would work fine for a parts bath or to wipe something off though. The issue is being water you cannot do a long soak.

 

[fsatsil]

If it's a Spyderco Military why don't you just take it apart and give it a thorough cleaning?

 

[SBaker34]

If it's a Spyderco Military why don't you just take it apart and give it a thorough cleaning?

That's what I ended up doing, it was more a test for other knives I really wouldn't want to take apart though.

I should have realized this, but a naphtha bath works even less well because it just thins oil out majorly.

 

[REK Knives]

So I decided to open up my millie to see, and there was a good bit of oil under the washers and the scales. I suspect its just such a tight fit that oil given days can creep in just fine, but water cannot instantly gain access. Simple green definitely cuts oil, and would work fine for a parts bath or to wipe something off though. The issue is being water you cannot do a long soak.

Interesting testing! I wonder... if you stick a piece of carbon steel under water that is mixed w/ simple green for a few hours would it rust? The simple green doesn't inhibit any rusting does it?

Secondly... wonder if you put heated simple green/water in a vibratory tumbler and maybe the vibrations would serve to jostle it around enough to clean that stuff out? thanks for testing!

 

[SBaker34]

Interesting testing! I wonder... if you stick a piece of carbon steel under water that is mixed w/ simple green for a few hours would it rust? The simple green doesn't inhibit any rusting does it?

Secondly... wonder if you put heated simple green/water in a vibratory tumbler and maybe the vibrations would serve to jostle it around enough to clean that stuff out? thanks for testing!

I think that's a good possibility, US or other agitation would probably do it. I don't think simple green inhibits rust, which is why you couldn't do a multiple day soak. I can test it out sometime however.

 

[fsatsil]

I don't think the regular Simple Green contains corrosion inhibitors but the blue label Extreme Simple Green does
http://industrial.simplegreen.com/ind_products_extreme.php

 

[sabre cat]

I use an ultrasonic cleaner that is made for cleaning quality eye wear. It has a timer and built in heater for warming the cleaning solution. They are not cheap but worth every penny.
Hilco Optical or Western Optical Supply are both good places to start looking if you are interested in something like this.

For the solution itself, I have found a cleaner that works quite well. It is an inexpensive cleaner called LA's Totally Awesome. We use it at work to clean permanent marker off of eye wear.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I think that's a good possibility, US or other agitation would probably do it. I don't think simple green inhibits rust, which is why you couldn't do a multiple day soak. I can test it out sometime however.

I'm sure it doesn't. More likely the opposite.

Simple Green is actually somewhat caustic, with a pH of ~9-9.5 (alkaline), as listed in the MSDS. Need to be careful with it on non-stainless blades, as it'll contribute to rusting if it isn't thoroughly rinsed off. I found this out using it as a sharpening stone lubricant while sharpening a 1095 blade. It left rusty spots on the steel; it was light rust, and didn't take much to clean it off (scrubbed w/baking soda), but it warrants being careful. An extended soak in it is something I personally wouldn't do; especially if done in a heated ultrasonic cleaner, which would only accelerate corrosion, I'd think.


David