carb cleaner and Khukuri crud

L

Lt. Dan

Joined
Aug 6, 2000
Messages
539
2 khukuris had the usual tree gunk stuck fast to the blades today. First I tried turpentine, then it was denatured alcohol, and then naptha. All had something in common: They all tried and they all failed.

So it was time to reach for the serious shootin' stuff. The first up was some carberator cleaner and bingo! Having minimal knife care products, whatever was in house got used. Guess it's time to do something about this little problem. For shame.
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My A.G. Russell Rustfree needs some company. There are enough khukuris here that deserve better than what I've got to make-do, and their numbers kinda snuck up on me. I'm gonna cut to the chase and ask for "Forumite Favorites" to round out what I oughta have for general knife care. Many thanks....Dan
 
Dan: That's an old favorite of mine for cleaning guns. The marines, though it's against the rules, used to take their M16s into the head and clean the rifle with carb cleaner. It REALLY did the job. In fact, the only way I could tell they'd used carb cleaner (if they'd taken the time to remove the smell with lots of showering) was that the M16 was too clean (and also had a white haze to it)
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Oh yeah, I did a bit of carb cleaning myself once or twice
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------------------
Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
Yes, Craig, the stuff works great, and I used it back in my hi-power rifle competition days. In fact, I found it to be almost too good, as the metal surface will be totally bare and prone to rust if not lubed after evaporating. I guess that's one reason why I like single-shot long range varmint rigs...not so many innerds to clean!
 
Has anyone tried plain Acetone? or MEK. Those carb cleaners always has some many extra things in them. Hmm, can you get toluene in the paint department?
 
I imagine if the solutions in cdenney's post were in the house at the time they would've been tried, too. What are MEK and toluene and their common uses?
 
Since few M16`S worked in 1966. We bent them around a tree to turn them in and get them off of the books.

The M14`s, we cleaned the carbon from the gas op. with soap and hot water.
 
MEK is Methyl Ethyl Ketone.
(sometimes Called Mighty Enthusiastic Ketone)
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It and Toluene (Methylbenzene)
are nasty organic solvents.

Be very careful etc...

I know that I can get MEK at Home Despot but don't know about Toluene.

[This message has been edited by cdenney (edited 04-24-2001).]
 
Thanks, cdenney. Yes, those names are familiar. Something I remember from a chemistry teacher was that stuff with a benzene ring is a serious health hazard. I wouldn't be surprised if those work very well indeed, but I think I'll hold what I've got.
 
Best thing I ever found for cleaning blades whilst in the forces was Carbon Tetrachloride... it's usually used as a solvent for cleaning gunk from printed circuit boards in the electronics industry... it's rather hazardous, though, so I'd probably go with fine steel wool and WD40, which usually works well.

Brasso (liquid metal polish) works exceptionally well on shiny metal surfaces, and the best way to use it is to drip some on the blade surface and rub it in with the flat surface of a piece of tough cardboard - it acts as a wonderful buffing tool and was the saviour of many a cadet when polishing seemingly hopeless belt buckles at three in the morning.
 
Bearcub, I'd forgotten about Carbon Tet. My dad used to use it when I was a young 'un, and it's very good indeed. Could you tell us here how well it works with your khukuri?

Brasso is known in the shooting fraternity for making cartridgge cases brittle, but this may have no bearing on khukuri brass parts.

Thanks for the ideas....Dan
 
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