Cleaning a Leatherman

bulgron

bulgron

Joined
May 19, 2005
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I've got a Leatherman Charge that recently I've been using rather heavily on a electrical project in my house (putting in recessed lights, additional circuits for various reasons, etc). As it turns out I've had reason to cut into the drywall from time to time and, as it also turns out, the saw on a Leatherman cuts drywall like an absolute champ.

Problem is, this has left drywall dust (basically, gypsum) all over my leatherman.

I've wiped it down as best I can with a clean, dry rag but that really isn't getting everything off the tool, especially on the saw itself. So now I'm wondering what I can use to lift the gypsum away.

I'm afraid to rinse it with plain old water because Leathermans have a reputation for rusting. At the moment, I'm having thoughts about Q-tips and gun oil, but I'm really not sure if the oil would pull the gypsum out of all the nooks and crannies or if it would just cement it in there.

Anyone out there ever had this problem? Got any hints/suggestions on what I can use to clean the thing up with?

Thanks in advance for any tips ....

Oh, and apologies in advance if this is the wrong forum. I couldn't decide if I should post this here or in the multitool forum.
 
I never had a rusting problem with my Leatherman tools .I have boiled one in some detergent , then when thoroughly dry put a few drops of oil on the joints. I've done this many times with carbon steel firearms to remove goop. After washing rinse in very hot water and the heat will quickly evaporate the water .
 
I have both a LM Supertool and a Core. Both see heavy use and both get washed in hot soapy water. At home I simply towel dry, if I'm at work I'll use the air compressor to blow dry. Lube once a month or so, no rust, no problems.
 
I have blown mine out with the WD40 aerosol before. Then let it dry out and lubricate it good with some Militec or other ordanance grade lubricant. Remember WD40 is not a lubricant. But it is a decent cleaner.
 
I would hose it down with brake cleaner.

I use it all the time and it works great on knives and guns. Don't forget to wipe down with oil afterwards.
 
What about an air nozzle and compressed air? Follow up with WD-40 and then more air...
 
Clean it like the guts of an AR-15. Spray it down with carborator cleaner... scrub it with a nylon brush in all areas... use pipe cleaners in the tight spots.... whipe with rag... then blast it will CLP untill it's soaked.... wait three ours... and whipe off excess.
 
Mineral spirits, and those sovlents work pretty well. I use an air compressor to spray out the crap it picks up.
 
Wear safety glasses if using brake cleaner or carb cleaner. Thats some nasty stuff, and being pressurized it likes splatter back on your eyeballs. But it dang sure will get your LM clean, and it will dissolve and otherwise blast away just about anything. I use carb cleaner on my AK-47s. Then spray it down with CLP or some kind of gun oil, as the cleaner will leave it bone dry.

cheers
 
Wash it in a sink of hot soapy water and use a pot brush to remove gypsum from the teeth of the saw and body crevices. Then tip a kettle of boiling water over it, and dry with a towel. The boiling water will heat up the steel and help the water to evaporate. Then when the Leatherman is cool, oil the joints.
 
Like what some of the others said, I've used hot soapy water, then towel dried my leatherman. I follow up by using a hair dryer or one of those hand dryer units they have in public toilets. Where there's no access to electricity, I've found leaving the tool to airdry in the sun will work too -- note that you should towel dry before doing this because otherwise the tool sits in the water it's been washed with and 9x out of 10 that's what causes rusting problems.

Good luck. BTW leathermans hold up ok even in superhumid locations even when cared for in this way so, I think you should be ok.
 
Hot water is just fine. I have a Supertool I used for a summer's worth of field work on a melting Alaskan Glacier. It got wet, frozen, stuck in camp fires, and used to cut food. Plus, the air was always full of glacial debris not much bigger than talc. That was 2002 -- I've never done any real maintenance on it because I've never had to. Not a spot of rust and it opens and closes just fine despite never being oiled. The things are indestructible.

If you try to flush it with anything thicker than water (like oil, etc) it'll make a paste with the gypsum. I'd just open every tool, immerse it water, swish it around, take it out and give a good shake, blow some compressed air through it, and then stick it in the oven (200 degrees or less) for 15 minutes. Take it out, let it cool a little -- but not all the way -- then hit it with WD-40 (if the knife is still warm, the WD-40 will find its way into more nooks and crannies). Blow it out again with compressed air and you're done.
 
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