Cleaning blades without damaging them.

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TheMightyGoat

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I'm mostly interested in cleaning my HI khukuri, but it's a topic that applies to all knives I suppose.

Since I use this to clear tree branches and such, it gets covered with sap and bits of bark and all that. Simply scrubbing the blade with a oily rag only gets a tiny bit of the grime off. I'm sure some type of polish would get it off, but it would also take some metal off, and since this is not a show knife it will just get dirty again soon. The knife looks better when it's clean, but it doesn't really effect the preformance, so if there's no harmless way to clean it I won't bother.
 
heres what might be an easy fix, WATER!

soap and water

?? scrub it with a spongge
 
Originally posted by aaron_simkovich
heres what might be an easy fix, WATER!

soap and water

?? scrub it with a spongge
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I was under the impression that soap and water on metal is a bad thing to do.
 
Originally posted by TheMightyGoat
I was under the impression that soap and water on metal is a bad thing to do.
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It is...if you leave it on there. :P

I've even heard of people putting their knives in the dishwasher.
 
Tree sap is water soluable and soap will help. So, Mr. aaron_simkovich is exactly right. Mr. Fireshaker is also correct. Nothing wrong with getting a blade wet as long as you dry it off promptly. Be expecially careful not to let water run up under the handle.
 
Originally posted by aaron_simkovich
OOH I got the Mr. Prefix, damn im good :D
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Yeah, and he didn't even address me directly. :( *sniffle*

Heh... kidding. Anyway, I tried cleaning it with soap and water and it worked very well. I was very careful to get it completely dry, and I also oiled it afterward. Thanks for the advice everyone.
 
I was under the impression that soap and water on metal is a bad thing to do.
Click to expand...

Sheesh! Don't leave it soaking or anything, but soap and water are perfectly fine on your blade. Just make sure you dry it off completely and if it's a high carbon steel (HI khuks are) make sure you wipe it down with some type of oil or maybe tuff cloth - just to prevent corrosion.

You worry WAY too much about your khuk! As long as you don't take a cutting torch to it or stick it in a hydraulic press or try to cut something like a rock or dump acid on it or something, you just are not going to do much damage to it at all. Be careful with that thing too - it's an old myth that they must "taste blood" before being re-sheathed.

EDIT - whoops! I see that my advice was a little late, but I'm glad you got the job done.
 
LOL. Don't mind me asking but, why be so meticulous in cleaning something that you're just gunna go whack tree branches with? :P
 
Originally posted by AntDog
Be careful with that thing too - it's an old myth that they must "taste blood" before being re-sheathed.
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Yeah, I know that myth. This thing has already had a taste of mine once or twice, so hopefully it will be appeased for a while.
 
Originally posted by Fireshaker
LOL. Don't mind me asking but, why be so meticulous in cleaning something that you're just gunna go whack tree branches with? :P
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It looks pretty. :(

Actually, I don't much care about how it looks, I just take pleasure from maintanancing my knives. Plus I have absolutely nothing to do. I've been sitting infront of the computer for the past five hours or so refreshing forums, looking at knives, listening to music and sharpening my knives.
 
Originally posted by TheMightyGoat
It looks pretty. :(

Actually, I don't much care about how it looks, I just take pleasure from maintanancing my knives. Plus I have absolutely nothing to do. I've been sitting infront of the computer for the past five hours or so refreshing forums, looking at knives, listening to music and sharpening my knives.
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Well, thats basically what I do unless my girlfriend is over. *wink*

Well, Im not doggin ya' or nothin, its a good trait to take pride in your knives. Keep it up. :)
 
Water will work fine just dry it afterword, A good safe metal polish like Flitz or Metal glow will do even better, Any kind of good gun cleaning oil will work wonderfull also such as: Rem-oil, Tuf-Glide ect.
 
Originally posted by NGK-Webmaster
Water will work fine just dry it afterword, A good safe metal polish like Flitz or Metal glow will do even better, Any kind of good gun cleaning oil will work wonderfull also such as: Rem-oil, Tuf-Glide ect.
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I also agree that Flitz will do the job and is also non-abraisive. I have cleaned many blades SS and carbon steel very effectively with it.
 
It's not as obvious as it seems,
many of use a hair dryer on our knives after washing them,
even if you are going to use oil.
I usually do this just in case.
 
I'm hesitant to use that on my G-10 handles

doesn't that stuff leave a nasty film and odour on knives? do you have to use somoething else to get the WD-40 off or does it "fade away" after some time?
 
since it's sap, use warm water and some mild soap and sponge it in a caring manner ;) and then after it's bone dry, flitz it to protect the finish

aXed
 
Originally posted by Fireshaker
LOL. Don't mind me asking but, why be so meticulous in cleaning something that you're just gunna go whack tree branches with? :P
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Well, anything that is water soluable may, under the right conditons, attract moisture and thus cause rusting. Tree sap may also contain or become contaminated with other "natural chemicals" that may actually promote rusting.
 
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