Cleaning folding knives with water?

[willis]

I use the Skimo method of hot water and dish soap followed by DW-40 or a suitable military substitute.

 

[Bigfattyt]

I've never really had any issues with rinsing a knife off and shaking/blowing the water off.

shoot, I've been canoeing, rafting, and floating/swimming with most of my folders. None the worse for wear.


You are over thinking it. I have knives 25+ years old that are going strong with minimal maintenance.


I always chuckle when I see people obsessing about protection, oiling, disassembling to get lint, water, etc, out.

A drop or two of oil on the joint every blue moon and wipe the excess off.


I oil my high carbon slip joints a bit more. But not too much more.

 

[baliflipper02]

You are over thinking it. I have knives 25+ years old that are going strong with minimal maintenance.


I always chuckle when I see people obsessing about protection, oiling, disassembling to get lint, water, etc, out.

Yep, I probably am overthinking it, I'm just kind of weary about it since I took apart my Spyderco Tenacious after not exposing it to water and the liners being rusted. Maybe those liners were a different steel that rusts way easier. But anyways at my job, we have an air compressor so I will probably use that after washing with soap and running it through water.

 

[Lee48]

In about 60 years of messing with knives, I've never taken one apart to clean. If the pivot feels sticky or gritty, a little dish detergent drizzled on the pivot, hot water and a toothbrush have cleaned up everything. I shake out any remaining water (usually) and sometimes leave the knife open on a table to dry for a while. On rare occasions, I've sprayed the pivot with WD-40 to remove any remaining water, followed by a drop of oil. For carbon steel slipjoints, I still follow that practice but for modern stainless steel folders--even the M4 & D2 models--I just shake out the water and let it air dry.

A little rust might form inside the liners of some knives, depending on the type of steel used in manufacture. A little bit of rust is not an epidemic that will destroy the knife. I have some very old folding knives I've inherited that had over half a century of crud and rust present yet once they were cleaned up, they still performed well. Modern knives will seldom succumb to rust unless they're exposed to caustic, corrosive chemicals and not cleaned afterwards. Your Tenacious probably had accumulated your sweat down in the liner and, since you did not wash it out, it caused the rust you found. Soap and water is your friend.

 

[baliflipper02]

In about 60 years of messing with knives, I've never taken one apart to clean. If the pivot feels sticky or gritty, a little dish detergent drizzled on the pivot, hot water and a toothbrush have cleaned up everything. I shake out any remaining water (usually) and sometimes leave the knife open on a table to dry for a while. On rare occasions, I've sprayed the pivot with WD-40 to remove any remaining water, followed by a drop of oil. For carbon steel slipjoints, I still follow that practice but for modern stainless steel folders--even the M4 & D2 models--I just shake out the water and let it air dry.

A little rust might form inside the liners of some knives, depending on the type of steel used in manufacture. A little bit of rust is not an epidemic that will destroy the knife. I have some very old folding knives I've inherited that had over half a century of crud and rust present yet once they were cleaned up, they still performed well. Modern knives will seldom succumb to rust unless they're exposed to caustic, corrosive chemicals and not cleaned afterwards. Your Tenacious probably had accumulated your sweat down in the liner and, since you did not wash it out, it caused the rust you found. Soap and water is your friend.

That could be why! Do you think an air compressor would aid in drying the knife?

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Gee guys- you can scrub your knives with soap and water. If you do, blot/shake as much water out as you can, then flood the knife with Water Displacing 40-WD 40.
It will get into spaces that you can't, and force water out while lubricating and leaving a protective film.

 

[baliflipper02]

Gee guys- you can scrub your knives with soap and water. If you do, blot/shake as much water out as you can, then flood the knife with Water Displacing 40-WD 40.
It will get into spaces that you can't, and force water out while lubricating and leaving a protective film.

Ive done this before on a cheap folder (saturated it in WD-40) and it made the knife constantly feel oily. No matter how much I wiped it down it just constantly felt oily. I agree that WD-40 is great for displacing water, I just hate how it feels (and smells quite honestly).

 

[TravisH]

When necessary, I don't hesitate to blast it out with hot water and dish soap, shake it out, hit it with the hair dryer on max, apply mineral oil to pivot and blade, done.

 

[baliflipper02]

When necessary, I don't hesitate to blast it out with hot water and dish soap, shake it out, hit it with the hair dryer on max, apply mineral oil to pivot and blade, done.

That sounds good. But I will probably go for the air compressor to get 99.9% of the water out.

 

[gadgetgeek]

since most of the water my knives see is salt, the fresh water rinse is better for them than the salt would be. plus sweat, plus humidity, its hard on some of them. I also rinse in as hot of water as I can stand, the logic being that the heat in the knife and handle will help evaporate the leftover water. heck, my alox SAKS get boiled from time to time.

I would say that for most people in warmer weather, sweat is going to be the biggest harm to a knife. I was carrying my Case med stockman one day at work, the room we were in was cranking around 35C I was wearing a bandanna full of icecubes around my neck, and my my audio tech who got to sit behind the desk away from the client literally changed into his swim trunks when no one was looking! It was brutal. Point is, that stockman had been oiled the day before, and at the end of the day, all the blades were bright orange with rust and quite pitted. added some character to the blades, after a quick light polish and pantia session. That's an extreme case, but consider what weeks of EDC carry might be able to do.

 

[baliflipper02]

since most of the water my knives see is salt, the fresh water rinse is better for them than the salt would be. plus sweat, plus humidity, its hard on some of them. I also rinse in as hot of water as I can stand, the logic being that the heat in the knife and handle will help evaporate the leftover water. heck, my alox SAKS get boiled from time to time.

I would say that for most people in warmer weather, sweat is going to be the biggest harm to a knife. I was carrying my Case med stockman one day at work, the room we were in was cranking around 35C I was wearing a bandanna full of icecubes around my neck, and my my audio tech who got to sit behind the desk away from the client literally changed into his swim trunks when no one was looking! It was brutal. Point is, that stockman had been oiled the day before, and at the end of the day, all the blades were bright orange with rust and quite pitted. added some character to the blades, after a quick light polish and pantia session. That's an extreme case, but consider what weeks of EDC carry might be able to do.

I live in Louisiana, so I have had my share of knives getting all sweaty, but I've never cleaned them.. I guess that explains why my Tenacious had rusty liners.

 

[singularity35]

since most of the water my knives see is salt, the fresh water rinse is better for them than the salt would be. plus sweat, plus humidity, its hard on some of them. I also rinse in as hot of water as I can stand, the logic being that the heat in the knife and handle will help evaporate the leftover water. heck, my alox SAKS get boiled from time to time.

I would say that for most people in warmer weather, sweat is going to be the biggest harm to a knife. I was carrying my Case med stockman one day at work, the room we were in was cranking around 35C I was wearing a bandanna full of icecubes around my neck, and my my audio tech who got to sit behind the desk away from the client literally changed into his swim trunks when no one was looking! It was brutal. Point is, that stockman had been oiled the day before, and at the end of the day, all the blades were bright orange with rust and quite pitted. added some character to the blades, after a quick light polish and pantia session. That's an extreme case, but consider what weeks of EDC carry might be able to do.

I live in the Philippines where temps are often in the 30's(that's high 80's to you US guys). I live around 100 meters from the sea so humidity is pretty high. I can tell you that sweat(mine, at least) doesn't pose the least bit of a problem for my knives. I eat a lot of spicy food too.

What I found is hard on my knives(besides using them) is cutting acidic stuff and not rinsing and wiping after. I once cut a local lime and forgot to rinse and wipe. It was an M390 military. I found out after two weeks that the acid had eaten into the edge and there were "chips". The side of the blade were just stained which wiped away with some WD40. The chips took a rebeveling to take out.

 

[gadgetgeek]

Not everyone has the same sweat composition, and I'm told that the more people are used to sweating, the less salt and therefor less corrosive the sweat, so maybe that has a factor? I've also found that a coin that I have been wearing on a chain for the better part of twenty years is far more worn on the side that is on my skin that the other side. Who could know?

 

[singularity35]

Not everyone has the same sweat composition, and I'm told that the more people are used to sweating, the less salt and therefor less corrosive the sweat, so maybe that has a factor? I've also found that a coin that I have been wearing on a chain for the better part of twenty years is far more worn on the side that is on my skin that the other side. Who could know?

So this really isn't a valid statement, is it?

I would say that for most people in warmer weather, sweat is going to be the biggest harm to a knife.

 

[gadgetgeek]

You've caught me in a generality. In really broad terms, I think sweat is going to be the consistent factor in degradation of a knife. Yes other things will come into play, but in general we think of cleaning blades when they get dirty or used on food. Liners and other things are thought about less so.

Take something simple like a SAK. Pretty tough, not much to go wrong. I've found one in a saltwater tackle box that was locked shut from the corrosion to the aluminum liners. I have an Alox soldier that I found caked in tile grout and the scales are full of pits from the corrosion. Extreme examples yes. But any knife that is stored in a warm, humid environment (a pocket) is going to show some sign of of that eventually, somewhere. Certainly there are factors which will determine the time, materials, person, temp, all that sort of thing. But as a general rule, I think that if you are considering cleaning a knife, and are worried about water in the handle being a problem, my personal opinion is that sweat is far more dangerous to a knife than is regular tap water.

 

[kelbro]

The key is to use really hot water for the rinse. It seems to evaporate from the hot steel faster.

 

[singularity35]

You've caught me in a generality. In really broad terms, I think sweat is going to be the consistent factor in degradation of a knife. Yes other things will come into play, but in general we think of cleaning blades when they get dirty or used on food. Liners and other things are thought about less so.

Take something simple like a SAK. Pretty tough, not much to go wrong. I've found one in a saltwater tackle box that was locked shut from the corrosion to the aluminum liners. I have an Alox soldier that I found caked in tile grout and the scales are full of pits from the corrosion. Extreme examples yes. But any knife that is stored in a warm, humid environment (a pocket) is going to show some sign of of that eventually, somewhere. Certainly there are factors which will determine the time, materials, person, temp, all that sort of thing. But as a general rule, I think that if you are considering cleaning a knife, and are worried about water in the handle being a problem, my personal opinion is that sweat is far more dangerous to a knife than is regular tap water.

Sure, but if sweat is all that dangerous to a knife, nobody'd be carrying knives in the tropics.

Sweat can be corrosive but it won't really ruin your knife. It might rust it a bit, but it won't degrade it enough to destroy it. Well, unless you soak it in a bucket of sweat for weeks at a time. Probably even then.

BTW, this is my opinion about your opinion.

 

[gadgetgeek]

Don't you just hate it when the person arguing with you is just so reasonable? You are right, a little sweat won't do much, and a little rust inside a liner won't bother most people. But for the odd knife knut who feels that any corrosion must be prevented at all costs, well, that'll just give them a little more stress. For the average guy, its worth cleaning with water, rather than worrying about having to dry clean his knife, or wondering which brand of brake cleaner won't rot the scales. just rinse the dang thing from time to time, just like you should with everything else that gets sweaty.

 

[singularity35]

Don't you just hate it when the person arguing with you is just so reasonable? You are right, a little sweat won't do much, and a little rust inside a liner won't bother most people. But for the odd knife knut who feels that any corrosion must be prevented at all costs, well, that'll just give them a little more stress. For the average guy, its worth cleaning with water, rather than worrying about having to dry clean his knife, or wondering which brand of brake cleaner won't rot the scales. just rinse the dang thing from time to time, just like you should with everything else that gets sweaty.

Agreed.

 

[baliflipper02]

So, I got a response from Spyderco, so basically you can take it apart and if all goes well and there is no blade play or lock issues, your fine. BUT, if you screw up your knife, your warranty is voided. Here is the response..

"The knife would still be covered say if the blade broke and it was determined to have had a fracture in the steel it would be a warranty issue. As long as the knife was still functioning correctly we would still offer the sharpening service but if there are any issues with the lock up or blade play it may not be covered. All knives are evaluated on a case by case issue."