How To General cleaning tips and oil to use for pivot?

J

JDX

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Mar 2, 2014
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Long time forum member, and generally I use warm water and dish soap to clean my blades then I use mineral oil in the pivot.

Was curious if this is okay or if there's better methods or things to use?
 
Yes wash the blade.
Oil the pivot (rarely).

Sorry . . . I couldn't resist doing that.
Most people . . . in this rush rush world . . . wouldn't be able to slow down enough to even read that.

Ha, ha
I am glad there are people who love their hobby enough to care about more info.
So
With out further silliness here are my thoughts and observations :
Plain carbon (blade that could potentially discolor or rust ) obviously you may want a coating to prevent (or ha, ha in my case ENCOURAGE) that. There are some recent threads on that and pivot super lubricants. I can't advise on that but I might find a link later.

A knife you are going to use on food ? Well that changes everything doesn't it? Some of that super antirust stuff is going to make you grow a third arm and perhaps be able to fly (at least for a very short time). Might be worth it YMMV.

I will say that for some "One Month Challenge" knives I found I couldn't get them clean enough with just dish soap. Used them for all manner of stuff from cutting rubber goods to trash break down at work. Washed well with hot water and dish soap. Later got some minor sensations in my mouth like trying to get a cancer sore / cold sore. That is ALWAYS sign there was something on the knife I didn't get off but then it came off on the food I cut up and ate.

PS: one of my pet peeves with carrying a fixed blade for all uses : Wash the knife, use the knife, stick it back in the dirty sheath . . . guess what ? Knife is contaminated again / must wash before using on food. = folders stay cleaner.

Sooooooooo
I wash with soap and water but if the blade looks blotchy or I know I have cut up questionable stuff I will then wipe with solvent (think denatured alcohol or carburetor cleaner etc) then rewash. This seems to take care of the mouth thing.

As far as pivot lube I am convinced (FOR MY ENVIRONMENT AND USES) the single best pivot lube is Starrett Insturment oil. I use a super fine "hyper dermic" tipped dripper bottle and put the very least amount I can right where I need it down in the pivot and if a traditional on the surfaces that run on the spring and that's it. I never put ANYTHING on the blade for protection. I do put machine oil on the blade when cutting some tough or critical things to eliminate stiction and drag in the cut and then wipe off with a rag.

So yah : wash your knife and lube the pivot rarely.
 
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So a couple things on that. Recently I posted a thread about an approach I've experimented with to deep-cleaning a folder without using water, it's more involved but you may find useful info in there: https://bladeforums.com/threads/deep-clean-a-folder-without-water-and-without-disassembly.1519238/. That's what I'm doing now.

For cleaning just the blade, I'm doing the same thing as you. If I have stubborn stuff on the blade, first I use one my non-toxic gun cleaners (like Mpro-7) or something like Flitz polish on the blade, then finish with soap and water.

For oiling pivots, all my folders are at least potentially used with food, so I use food-safe mineral oil in a needle dropper, 1 drop. Note that the Norton honing oil for sharpening stones is a food-safe mineral oil, so if you want to have just one type of oil that you can use for everything from sharpening stones to lubing/protecting knives that need to be food-safe, the Norton oil is a good choice.
 
None of my folders are used for food prep. Honestly just edc tasks and at work. So by dirty it's usually dirt and grit and sand that gets on the blade and pivot. So nothing has to be safe for consumption.

Thanks for all the information and links btw, very helpful!
 
If you don't use your folders for food prep, your call whether it's worth the extra trouble, but you could certainly find better modern synthetic lubes to drop into the pivot. Everybody has their favorite, from their favorite gun oil, or whatever. I honestly don't think with a folder pivot that it makes that big a difference and mineral oil works just fine. Some people even question if you need to lube the pivot at all, but I still do, rarely.

If you want to use a dry lube in the pivot to minimize attracting gunk, check out these 2 on the Big River site, Super Lube Dri-Film, and also WD40 Specialist Water Resistant Silicon lube. If I had any folders that didn't have to be food safe, I use these for other things around the house anyway, and I'd use one of these for the pivot.
 
I'm lucky, I have an ultrasonic cleaner at work so I can deep clean my knives with that.

At home, I reach for something called Awesome Cleaner if the knife is super dirty. It's a dollar store item. Follow that with hot soapy water and a good drying out.

Benchmade BlueLube is what I normally reach for as a general purpose lubricant because it works well and is food safe. If I want a heavyweight oil, I use Tek-Lube. It's not food safe that I know of but it works well on pivots. I also use Tuf Glide from time to time. A great rust inhibitor but a poor lubricant. Do not recommend for knives.

Nick Shabazz does a fun bit about lubricants on youtube.
 
Avoid Nano oil. It's snake oil. Don't apply alot of oil. It will attract more dust. Use grease for some knives and oil for others. Depends on the knife. Use oil for the detent track.

Before applying oil clean your bits with acetone or Zippo Lighter fluid or even brake cleaner. This will remove all substances. Else your not removing anything. Oil will still be there when cleaning with alcohol.

Less oil is better. I apply a drop or two get it all around and then wipe it off. It's still there and will continue to be there until you clean it with said cleaners above.

Read this thread https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/has-anyone-done-a-any-lubrication-friction-testing.1510135/
 
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