Help Cleaning Neglected Knife

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flarp

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Sep 7, 2011
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What is the best way to clean gunk out of the pivot on a Case Peanut?

I picked up a neglected Case Peanut 3220 CV (2004, if I'm reading the date code right) for a steal thinking it could be pretty nice once cleaned up. As far as I could tell, the knife saw little use or pocket time (just trace amounts of lint in the liners).

Anyway, the knife looked like it wasn't stored well. There were several black spots along both blades, mainly on the exposed part of the blade while the knife is closed. The pivot itself also had some dark oily gunk that really gummed up the opening and closing.

The spots on the blade were easy enough to remove with fine iron wool and polished back up with some metal polish. There is some minor pitting in a couple of places, but just barely enough to feel as you run a fingernail over it.

As for the joints, I picked out most of the gunk with a toothpick and gave it a couple sprays of WD-40. That got much of the gunk out, but there still seemed to be more stuff trapped in there. I put a drop of 3-in-1 in there and worked the blade open and closed several times, and quite a bit of sludge kept coming out. I suppose I could just repeat this process several more times, and the gunk would eventually all get worked out. It is a bit tedious though, so I was wondering if there was some better way.

My guess is that the original lubricating grease in the pivot mixed with some dust/lint and turned into a sticky paste. That combined with apparent storage in a humid environment didn't do the knife any favors.

Any ideas? Thanks.
 
Give the knife a bath in hot water (~120F, or whatever your hands will tolerate) with dish detergent (like Dawn, Ivory Liquid, etc.). Exercise the pivots repeatedly, while in the soapy water. That'll work out most of the grit/grime/sludge from the joints. Rinse the knife in hot water thoroughly, again while exercising the pivots. Dry everything completely (the hot rinse will warm up the internals, which really speeds evaporation of moisture inside), then give the joints a spritz of WD-40 to flush out & displace any remaining moisture there. If needed, use the metal polish sparingly on the blade, if any spots remain. If you think you want to, use your lube of choice in the pivot.

That should take care of it. :)
 
I like what OwE said. In addition, the mineral spirits in the WD-40 will act as an additional solvent. When done, consider drying the knife - bone dry - with the careful application of a hair dryer, or the extra careful application of a heat gun (from maybe 2' away :)).
 
Thanks for the advice. I did as recommended (working the pivot repeatedly in hot soapy water), and a lot more grime came loose. I dried it with a hair dryer on just the blower setting (no heat) and then sprayed a little WD-40 into the pivot to make sure all the water was out. I let it sit a little, wiped off the excess WD-40, and then put a drop of 3-in-1 in the pivot.

There's still a few minor trace corrosion spots on the liner and a couple of hair outlines of spots left on the pen blade. There's some slight pitting on the clip point blade where some of the more prominent rust spots were, but you'd have to look closely to see them.

I could tinker with it more to clean it up further, but I'm content where it is now. It's got a good snap at 90 degrees and fully open, and after a minor touch-up, the blade is really sharp (especially the tip of the clip point, probably due to how thin it is). It's a nice little knife and only cost me $10. As an added bonus, it kept me entertained for a little bit while cleaning, and I got to learn a good way to clean gummed-up pivots.

The "after" pics (forgot to take "before" ones):





 
Very nice! Glad it worked out well. That Peanut looks in great shape, especially for $10. It's interesting to me, what you mentioned about the tip of the clip blade being extremely sharp. I have two older Peanuts (1970 in stag, and a 1940-1964 vintage in yellow, like yours). I've also noticed the tips on their clip blades, for the same reason.
 
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