Help with maintenance on an old USA made Gerber

O

olybears57

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Aug 25, 2013
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Hey guys, my boss has an old Gerber folder (shown below) that has been very well used over the years. We build trails, so our tools are constantly covered and filled with grit and dirt, and away from home up to 8 days at a time. It is a lockback, and is now VERY stiff and difficult to open. Any ideas on how to get the knife back to good working condition? My suggestions to her were: Air compressor to blow out grit, water wash, and then lubrication. Can you guys think of anything else to do? I would take it apart, but I have no idea how, as the wood scales have no visible way of removal, etc.
Thanks all!






Says Portland ORE. 97223











 
Warm, soapy water. Open and close it under water. Rinse, thoroughly, repeat if necessary. Dry well. Oil the pivot.
 
I would suggest to take good care of that knife, as it looks to be an early Gerber FH model (don't know if that stands for Francis Ham or Folding Hunter) with walnut handles, although the point seems to have been ground/altered.
The blade also has the HS marking which stands for High Speed (steel), in this case M2 steel with a hardness of around 62 HRC.
Stainless blades were marked with an S only.
If you manage to get a good edge on that blade it will hold it for quite some time (if used as a knife)

This is my own cleaning recipe for folders:

1) Brush with old toothbrush and a mixture of hot water & some dishwashing liquid.
2) Rinse under hot running tap while constantly working the pivot
3) Shake out excess water and let dry a few minutes
4) Spray the whole knife with WD-40 and put in ziplock bag for at least 30 minutes.
5) Then place the knife in an ultrasonic cleaner filled with a mixture of hot water & some dishwashing liquid.
6) Turn the cleaner on and watch the knife "explode" in grey clouds of gunk & debris, loosened by the WD-40.
7) Rinse under hot tap while working the pivot
8) If necessary repeat steps 6 and 7
9) Shake out excess water and let dry completely
10) Oil pivot pin with Nano-Oil (imo the best lubricating oil in existence today)
 
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I love my ultrasonic cleaners but I wouldn't put wood in there. I learned that from my Opinel it started to remove the finish and swelled up the handle in an instant. It may have just been what was used in the Opinel, may not. But it's something worth looking into before you risk it as I heard of a few other recommendations online saying as a general policy it's not something they do. For just about every other folder I have that doesn't have wood (or pear, if I had any) I would toss in an ultrasonic to clean. And as always don't put any body parts in the ultrasonic it's bad for your health.

Also kwackster I noticed that when I used an ultrasonic to clean an already cleaned knife but used 3 in 1 in the pivots (didn't have wd40 handy) that is what exploded in what normally looks like the clouds of dirt/debree. It still cleans very well I will admit, but I altered what your steps are when I spent several hours using mine to clean the gunk off of my airsoft guns/gears which make the dirtiest knife I ever encountered look clean by comparison. Though I never did a side by side comparison so I can't comment on which works better. And I was mostly dealing with dirt/grease/oil in those guns with grease being the toughest to get rid of. Dirt and oil being easy by comparison.

I found smothering the area you want cleaned with dawn amplified the cleaning power greatly. Tested it to great effect on my airsoft guns and fined tuned what I did over a few hours. Works good on my knives as well. So my modified version of what your list is.

(My modified version of Kwackster's cleaning. Disclaimer I never got a chance to do a side by side to see if his works better and this was fined tuned while dealing with lots of grease on non knife related equipment, but works extremely well on knives from my experience.)
1) Brush with old toothbrush and a mixture of hot water & some dish washing liquid.
2) Rinse under hot running tap while constantly working the pivot
3) Shake out excess water
4) Apply dish washing liquid to pivot and area you want more thoroughly cleaned.
5) Put hot water in ultrasonic with a few drops of dish washing liquid and run a few minutes to degas it, without basket or any object in it to speed up process. I typically do this first, so it's degassing while I do steps 1/2/3/4 so it is ready when I need it.
5) Then place the knife in an basket or connected to something so it dangles in the ultrasonic without touching the bottom or sides. If something touches the bottom or sides it decreases the effect the ultrasonic has. Don't hold the object in your hands and turn it on!!
6) Turn the cleaner on.
7) Rinse under hot tap while working the pivot
8) If necessary repeat steps 4/5/6, if it really bad and it may be necessary to do 1/2/4/5/6 (never had to for a knife, but grease on the other hand).
9) Shake out excess water and let dry completely
10) Oil pivot pin

And thank you for your list of instructions on what you do Kwackster, it's what I based my cleaning methods on and fined tuned them to my needs. It has saved me a great deal of time and helped convince me pick up the ultrasonic cleaner in the first place which is easily one of the best purchases I made in a long time.

EDITED IN:
Oh I got carried away again in my posting. I have a very bad habbit of doing that.

My recommendation, oil the pivot and work it loose to try to knock loose the gunk before you scrub it to make life easier. Than dawn + toothbrush or paintbrush with strong bristles if the toothbrush doesn't reach far enough and scrub, rinse. Work the pivot under the water and more dawn + scrubbing. Dry and oil.
 
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I pretty much use the same process. Only I dont have a ultrasonic cleaner. I use a waterpic and the dishwasher when the old lady ain't home. I also like mean green combined with blue dawn and then oil. Then if Its still hard to open I like to dab a little Bore Butter in the pivot and work it for a few days then clean it again and just go with the oil. Also if I have any penetrating oil on hand I'll give it a shot and let it soak in before cleaning.
 
Nice knife! That's a folding Hunter as previously mentioned. I thought the HS marked ones were L7, but I could be incorrect. There were versions without checkering the handle, I've owned about six of these in total. Either way; that's a pretty collectable knife, even with the blade in that shape. Here's what I did on mine: get a can of wd40 with the straw and with the blade partially folded spray into the pivot area from the top a little at a time and prevent contact with the wood as much as possible. Work the blade back and forth until you see some of the dirt coming out. Repeat until you feel a difference. Add a drop or two of a lubricating oil (I use mineral oil); the wd40 will eventually evaporate form the pivot. It's a slow process but it worked for my FHs. Hope this helps!
 
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